Renaissance
Curiosity about the nature of world
Exploration of the world (Columbus)
Description of the period Inventions / discoveries (Galilei, Copernicus)
Renaissance: 1500-1700
Literacy
Slogan More and more people learnt to read and
1300 – Middeleeuwen: Memento Memori (= write
gedenk te sterven) Invention of the printing press
Renaissance mentaliteitsverandering From 1450 more books were printed
1600 – Vroeg Moderne Tijd: Carpe Diem (= and more
seize the day) Ideas were spread
Meaning name Religion
Renaissance = rebirth of classical Roman an Greek Reformation: people did not want to be dominated
art and literature by the Roman Catholic church anymore and broke
with Rome. A return to original sources (Bible).
Paintings Many Protestants were burnt…
Realistic: people looked like real people with
muscles and curves Elizabethan Age
Variety in themes: landscapes, portraits, Greek Queen Elisabeth reigned in England from 1558-
legend, religious 1604. She loved theatre. advantage to
Shakespeare
Architecture
Greek temple like buildings Elizabethan Theatre
Pillar like columns Shakespeare (1564-1616) wrote for the theatre.
Literature
The literature is signed
Main genres: classical plays (comedies,
tragedies and histories), (epic) poems, sonnets
William Shakespeare (37 plays, 154 sonnets),
Christopher Marlowe
Shakespeare wrote comedies,
histories and tragedies
Shakespeare was born in 1564
Plays written in blank verse: no rhyme (vrijheid
in schrijven), iambic pentameter
Sculpture
Realistic human classical / Biblical figures
Rebirth of Greek and classical art
Philosophy / way of thinking
People started to think
for themselves
Anthropocentric =
focus on mankind Characteristics:
Humanism: belief in Open air and in daylight
ideal society on earth Balcony (Juliet, angels) and lower stage
Thomas More: (villains, ghosts, devil)
Utopia Apron stage, jutting out into the audience
Individuality Audience stood around the stage, close by=
Science groundlings: shouting, peeing, eating
1