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The Renaissance

Spread of Humanism

The home of humanism was Florence. It moved early to Rome (mid- 15th century) and from there to other Italian cities. Initially, humanism had little to do with the visual arts, but in the 15th century, especially in Florence and Rome, a new generation of artists grew up who either were themselves interested in and sympathetic to the humanist agenda, or else found that their patrons were themselves humanistic.

So the artists of the 15th century familiarized themselves with classical themes and humanist values, and worked these into their paintings, monuments and buildings. By the end of the 15th century, the movement was so deeply rooted and widespread that northerners began to take note.

The Renaissance as a package--art and humanism--moved north of the Alps around 1500. There the ideas took on peculiarly local flavors. The classical tone of the humanists glorified an Italian history; the northerners found ways to celebrate their own cultural past. The North, too, had its own artistic traditions, especially in Gothic architecture, and the influence of Italy was less here than in painting.

Still, in the so-called Northern Renaissance one can still see most elements of the humanist ideal. In the first half of the 16th century, things Italian were all the rage, even as Italy itself was dissolving into war and chaos.