English Renaissance

English Renaissance: notes for a lecture scheduled for 10 Oct., 2003.
When did Renaissance come into being? There is no strict date. Some critics find several qualities of the Renaissance spirit already in Dante’s work (13th c); in the 14th c. Petrarch was expressing his grief at the fall of ancient Rome and the end of classical culture, and was dreaming of its return and rebirth (rinascita).

The term Renaissance was used consciously for the first time to describe a broad tendency in 15th and 16th c. art, by an Italian painter, architect, and historian of art, Giorgio Vasari, 1511-74 (n.b. his murals: Palazzo Vecchio in Florence; his designs: the Uffizi Gallery and new shape of Palazzo Vecchio in Florence); in his collection of biographies of famous Italian artists (1550), The Lives of the Most Distinguished Painters, Sculptors and Architects (vite dei piu eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori); he was a great admirer of Michaelangelo in all the arts (a true Renaissanc...