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| 788038135 | Bellini, Giovanni (1430 - 1516) | One of many important B-names in Renaissance art, was a Venetian painter of the High Renaissance period. He used deep colors and rich chiaroscuro. | |
| 788038136 | Boccaccio (1313-1375) | Author of The Decameron, a work of secular stories that were actually his personal commentary on Italian society in the 14th century. The themes of sex, cheating and ambition somewhat resembled tabloid reporting or daytime television today. | |
| 788038137 | Borgia, Cesare (1475 - 1507) | Italian Prince who Machiavelli used as a model for his famous treatise, The Prince. According to Machiavelli, Borgia put too much weight on his allegiance with the Pope and ultimately lost his power as a result. | |
| 788038138 | Bosch, Hieronymus (1450 - 1516) | Bosch was a Dutch painter who was a surrealist before there was surrealism. He had a liking for huge, detailed scenes focused on the macabre: hell, death, and torture. | |
| 788038139 | Botticelli, Sandro (1444 - 1510) | The Birth of Venus is his most recognized work. He emphasizes humanist traits by depicting an ancient Roman goddess standing in contrapposto. | |
| 788038140 | Brueghel the Elder, Peter (1520 - 1569) | Brueghel the Elder, a Flemish painter, was unique in that he basically ignored the Italian styles and focused more on common subjects such as peasants and pastoral scenes. | |
| 788038141 | Brunelleschi, Filippo (1377-1446) | Sometimes called the "Father of Perspective," he was also the architect of Il Duomo - at the time the largest domed structure in Europe. The dome sits atop the Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. | |
| 788038142 | Bruni, Leonardo (1370-1444) | An early Italian humanist, he coined the phrase "humanism." The term is derived from the Latin humanitas used by the ancient Roman writer Cicero to describe a course of study for "civilized" beings. | |
| 788038143 | Buonarroti, Michelangelo (1475 - 1564) | One of the most prolific Renaissance artists, he is usually referred to just as Michelangelo. His works range from the David, whose well-proportioned limbs were designed to glorify the human form, to the incredible ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and finally to the dome which sits atop St. Peter's Cathedral in the Vatican City. | |
| 788038144 | Castiglione, Baldassare (1478 - 1529) | In 1528, Castiglione published The Book of the Courtier, which many consider to be the most influential work on education of the Renaissance. The idea of the "Renaissance Man" was described by him to be virtuous, refined, and a student of the liberal arts - perfectly well suited to artistic, written and spiritual pursuits. | |
| 788038145 | Cereta, Laura (1469 - 1499) | Cereta was an Italian humanist and educator whose writings on feminism survive as letters. | |
| 788038146 | Charles VIII (1470 - 1498) | (1470 - 1498): He was a conniving King of France who initiated the Franco-Italian Wars. | |
| 788038147 | Chaucer, Geoffrey | (1343-1400): Sometimes referred to as the "Father of English Literature", Chaucer's hilarious fiction explored the line between secular and religious culture in late medieval England. The interests in secular culture and vernacular languages were key elements of the Northern Renaissance. | |
| 788038148 | da Vinci, Leonardo | (1452 - 1519): Known as the quintessential "Renaissance Man" as he was a painter, sculptor, inventor, writer, scientist and engineer. Several famous works are attributed to da Vinci, but the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper are the most recognizable. | |
| 788038149 | de Cervantes, Miguel | (1547 - 1616): Author of Don Quixote, which is considered one of the greatest pieces of Spanish literature, he shunned religious themes in favor of secular stories of sex, violence and intrigue. | |
| 788038150 | d'Este, Isabella | (1474 - 1539): She was a wealthy courtier who ruled Mantua after the death of her husband, providing an example for other Renaissance women to break their traditional roles in Italian society. | |
| 788038151 | de Medici, Cosimo | (1389 - 1464): Cosimo was the ruler of Florence during most of the Renaissance and is the "father" of the Medici dynasty. | |
| 788038152 | de Medici, Giovanni | (1421 - 1463): The son of Cosimo de Medici and a heavy patron of the arts, his patronage helped to fuel the High Renaissance. | |
| 788038153 | de Medici, Lorenzo | (1449 - 1492): Also known as Lorenzo the Magnificent, he was the grandson of Cosimo de Medici. He took over Florence after the death of his father Piero the Gouty. Like his uncle Giovanni before him, he was an enthusiastic patron of the arts. | |
| 788038154 | della Mirandola, Pico | (1463-1494): Author of "Oration on the Dignity of Man," which explored the positive Platonic idea of human potential ("Platonic," by the way, is not just a fancy word to describe people who are just friends—it's a fancy word to describe anything based on the writings of the Greek philosopher Plato, whose ideas made a big comeback during the Italian Renaissance). Pico believed that man had the potential for greatness--but also for great failure. Man was free to choose the correct path. | |
