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Italian Renaissance Individualism Essay

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The Italian Renaissance: Individualism, Secularism, and Humanism
Artistic innovation blossomed in the society of the Italian Renaissance, which was strongly supported by the developing values of individualism, secularism, and humanism.
The development of individualistic values in Italian society greatly contributed to an optimal society for artistic innovation and scholarship. When individualism began to develop in Italy, people started taking more interest in the individual than the church, which claimed their attentions in the Middle Ages. This interest in the individual led to an in-depth study of human anatomy, as well as the first free-standing statues of individuals since the Classical Era. One of these statues, David, a masterpiece created …show more content…

As secularism developed, so did humanism, which supported the idea that humans were given potential and opportunity on earth, of which they should make the most of. These humanists believed in the use of the mind to think, make, judgements, and form opinions based of fact, a belief which led to the development of many great works of literature and scholarship in the Italian Renaissance. Humanism emphasized the importance of value placed on human accomplishment rather than religious values. It promoted individuals to strive to be great and famous. Also, humanists greatly supported the study of the works of the ancient Greeks and Romans. They believed that people should study the works of the past and apply them to improve the present. This inspired many individuals of the Italian Renaissance to create their own works, proposing solutions on how to improve the present. Baldassare Castiglione is an example of an Italian author influenced by humanism. His work, The Book of the Courtier, combines the classical elements of proper gentlemanly behavior with the values of the Italian Renaissance in order to create a book to train society on proper behavior. Francesco Petrarch is another humanist author, attempting to find long-lost Latin manuscripts and write Latin

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