Italian Renaissance
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The Italian Renaissance (Italian: Rinascimento [rinaʃʃiˈmento]) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Western Europe and marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity. Proponents of a "long Renaissance" argue that it started around the year 1300 and lasted until about 1600.[1] In some fields, a Proto-Renaissance, beginning around 1250, is typically accepted. The French word renaissance (corresponding to rinascimento in Italian) means "rebirth", and defines the period as one of cultural revival and renewed interest in classical antiquity after the centuries during what Renaissance humanists labelled as the "Dark Ages". The Italian Renaissance historian Giorgio Vasari used the term rinascita ("rebirth") in his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects in 1550, but the concept became widespread only in the 19th century, after the work of scholars such as Jules Michelet and Jacob Burckhardt.
The Renaissance began in
The Italian Renaissance has a reputation for its achievements in
Accounts of proto-
Origins and background
Northern and Central Italy in the Late Middle Ages
By the Late Middle Ages (c. 1300 onward), Latium, the former heartland of the Roman Empire, and southern Italy were generally poorer than the North. Rome was a city of ancient ruins, and the Papal States were loosely administered, and vulnerable to external interference, particularly by France, and later Spain. The Papacy was affronted when the Avignon Papacy was created in southern France as a consequence of pressure from King Philip the Fair of France.[5] In the south, Sicily had for some time been under foreign domination, by the Arabs and then the Normans. Sicily had prospered for 150 years during the Emirate of Sicily and later for two centuries during the Norman Kingdom and the Hohenstaufen Kingdom, but had declined by the late Middle Ages.[6]
In contrast, Northern and Central Italy had become far more prosperous, and it has been calculated that the region was among the richest in Europe. The
The Italian trade routes that covered the Mediterranean and beyond were also major conduits of culture and knowledge. The
Religious background
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century AD, the Catholic Church filled the subsequent vacuum.[10] In the Middle Ages, the Church was considered to be conveying the will of God, and it regulated the standard of behaviour in life. A lack of literacy required most people to rely on the priest's explanation of the Bible and laws.[11]
In the eleventh century, the Church persecuted many groups including pagans, Jews, and lepers in order to eliminate irregularities in society and strengthen its power.[12] In response to the laity's challenge to Church authority, bishops played an important role, as they gradually lost control of secular authority, and to regain the power of discourse, they adopted extreme control methods, such as persecuting infidels.[13]
The Church also collected wealth from believers in the Middle Ages, such as through the sale of indulgences. It also did not pay taxes, making the Church's wealth even more than some kings.[14]
Thirteenth century
In the 13th century, much of Europe experienced strong economic growth. The trade routes of the Italian states linked with those of established Mediterranean ports and eventually the
The new mercantile governing class, who gained their position through financial skill, adapted to their purposes the
This change also gave the merchants almost complete control of the governments of the Italian city-states, again enhancing trade. One of the most important effects of this political control was security. Those who grew extremely wealthy in a feudal state ran the constant risk of running afoul of the monarchy and having their lands confiscated, as famously occurred to Jacques Cœur in France. The northern states also kept many medieval laws that severely hampered commerce, such as those against usury, and prohibitions on trading with non-Christians. In the city-states of Italy, these laws were repealed or rewritten.[16]
Fourteenth-century collapse
The 14th century saw a series of catastrophes that caused the European economy to go into recession. The
It was during this period of instability that authors such as
Unlike Roman texts, which had been preserved and studied in Western Europe since late antiquity, the study of ancient Greek texts was very limited in medieval Italy. Ancient Greek works on science, maths and philosophy had been studied since the High Middle Ages in Western Europe and in the Islamic Golden Age (normally in translation), but Greek literary, oratorical and historical works (such as Homer, the Greek dramatists, Demosthenes and Thucydides) were not studied in either the Latin or medieval Muslim worlds; in the Middle Ages these sorts of texts were only studied by Byzantine scholars. Some argue that the Timurid Renaissance in Samarkand was linked with the Ottoman Empire, whose conquests led to the migration of Greek scholars to Italy.[20][21][22][23] One of the greatest achievements of Italian Renaissance scholars was to bring this entire class of Greek cultural works back into Western Europe for the first time since late antiquity.