| 788038155 | de Montaigne, Michel | (1533 - 1592): French essayist who fostered the idea of skepticism—and invented the idea of the essay. | |
| 788038156 | de Pizan, Christine | (c. 1363 - c. 1434): Pizan was a wealthy courtier in Venice who wrote "Humanism and the Problem of a Studious Woman," a work that opened up debate on the proper role of women in society. | |
| 788038157 | Donatello | (1386 -1466): Donatello is most famous for his sculpture of David in contrapposto, which was the first instance of the use of a nude in Renaissance sculpture. | |
| 788038158 | Dürer, Albrecht | (1471 - 1528): Of German heritage, Durer was known mostly for his woodcut works. He was greatly influenced by advances made in Italy in regards to perspective and the human figure. | |
| 788038159 | El Greco, Domenikos | (1541 - 1614): This Greek painter who worked mostly in Spain during the Late Renaissance is considered one of the great Mannerist artists. | |
| 788038160 | Erasmus | (1466 - 1536): Erasmus was a great master of Greek language and a humanist thinker who was friends with Sir Thomas More. His most famous work was In Praise of Folly where he openly criticized the Catholic church (of which he was a devout follower) and called for massive reforms. | |
| 788038161 | Eyck, Jan van | (c. 1395 - 1441): Born in the Netherlands sometime on or before 1395, Van Eyck was one of the most famous Flemish painters of the Northern Renaissance. His use of oil paints and incredible detail set him apart from his contemporaries. | |
| 788038162 | Ghiberti, Lorenzo | (1378-1455): Ghiberti was an artist of the Early Renaissance who sculpted the famous bronze doors Michelangelo called the Gates of Paradise, which lead into the Florence Baptistery. | |
| 788038163 | Ghirlandaio, Domenico | (1449 - 1494): An Italian painter and teacher of Michelangelo, his work was too early to be a part of the High Renaissance. | |
| 788038164 | Gutenberg, Johannes | (1398-1468): He was the German inventor of the first printing press used in Europe. As an invention, his system was a watershed—as a business, though, it was actually a massive failure. Gutenberg went broke. Of his 200 original Gutenberg Bibles printed in 1452 and 1453, about 50 copies survive. | |
| 788038165 | Pope Julius II | (1443-1513): He spent enormous amounts of church funds to patronize artists such as Michelangelo for massive projects such as painting the famous ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. Much to the painter's rage, Julius II turned out to be a bit of a prude, had the exposed genitals of Michelangelo's original figures in the chapel covered up with leaves. In any case, he also hired Michelangelo create his tomb. His reign kicked off the era of the dominance of Rome in the Italian art scene. | |
| 788038166 | Lefevre d'Etables, Jacques | (1454 - 1536): Lefevre was a French humanist who criticized pervious translations of the Bible and focused most of his time retranslating the Psalms. | |
| 788038167 | Machiavelli, Niccolo | (1469-1527): He is the author of the famous political treatise The Prince, which influenced European and other world leaders for centuries to come. Modeled after the leadership of Cesare Borgia, The Prince stated that rulers of men had to be ruthless, sly, cunning, and aggressive to maintain power. | |
| 788038168 | Marlowe, Christopher | (1564 - 1593): A contemporary of William Shakespeare, Marlowe was an English dramatist and poet who influenced the prolific genius. | |
| 788038169 | Masaccio | (1401 - 1428): Masaccio's Early Renaissance works influenced the use of perspective and triangularization. | |
| 788038170 | More, Sir Thomas | (1478 -1536): More used his humanist leanings to influence government in England, playing a key role in the reign of Henry VIII—that is, until Henry VIII's government had him executed for treason. He created the idea of the Utopian society with his 1516 work Utopia, which describes a perfected society free of wants and ambitions. | |
| 788038171 | Petrarch | (1304-1374): Known as the "father of humanism", Petrarch was one of the first writers to emphasize literature above religious works. His work consisted mainly of analyses of ancient Greek and Roman texts written in Italian rather than in Greek or Latin. | |
| 788038172 | Rabelais, Francois | (1494 -1533): His epic secular works included Gargantua and Pantagruel, which were openly satiric pieces on French society. | |
| 788038173 | Shakespeare, William | (1564 - 1616): He was greatly influenced by Renaissance themes of humanism, individualism and ancient cultues. His works live on as the greatest of the English Renaissance. Oh, and he's also pretty much the most famous writer in all of world history, ever. | |
| 788038174 | Valla, Lorenzo | 1407 - 1457): This Italian humanist and teacher revived discussions on the Latin language and the interpretation of the Bible in use by the Catholic Church. | |
| 788038175 | Vasari, Georgio (1511-1574) | (1511-1574): Vasari was a classic Italian Renaissance man of the late Renaissance, and it was he who apparently first applied the term renascità, meaning "re-birth", to the cultural changes of the era. |
