Perhaps one of the most famous Renaissance paintings is the Mona Lisa, painted by Italian artist, Leonardo da Vinci. It is a typical Renaissance painting. It is famous for her haunting, inexplicable smile.

The Renaissance/Early Modern Period is distinguished from other periods in European history almost entirely in intellectual or cultural terms. The period is more or less considered as playing out what had been set up in the later Middle Ages. European historians overwhelmingly tend to place Europe's major break with its medieval and classical past with the discovery of America and the Reformation.

The Renaissance is defined as the revival or rebirth of the arts; the period in European civilization immediately following the Middle Ages; conventionally held to have been characterized by a surge of interest in classical learning and values. Beginning in Italy in 1400, it spread throughout Western Europe lasting until 1600. It was during this time that Europe was busy pulling herself out of the economic stagnation of the Middle Ages. With this new financial growth came political, scientific and social energy unlike any experienced before. Artistically, it was a t

 Larger than life figures appear in German art.

 Chiaroscuro (the balance of light and dark was for the first time shown within a picture by using shadows rather than blocky outlines).

Humanism is considered to be the most significant intellectual movement of the Renaissance. As its name implies, humanism was a philosophy that was characterized by blending concern with the history and actions of all human beings, and their influences on the world with religious duty. Prior to Renaissance thinking Medieval Europe considered life to be sinful--that people should only be concerned about their duty to God and the afterlife. The humanists thought that every person has respect and worth and therefore should command the respect of every other person. The humanistic movement began during the early Italian Renaissance with the rediscovery of the writings of classical Greeks and Romans, which were not only models of literary style, but considered to be guides to the understanding of life.

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