Another popular explanation for the Italian Renaissance is the thesis, first advanced by historian
Baron's thesis suggests that during these long wars, the leading figures of Florence rallied the people by presenting the war as one between the free republic and a despotic monarchy, between the ideals of the Greek and Roman Republics and those of the Roman Empire and Medieval kingdoms. For Baron, the most important figure in crafting this ideology was
Development
International relationships
Northern Italy and upper Central Italy were divided into a number of warring
The first part of the Renaissance saw almost constant warfare on land and sea as the city-states vied for preeminence. On land, these wars were primarily fought by armies of mercenaries known as
At sea, Italian city-states sent many fleets out to do battle. The main contenders were Pisa, Genoa, and Venice, but after a long conflict, the Genoese succeeded in reducing Pisa. Venice proved to be a more powerful adversary, and with the decline of Genoese power during the 15th century Venice became pre-eminent on the seas. In response to threats from the landward side, from the early 15th century Venice developed an increased interest in controlling the terrafirma as the Venetian Renaissance opened.
On land, decades of fighting saw Florence, Milan, and Venice emerge as the dominant players, and these three powers finally set aside their differences and agreed to the
Florence under the Medici
Until the late 14th century, prior to the Medici, Florence's leading family were the
The main challengers of the
Florence remained a republic until 1532 (see
Cosimo was succeeded by his sickly son
Spread
Renaissance ideals first spread from Florence to the neighbouring states of
In 1417 the Papacy returned to Rome, but that once-imperial city remained poor and largely in ruins through the first years of the Renaissance.
The nature of the Renaissance also changed in the late 15th century. The Renaissance ideal was fully adopted by the ruling classes and the aristocracy. In the early Renaissance artists were seen as craftsmen with little prestige or recognition. By the later Renaissance, the top figures wielded great influence and could charge great fees. A flourishing trade in Renaissance art developed. While in the early Renaissance many of the leading artists were of lower- or middle-class origins, increasingly they became aristocrats.[38]
Wider population
As a cultural movement, the Italian Renaissance affected only a small part of the population. Italy was the most urbanized region of Europe, but three-quarters of the people were still rural peasants.
The situation differed in the cities. These were dominated by a commercial elite; as exclusive as the aristocracy of any Medieval kingdom. This group became the main patrons of and audience for Renaissance culture. Below them, there was a large class of artisans and guild members who lived comfortable lives and had significant power in the republican governments. This was in sharp contrast to the rest of Europe where artisans were firmly in the lower class. Literate and educated, this group participated in the Renaissance culture.[42] The largest section of the urban population was the urban poor of semi-skilled workers and the unemployed. Like the peasants, the Renaissance had little effect on them. Historians debate how easy it was to move between these groups during the Italian Renaissance. Examples of individuals who rose from humble beginnings can be instanced, but Burke notes two major studies in this area that have found that the data do not clearly demonstrate an increase in social mobility. Most historians feel that early in the Renaissance social mobility was quite high, but that it faded over the course of the 15th century.[43] Inequality in society was very high. An upper-class figure would control hundreds of times more income than a servant or labourer. Some historians see this unequal distribution of wealth as important to the Renaissance, as art patronage relies on the very wealthy.[44]
The Renaissance was not a period of great social or economic change, only of cultural and ideological development. It only touched a small fraction of the population, and in modern times this has led many historians, such as any that follow
The waning of the Renaissance in Italy
The end of the Italian Renaissance is as imprecisely marked as its starting point. For many, the rise to power in Florence of the austere monk
Under the suppression of the Catholic Church and the ravages of war, humanism became "akin to heresy".[48]
Equally important was the end of stability with a series of foreign invasions of Italy known as the Italian Wars that would continue for several decades. These began with the 1494 invasion by France that wreaked widespread devastation on Northern Italy and ended the independence of many of the city-states. Most damaging was the 6 May 1527, Spanish and German troops' sacking Rome that for two decades all but ended the role of the Papacy as the largest patron of Renaissance art and architecture.[38]
While the Italian Renaissance was fading, the
This spread north was also representative of a larger trend. No longer was the Mediterranean Europe's most important trade route. In 1498, Vasco da Gama reached India, and from that date the primary route of goods from the Orient was through the Atlantic ports of Lisbon, Seville, Nantes, Bristol, and London.
