Though there were many great intellectuals, and artists during the three Renaissance periods, there are a few who clearly stick out as representing the true attitude of the times. These “Renaissance Men” as they are now called didn’t limit themselves to one medium of study or expression. Rather they embraced many forms of science and artistry, and through their combined studies observed, recorded, and created many scientific theories about nature, man and nature, and man and himself that still hold truth and are the basis of many fields of study today. Of all the artist-scientists of the Renaissance Leonardo da Vinci best deserves the title. Born in Florence during the High Renaissance (1452-1519) he was most certainly not a man of “book learning” da Vinci spent his life observing the world around him, either imitating nature through art, or explaining nature through science. His hundreds of ingenious mechanical inventions and extensive knowledge in the fields of art, biology and the natural sciences immortalize his role as the father of the scientific revolution.
Da Vinci’s work Embryo in the Womb (ca.1510) seems to be a perfect example of the impression classic humanism had on the works of the Renaissance. This work employs intricate artisanship to record observations of a naturally occurring process. The subject being a human embryo in utero continues the humanistic theme by outlining and documenting some of the stages in the creation of a human being. Not but a few hundred years earlier such a work would have been scandalous, even heretical, but in the time of it’s production it wonderfully represents the scholarly values of the period. Even da Vinci’s accompanying notes, written in mirror-image script, demonstrate the vanity, and fear of imitation shared by many intellectuals of the time. While at the same time show that the innate beauty and genius of the times can be found even in simple script. Modern usage of the term humanism has had diverse meanings, but when it comes down to it the true core of humanistic philosophy is found in the works of the Renaissance, lasting human values, cultivation of classical thought, and respect for scientific knowledge..
The Term Paper on City States Renaissance Europe Time
... terms of art and culture, the Renaissance was a time when art became more realistic, and nature was looked at as art. Various ... the East. This meant finding an all water route. Some men sailed around the tip of South Africa. Columbus came up ... the Renaissance came from Leonardo Da " Vinci. Not only was he a great inventor, but he also was an artist, painting such works ...
