The Renaissance- a period of prosperity in the 14th to 17th century originating in Italy and spreading throughout Europe.
The term Renaissance itself is a French word meaning "rebirth" and in this case refering to the rebirth of the classical arts of Ancient Rome and Greece . The term can be said to have originated from Giorgio Vasari who was a painter, architect and writer.
The Renaissance Man
The artist's role in society has risen to that of an educated professional who used mathematical principles and a scientific approach to painting. The Renaissance artist was a well rounded "Universal Renaissance Man" who could be a painter, architect , sculptor and writer all rolled into one.
The perfect embodiment of the Renaissance Man can be said to be non other than Leonardo Da Vinci. He was a painter, sculptor, architect, a military engineer, a writer, a scientist and even a surgeon of sorts who cut up dead bodies to find out more about the human anatomy. Back in those days, the church was a powerful body that comissions alot of artworks and that prompt Da Vinci's more famous works like the Last Supper, Madonna on the Rocks and The Mona Lisa.
