Renaissance narratives

The Renaissance was a cultural movement in late medieval and early modern Europe. Most historians agree that it started in the Italian city-state of Florence in the fourteenth century. Over time, Renaissance ideas spread across Europe.

The Renaissance produced dramatic changes in European art, architecture, and culture. Artists of this time, including Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci, embraced realism and individualism. Artistic styles moved away from a focus on religion. Humanist scholars combined ideas from Christianity with those of the Greeks and Romans. They believed that human achievements were as important as religious theory. Architects imitated the style of Roman and Greek ruins. The artists and writers of the Italian Renaissance believed they were creating something totally new by reviving the teachings of the ancient world.

The term Renaissance (French for “rebirth”) was coined by European historians in the 1800s. They portrayed the Renaissance as something uniquely European, supporting narratives about the “rise of the West.” These historians justified the expansion of European empires by claiming cultural superiority.

Challenging narratives is central to the work of historians. To evaluate the narratives of the Renaissance, we need to answer some questions: Who participated in the Renaissance? Where did it take place? And why did it start?

Renaissance “man”

The Renaissance was important—if you were a wealthy, educated man. For most people living in Europe, the Renaissance was not something they experienced or noticed.

Although men were largely behind the Renaissance, women were not silent in this period. Christine de Pisan, for example, wrote dozens of works of poetry and political theory, arguing for women’s education. Catherine de’ Medici, the queen of France, held significant political power. Others supported the arts and were artists themselves. These women also came almost exclusively from the upper classes. Today, the phrase “Renaissance Man” is used to describe someone who has broad knowledge in many topics. Among the wealthy classes, at least, it seems there were plenty of “Renaissance Women.”

However, life did not change for the vast majority of the population. For most people, changes started by the Renaissance would not be felt for generations.

An economic rebirth

The Renaissance came at the end of a period of great chaos in Europe. The Black Death had killed millions of people. Wars, such as the Hundred Years War between France and England, created instability and hurt trade. By the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Europe calmed down enough to allow trade networks to expand.

Patterns of wealth and labor changed. As more people had the money for luxury goods, demand for trade increased. Italian merchants grew wealthy from trade, and Italian cities emerged as commercial hubs. Powerful banking families, like the Medici in Florence, dominated local politics.

Wealthy merchants, bankers, and rulers funded the arts of the Renaissance. They supported artists like Donatello, Botticelli, and Titian. In many cases, the wealthy commissioned, or paid for, elaborate portraits of themselves. Some had their family inserted into paintings of biblical or historical scenes.

Afro-Eurasian trade networks heavily influenced the Renaissance. Trade brought new dyes from Central and South Asia for Renaissance painters. Bankers relied on mathematical concepts developed by Arabic and Indian scholars. Even the technologies behind the printing press were probably the result of Afro-Eurasian trade. Ideas behind printing and papermaking were first developed in China, Korea, and the Islamic world.

Renaissance sultans

Another narrative maintains that Renaissance art was inspired by ancient Greece and Rome. But there was a large influence from the east, as well.

In the east, the Ottomans rose to a position of dominance after taking Constantinople in 1453. As the Ottomans expanded their empire, they also supported architectural, artistic, and intellectual progress. The sultan hired Italian artists and architects to work in his court. These artists drew inspiration from the art and architecture of the great Islamic cities.

Muslim scholars preserved Greek and Roman texts. Renaissance poets and writers were inspired by themes in Islamic poetry. Much of the architecture of the Italian Renaissance was modeled on the great cities to the east, such as Aleppo, Cairo, and Tabriz.

The painting above shows the Christian Saint Mark preaching in Alexandria, Egypt. His audience is a crowd of Muslim men. However, Islam was not actually founded until 600 years after Saint Mark’s death. The Italian Renaissance was as much defined by its exchange with Islamic culture as its rediscovery of Greco-Roman styles.

Legacies of the Renaissance

Trade also inspired some Europeans to sail south along Africa’s western coast. European merchants bought silks and spices from the Ottomans. Italian merchants sent Portuguese sailors to bring back gold from West Africa. These voyages also introduced Europe to West African art.

The painting on the next page, by an unknown artist, shows the waterfront of the Portuguese capital of Lisbon. Many of these people are enslaved Black people, but the painting also features several free Black people. It shows Black and white people dancing together. In the middle-right, a Black man rides a horse. He is a knight of the Order of Santiago. This painting and many others show that European cities featured racial, ethnic, and religious diversity.

However, this painting reminds us that systems of racism and enslavement were also developing. The Portuguese voyages to West Africa returned with enslaved Africans. By the mid-fifteenth century, slavery was common in the Italian city-states and the Iberian Peninsula. The great cultural achievements of the Renaissance were made possible by the same economy that benefited from the enslavement of millions.