Culture
Literature and poetry
The thirteenth-century Italian literary revolution helped set the stage for the Renaissance. Before the Renaissance, the Italian language was not the literary language in Italy. It was only in the 13th century that Italian authors began writing in their native language rather than Latin, French, or Provençal. The 1250s saw a major change in Italian poetry as the Dolce Stil Novo (Sweet New Style, which emphasized Platonic rather than courtly love) came into its own, pioneered by poets like Guittone d'Arezzo and Guido Guinizelli. Especially in poetry, major changes in Italian literature had been taking place decades before the Renaissance truly began.
With the printing of books initiated in Venice by
In the early Italian Renaissance, much of the focus was on translating and studying classic works from Latin and Greek. Renaissance authors were not content to rest on the laurels of ancient authors, however. Many authors attempted to integrate the methods and styles of the ancient Greeks into their own works. Among the most emulated Romans are Cicero, Horace, Sallust, and Virgil. Among the Greeks, Aristotle, Homer, and Plato were now being read in the original for the first time since the 4th century, though Greek compositions were few.
The literature and poetry of the Renaissance were largely influenced by the developing science and philosophy. The humanist
Petrarch's disciple,
Aside from Christianity, classical antiquity, and scholarship, a fourth influence on Renaissance literature was politics. The political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli's most famous works are Discourses on Livy, Florentine Histories and finally The Prince, which has become so well known in modern societies that the word Machiavellian has come to refer to the cunning and ruthless actions advocated by the book.[50] Along with many other Renaissance works, The Prince remains a relevant and influential work of literature today.
Many Italian Renaissance humanists also praised and affirmed the beauty of the body in poetry and literature.[51] In Baldassare Rasinus's panegyric for Francesco Sforza, Rasinus considered that beautiful people usually have virtue.[52] In northern Italy, humanists had discussions about the connection between physical beauty and inner virtues. In Renaissance Italy, virtue and beauty were often linked together to praise men.[51]
Philosophy
One role of Petrarch is as the founder of a new method of scholarship, Renaissance humanism.
Petrarch encouraged the study of the
While concern for philosophy, art, and literature all increased greatly in the Renaissance, the period is usually seen as one of scientific backwardness. The reverence for classical sources further enshrined the Aristotelian and Ptolemaic views of the universe. Humanism stressed that nature came to be viewed as an animate spiritual creation that was not governed by laws or mathematics. At the same time, philosophy lost much of its rigour as the rules of logic and deduction were seen as secondary to intuition and emotion.
Science and technology
During the Renaissance, great advances occurred in geography, astronomy, chemistry, physics, mathematics, manufacturing, anatomy and engineering. The collection of ancient scientific texts began in earnest at the start of the 15th century and continued up to the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, and the invention of printing democratized learning and allowed a faster propagation of new ideas.[53] Although humanists often favoured human-centred subjects like politics and history over study of natural philosophy or applied mathematics, many others went beyond these interests and had a positive influence on mathematics and science by rediscovering lost or obscure texts and by emphasizing the study of original languages and the correct reading of texts.[54][55][56]
Italian universities such as Padua, Bologna and Pisa were scientific centres of renown and with many northern European students, the science of the Renaissance spread to Northern Europe and flourished there as well. Figures such as
Mathematics
Major developments in mathematics include the spread of algebra throughout Europe, especially Italy.[59] Luca Pacioli published a book on mathematics at the end of the fifteenth century, in which he first published positive and negative signs. Basic mathematical symbols were introduced by Simon Stevin in the 16th and early 17th centuries. Symbolic algebra was established by the French mathematician François Viete in the 16th century. He published "Introduction to Analytical Methods" in 1591, systematically sorting out algebra, and for the first time consciously using letters to represent unknown and known numbers. In his other book "On the Recognition and Correction of Equations", Viete improved the solution of the third-degree and fourth-degree equations, and also established the relationship between the roots and coefficients of quadratic and cubic equations, which is called "Viete's formulas" now. Trigonometry also achieved greater development during the Renaissance. The German mathematician Regiomontanus's "On Triangles of All Kinds" was Europe's first trigonometric work independent of astronomy. The book systematically elaborated plane triangles and spherical triangles, as well as a very precise table of trigonometric functions.[60]
Painting and sculpture
In painting, the Late Medieval painter Giotto di Bondone, or Giotto, helped shape the artistic concepts that later defined much of the Renaissance art. The key ideas that he explored – classicism, the illusion of three-dimensional space and a realistic emotional context – inspired other artists such as Masaccio, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.[61] He was not the only Medieval artist to develop these ideas, however; the artists Pietro Cavallini and Cimabue both influenced Giotto's use of statuesque figures and expressive storylines.[62][63]
