humanism summary

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CiceroMarcus Tullius Cicero, detail of a marble bust; in the Capitoline Museums, Rome.

humanism, Any belief, method, or philosophy that has a central emphasis on the human realm. The term is most commonly applied to the cultural movement in Renaissance Europe characterized by a revival of Classical letters, an individualistic and critical spirit, and a shift of emphasis from religious to secular concerns. This movement dates to the 13th century and the work of the Florentine scholar-statesman Brunetto Latini. Its diffusion was facilitated by the publication of Classical ideas, both in the vernacular and in Latin.

Niccolò Machiavelli Summary

Niccolò Machiavelli was an Italian Renaissance political philosopher and statesman, secretary of the Florentine republic, whose most famous work, The Prince (Il Principe), brought him a reputation as an atheist and an immoral cynic. From the 13th century onward, Machiavelli’s family was wealthy and

Andrea Palladio Summary

Andrea Palladio was an Italian architect, regarded as the greatest architect of 16th-century northern Italy. His designs for palaces (palazzi) and villas, notably the Villa Rotonda (1550–51) near Vicenza, and his treatise I quattro libri dell’architettura (1570; The Four Books of Architecture) made

Poliziano Summary

Poliziano was an Italian poet and humanist, a friend and protégé of Lorenzo de’ Medici, and one of the foremost classical scholars of the Renaissance. He was equally fluent in Greek, Italian, and Latin and was equally talented in poetry, philosophy, and philology. The murder of Poliziano’s father

Raphael: portrait of Baldassare Castiglione

Baldassare Castiglione Summary

Baldassare Castiglione was an Italian courtier, diplomat, and writer best known for his dialogue Il libro del cortegiano (1528; The Book of the Courtier). The son of a noble family, Castiglione was educated at the humanist school of Giorgio Merula and Demetrius Chalcondyles, and at the court of