Renaissance People. Lives That Shaped the Modern Age

Abstract

Renaissance burst forth in all its glory around 1500 and spread throughout Europe. This period of great creativity and productivity in the arts and sciences is illuminated in Renaissance People: Lives That Shaped the Modern Age through the lives of more than ninety of its illustrious intellectuals, artists, literary figures, scientists, and rulers. --from publisher description. Capturing the Renaissance: -- Old Traditions And New Ideas: 1400-1450: -- Manuel Chrysoloras (1350-1415): Greek bearing gifts -- Christine de Pizan (1364-1430): Defender of women -- Leonardo Bruni (1369-1444): Light of his age -- Jan Hus (1370-1415): Bohemia's proto-Protestant priest -- Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446): Realizing the impossible cathedral -- St Bernardino of Siena (1380-1444): People's preacher -- Donatello (1386/87-1466): Passion in stone and bronze -- Cosimo de'Medici (1389-1464): Father of the fatherland -- Jan van Eyck (1395-1441): Capturing the world in detail -- Masaccio (1401-1428): Putting painting in perspective -- Europeans At Peace: 1450-1475: -- Flavio Biondo (1392-1463): Re-imagining the glory that was Rome -- Luca della Robbia (1399/1400-1481): Art reborn in another form -- Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464): God and man in a (nearly) infinite universe -- Francesco Sforza (1401-1466): Self-made Duke -- Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472): Original Renaissance man -- Pope Pius II (1405-1464): Humanist, poet and pope -- Lorenzo Valla (1406-1457): Contentious for pleasure and for profit -- Alessandra Strozzi (1407-1471): Mother's dreams and marital schemes -- Isotta Nogorola (1418-1466): Young humanist turned holy woman -- Federico da Montefeltro (1422-1482): Artful Duke -- Lucrezia Tornabuoni (1425-1482): Side-stepping social strictures -- Gentile Bellini (1429?-1507): Portraits of faces and facades -- Mehmet II (1432-1481): Conqueror of Constantinople -- Emerging Nations: 1470-1495: -- William Caxton (died 1492): English books for English readers -- Heinrich Kramer (1430-1505): Inquisition's witch-hunter -- Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros (1436-1517): Grand inquisitor -- Felix Fabri (1441-1502): Pious pilgrim, wisecracking wanderer -- Antonio de Nebrija (1441-1522): Inventor of Spanish -- Matthias Corvinus (1443-1490): Hungary's humanist king -- Lorenzo de' Medici (1449-1492): Magnificent -- Luca Pacioli (1445/46-1517): Dazzled by divine numbers -- Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510): From Pagan scenes to apocalyptic themes -- Josquin des Prez (1450-1521): Restless choirmaster, star composer -- Aldus Manutius (1450?-1515): Printer and purveyor of pocket books -- Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519): This man will never do anything -- King Joao II (1455-1495): Perfect prince -- Antonio Rinaldeschi (died 1501): Gambler and blasphemer -- Sudden Shocks: -- 1490-1515: -- Christopher Columbus (1451-1506): Admiral of the ocean sea -- John Cabot (1451-1498): Sailor from Venice, explorer from England -- Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498): Fire in Florence -- Jakob Fugger (1459-1525): Financier of church and empire -- Desiderius Erasmus (1466/67-1536): Temperate revolutionary -- Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527): First political scientist -- Tommaso Inghirami (1470/71-1516): Hero of the Vatican, heroine of the stage -- Albrecht Durer (1471-1528): Renaissance comes to Germany -- Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543): Revolutionary of the celestial spheres -- Isabella d' Este (1474-1539): First lady of the Renaissance -- Cesare Borgia (1475-1507): To be imitated by all those who have risen to rule -- Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564): Miracles in paint and stone -- Baldassare Castiglione (1478-1529): Perfect courtier -- Raphael (1483-1520): Master of the high Renaissance -- Leo Africanus (1490-1554): Wanderer at heart, Christian by convenience -- Collapse Of The Old Order: 1510-1535: -- Hayreddin Barbarossa (died 1546): King of the Corsairs -- Lucas Cranach the elder (1472-1553): Reformation's illustrator -- Thomas More (1478-1535): Defending the 'good catholyke realme' -- Martin Luther (1483-1546): New church -- Bartolome de Las Casa (1484-1566): Apostle and missionary to the West Indies -- Titian (1485-1576): Dynamic colour in Venice -- Nicolaus Kratzer (1486/87-after 1550): Royal watchmaker and astrologer -- Bernard van Orley (1488-1541): Weaver of paintings -- Cristoforo da Messisbugo (1490-1548): Classic Italian cooking -- Vittoria Colonna (1490-1547): Divine rhymer -- Marguerite of Navarre (1492-1549): Royal writer, auxiliary queen -- Pietro Aretino (1492-1556): Scourge of kings' -- William Tyndale (1494-1536): Scripture translator, bible smuggler -- Francois Rabelais (1494-1553): Gargantuan talent -- Hans Holbein the younger (1497/98-1543): Mirror of princes -- Niccolo Tartaglia (1499/1500-1557): Stuttering savant -- New Wave: 1530-1550: -- Pope Paul IV (1476-1559): Most hated of popes -- Emperor Charles V (1500-1558): Emperor of the western world -- Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571): Great sculptor, better autobiographer -- St Francis Xavier (1506-1552): Apostle and missionary to the East Indies -- Andrea Palladio (1508-1580): Perfection in stone and brick -- Jean Calvin (1509-1564): Predestined by God -- Gracia Mendes Nasi (1510-1569): La Senora of the Sephardim -- Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564): Physician of the emperor, dissector of the dead -- St Teresa of Avila (1515-1582): God's ecstatic disciple -- Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589): Machiavellian queen -- Louise Labe (1520/24-1566): Jousting poetess -- Eleanor of Toledo (1522-1562): Duchess and party planner -- Framing Of Modernity 1550-1600: -- Laura Battiferra Ammannati (1523-1589): Sappho of her age -- Pieter Bruegel the elder (c 1525-1569): Peasant painter -- Dick Tarlton (died 1588): Queen's comedian -- Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525/26-1594): Saviour of sacred music -- Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527?-1593): Heads of state, heads of cabbage -- Sofonisba Anguissola (c 1532-1625): Feminine eye -- Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592): Literary art of introspection -- Arcangelo Tuccaro (c 1535-1602): Acrobat to the aristocracy -- Edmund Campion (1540-1581): One of the diamonds of England -- Catena (died 1581): Rustler, robber, bandit chief -- Veronica Franco (1546-1591): Courtesan and wordsmith -- Tycho Brahe (1546-1601): Lord of Star Castle -- Giordano Bruno (1548-1600): Burnt offering to science -- Isabella Andreini (1562-1604): Born to the stage -- Further reading -- Sources of quotations -- Sources of illustrations -- Index.