The
While mathematical precision and classical idealism fascinated painters in Rome and Florence, many Northern artists in the regions of Venice, Milan and Parma preferred highly
In sculpture, the Florentine artist Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, or
The period known as the High Renaissance of painting was the culmination of the varied means of expression
High Renaissance painting evolved into Mannerism, especially in Florence. Mannerist artists, who consciously rebelled against the principles of High Renaissance, tend to represent elongated figures in illogical spaces. Modern scholarship has recognized the capacity of Mannerist art to convey strong (often religious) emotion where the High Renaissance failed to do so. Some of the main artists of this period are Pontormo, Bronzino, Rosso Fiorentino, Parmigianino and Raphael's pupil Giulio Romano.[78]
Architecture
In Florence, the Renaissance style was introduced with a revolutionary but incomplete monument by
In Mantua, Alberti ushered in the new antique style, though his culminating work,
The
During the Italian Renaissance, mathematics was developed and spread widely. As a result, some Renaissance architects used mathematical knowledge like calculation in their drawings, such as Baldassarre Peruzzi.[79]
Music
In Italy, during the 14th century, there was an explosion of musical activity that corresponded in scope and level of innovation to the activity in the other arts. Although
The predominant forms of
By the late 16th century, Italy was the musical centre of Europe. Almost all of the innovations which were to define the transition to the
Historiography
Any unified theory of a renaissance, or cultural overhaul, during the European early modern period, is overwhelmed by a massive volume of differing historiographical approaches. Historians like Jacob Burckhardt (1818–1897) have often romanticized the enlightened vision that Italian Renaissance writers have promulgated concerning their own narrative of denouncing the fruitlessness of the Middle Ages. By promoting the Renaissance as the definitive end to the "stagnant" Middle Ages, the Renaissance has acquired the powerful and enduring association with progress and prosperity for which Burckhardt's The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy is most responsible.[80] Modern scholars have objected to this prevailing narrative, citing the medieval period's own vibrancy and key continuities that link, rather than divide, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Elizabeth Lehfeldt (2005) points to the Black Death as a turning point in Europe that set in motion several movements that were gaining massive traction in the years before, and has accounted for many subsequent events and trends in Western civilization, such as the Reformation. Rather than see this as a distinct cutoff between eras of history, the rejuvenated approach to studying the Renaissance aims to look at this as a catalyst that accelerated trends in art and science that were already well developed. For example, Danse Macabre, the artistic movement using death as the focal point, is often credited as a Renaissance trend, yet Lehfeldt argues that the emergence of Gothic art during medieval times was morphed into Danse Macabre after the Black Death swept over Europe.[81]
Recent historians who take a more revisionist perspective, such as
Burckhardt famously described the Middle Ages as a period that was "seen clad in strange hues", promoting the idea that this era was inherently dark, confusing, and unprogressive. The term middle ages was first referred to by humanists such as Petrarch and Biondo, during the late 15th century, describing it as a period connecting an important beginning and an important end, and as a placeholder for the history that exists between both sides of the period. This period was eventually referred to as the "dark" ages in the 19th century by English historians, which has further tainted the narrative of medieval times in favour of promoting a positive feeling of individualism and humanism that spurred from the Renaissance.[83]
See also
Notes
- ISBN 9780521467773, 0521467772, Google Books
- ^ Burke, P., The European Renaissance: Centre and Peripheries (1998)
- ^ Compre: Sée, Henri. "Modern Capitalism Its Origin and Evolution" (PDF). University of Rennes. Batoche Books. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-07. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
The origin and development of capitalism in Italy are illustrated by the economic life of the great city of Florence.
- ISBN 9781466884991.
[...] Let us look for a moment at Europe just after the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, almost two hundred years after the date that we choose to mark the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. [...] The religious war was over. The Reformation and the Counter-Reformation were things of the past. Truly we can say that the Renaissance had ended. [...]
- ^ "Filippo IV il Bello re di Francia" (in Italian). Retrieved 21 December 2021.
- ^ Massimo Costa. Storia istituzionale e politica della Sicilia. Un compendio. Amazon. Palermo. 2019. pp. 177-190, ISBN 9781091175242
- ^ "Quarta crociata: conquista e saccheggio di Costantinopoli" (in Italian). 13 April 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
- ^ "Genova, Repubblica di" (in Italian). Retrieved 21 December 2021.
