Renaissance Artists and Writers

The Renaissance was probably most famous for the artists and writers that contributed to this movement. Some of these famous artists and writers are: Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Erasmus, Dante, and Petrarch.

Michelangelo (1475–1564) was a very skilled painter and sculptor. All his paintings have a 3d effect, and he sculpted from front to back, setting the standard for this art. This method in art was used in the Renaissance period.

Three of his most famous works were: The Pietà, David, and the Sistine Chapel Ceiling.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was an artist, architect, musician, engineer, scientist, and inventor. Although he sketched many inventions (a tank, car, repeating rifle, etc.), Leonardo is most famous for his paintings, especially the Mona Lisa. He used warm colors to denote fog in the painting, one of the few people to do that in that day.

Some of his major works include: The Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, and the Vitruvian Man.

Raphael (1483-1520) was another very important painter. He tried to make all his paintings look realistic. He also put realistic expressions on the characters in his paintings. He was thought to be the most detailed of all painters.

Some of his famous works include: The School of Athens, the Transfiguration, and the Sistine Madonna.

Erasmus (1466–1536) was a famous writer of the Renaissance. He wrote "In Praise of Folly", a handbook on manners for children, and is regarded as the greatest humanist.

Some of his major works include "In Praise of Folly", "Adagia", and the "Institutio principis Christiani".

Dante (1265–1321) was an Italian poet, writer, and philosopher. He was one of the most famous Renaissance writers and wrote "The Divine Comedy". He also was key in establishing vernacular.

Some of his major works include "The Divine Comedy", "On Eloquence in the Vernacular", and "The New Life".

Petrarch (1304–1374) was a famous poet, whose works influenced many other Renaissance writers. He became a model for lyrical poetry and was the first to establish a concept of the "Dark Ages", although most modern scholars find it misleading and inaccurate. I think that the concept of "Dark Ages" is inaccurate because learning was still going on in the early Medieval time period.

His most famous works include: "Fragments of Vernacular Matters", "The Triumphs", and "Letters of Old Age".

These artists and writers were important figures of the Renaissance period. They brought new advances to art and writing, like making their paintings more detailed and realistic. The writing of that time closely mirrored Greek or Roman writings, and were very significant to setting up vernacular as the common language instead of Latin.