- ^ Jensen 1992, p. 95
- ^ "How the Church Dominated Life in the Middle Ages". History Hit. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
- ^ "The Medieval Church". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
- ISBN 978-1-5017-2820-4.
- JSTOR 23550005.
- ISBN 978-1-315-59599-3.
- ^ Burke 1999, p. 232
- ^ Burke 1999, p. 93
- ^ Jensen 1992, p. 97; see also Andrew B. Appleby's "Epidemics and Famine in the Little Ice Age." Journal of Interdisciplinary History. Vol. 10 No. 4.
- ^ Olea, Ricardo A, Christakos, George, "Duration of Urban Mortality for the 14th-Century Black Death Epidemic" Archived 2008-12-06 at the Wayback Machine, Human Biology, Jun 2005. The population level of Florence is controversial see also Ziegler (1969, pp. 51–52), Chandler 1987, pp. 16–18, and Gottfried 1983, p. 46
- ^ Lopez, Robert Sabatino. "Hard Times and Investment in Culture."
- ^ The Connoisseur – Volume 219 – Page 128
- ^ Europe in the second millenium: a hegemony achieved? – Page 58
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica, Renaissance, 2008, O.Ed.
- ISBN 0-8108-3724-2
- ISBN 0-691-00752-7
- ISSN 1096-746X.
- ^ Jensen 1992, p. 64.
- ISBN 0867060859.
- ^ Kenneth Bartlett, The Italian Renaissance, Chapter 7, p. 37, Volume II, 2005.
- ^ "History of Florence". Aboutflorence.com. Retrieved 2009-05-26.
- ^ Strathern, p 18
- ^ Crum, Roger J. Severing the Neck of Pride: Donatello's "Judith and Holofernes" and the Recollection of Albizzi Shame in Medicean Florence. Artibus et Historiae, Volume 22, Edit 44, 2001. pp. 23–29.
- ISBN 0867060859.
- ^ ISBN 0867060859.
- ^ Lorenzo de' Medici
- ^ "Pazzi conspiracy | Renaissance, Florence, Lorenzo de' Medici | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 2023-12-19. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
- ^ Jensen 1992, p. 80
- ISBN 5-85050-825-2
- ^ a b c Burke 1999, p. 271.
- ^ Burke 1999, p. 256.
- ^ Jensen 1992, p. 105.
- ^ Burke 1999, p. 246.
- ^ Jensen 1992, p. 104.
- ^ Burke 1999, p. 255.
- OCLC 613989155.
- ^
Osborne, Roger (2008-01-10). Civilization: A New History of the Western World. Random House (published 2008). p. 183. ISBN 9780099526063. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
- ^ Osborne, Roger, Civilization: A New History of the Western World Pegasus, NY, 2006
- ^ Cast, David. "Review: Fra Girolamo Savonarola: Florentine Art and Renaissance Historiography by Ronald M. Steinberg". The Art Bulletin, Volume 61, No. 1, March 1979. pp. 134–136.
- ^ "Italian Renaissance". HISTORY. 17 July 2020. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
- ISBN 978-1-938026-79-9.
- ^ "Machiavelli is the only political thinker whose name has come into common use for designating a kind of politics, which exists and will continue to exist independently of his influence, a politics guided exclusively by considerations of expediency, which uses all means, fair or foul, iron or poison, for achieving its ends – its end being the aggrandizement of one's country or fatherland – but also using the fatherland in the service of the self-aggrandizement of the politician or statesman or one's party." -Leo Strauss, "Niccolo Machiavelli", in Strauss, Leo; Cropsey, Joseph (eds.), History of Political Philosophy (3rd ed.), University of Chicago Press
- ^ S2CID 190242716.
- S2CID 165631005.
- ISBN 978-0-486-28115-5.
- JSTOR 2857013.
- ^ "Mathematics - Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library & Renaissance Culture | Exhibitions - Library of Congress". www.loc.gov. 1993-01-08. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
- ISBN 978-1-4612-0803-7, retrieved 2021-04-09
- ISBN 978-0-486-28115-5.
- ISBN 978-1-4109-4644-7.
- ISSN 2050-5833.
- ISBN 978-94-009-5999-6.
- ^ "Giotto". National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
- ISBN 9781884446054
- ^ Hayden B. J. Maginnis, Painting in the Age of Giotto: A Historical Reevaluation (1997)
- ISBN 9781884446054.
- ^ Zucker, Steven; Harris, Beth. "Masaccio, Holy Trinity". Smarthistory. Retrieved 2019-01-07.
- ^ Bayer, Andrea. "Northern Italian Renaissance Painting". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (October 2006).
- ^ a b Frederick Hartt, and David G. Wilkins, History of Italian Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture (2003)
- ^ Rollyson, Carl Rollyson. 2018. "Donatello". Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia. Accessed 8 January 2019.
- ^ "Il David di Donatello – Lettura d'opera" (in Italian). 11 September 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
- ^ Manfred Wundrum "Renaissance and Mannerism" in Masterpieces of Western Art, Tashen, 2007. Page 147
- ^ Alexander Raunch "Painting of the High Renaissance and Mannerism in Rome and Central Italy" in The Italian Renaissance: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Drawing, Konemann, Cologne, 1995. Pg. 308; Wundrum Pg. 147
- ^ Frederick Hartt and David G. Wilkins, History of Italian Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, 2003.
- ^ Raunch pg. 309
- ^ Wundrum pg. 148; Hartt and Wilkins
- ^ Wundrum pg. 147; Hartt and Wilkins
- ^ Frederick Hartt, A History of Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture; Harry N. Abrams Incorporated, New York, 1985, pg. 601; Wundrum pg. 147; Marilyn Stokstad Art History, Third Edition, Pearson Education Inc., New Jersey, 2008. Pg 659
- ^ Stokstad, Pg. 659
- ^ Jane Turner, ed. Encyclopedia of Italian Renaissance and Mannerist Art (2000)
- S2CID 146606446.
- ^ "The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy". Retrieved 18 December 2021.
- ^ Lehfeldt, Elizabeth A. "The Black Death", History Department Books 3 (2005). https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/clhist_bks/3
- ^ Haskins, Charles H. The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1955. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.02003.0001.001.
- doi:10.2307/2650568
References
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- Baron, Hans. The Crisis of the Early Italian Renaissance: Civic Humanism and Republican Liberty in an Age of Classicism and Tyranny. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1966.
- Bayer, A. (2004). Painters of Reality: The Legacy of Leonardo and Caravaggio in Lombardy. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 9781588391162.
- Bayer, A., ed. (2008). Art and love in Renaissance Italy. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 9780300124118.
- Burckhardt, Jacob. The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy. 1878 (online).
- Burke, Peter. The Italian Renaissance: Culture and Society in Italy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999.
- Capra, Fritjof (2008). The Science of Leonardo. Inside the Mind of the Great Genius of the Renaissance. Doubleday, ISBN 978-0-385-51390-6.
- Ceriani Sebregondi, Giulia. On Architectural Practice and Arithmetic Abilities in Renaissance Italy. Architectural Histories, vol. 3, no. 1, 2015 (online).
- Cronin, Vincent:
- The Florentine Renaissance. 1967, ISBN 0-00-211262-0.
- The Flowering of the Renaissance. 1969, ISBN 0-7126-9884-1.
- The Renaissance. 1992, ISBN 0-00-215411-0.
- The Florentine Renaissance. 1967,
- Hagopian, Viola L. "Italy", in Stanley Sadie (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980.
- Hay, Denys. The Italian Renaissance in Its Historical Background. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977.
- Jensen, De Lamar. Renaissance Europe. 1992.
- Jurdjevic, Mark. "Hedgehogs and Foxes: The Present and Future of Italian Renaissance Intellectual History", in Past & Present 195 (2007), p. 241–268.
- Keele, Kenneth D.; Roberts, Jane (1983). Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomical Drawings from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 0-87099-362-3.
- Lopez, Robert Sabatino. The Three Ages of the Italian Renaissance. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1970.
- Pullan, Brian S. History of Early Renaissance Italy. London: Lane, 1973.
- Raffini, Christine. Marsilio Ficino, Pietro Bembo, Baldassare Castiglione: Philosophical, Aesthetic, and Political Approaches in Renaissance Platonism. Renaissance and Baroque Studies and Texts 21, Peter Lang Publishing, 1998, ISBN 0-8204-3023-4.
- Ruggiero, Guido. The Renaissance in Italy: A Social and Cultural History of the Rinascimento. Cambridge University Press, 2015 (online review).