M ichelangelo is the most celebrated Italian sculptor,

painter, architect, poet, and engineer of the High

Renaissance. He is considered to be the best sculptor

of all !me! A number of Michelangelo's works in

pain!ng, sculpture, and architecture rank among the most

famous in ever created! His output produc!on was also amazing,

making him the best-documented ar!st of the 16th

century.

Two of his best-known works, the Pietà and David,

were sculpted before the age of thirty! Despite his low

opinion of pain!ng, Michelangelo also created two of

the most influen!al frescoes in the history of Western

art. His most popular frescoes are the scenes from

Genesis. on the ceiling of the Sis!ne Chapel in Rome.

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Renaissance Superheroes: Michelangelo

M any historians refer to Leonardo as the prime example of a" "Renaissance Man",

because of his unsurpassed curiosity. He was a polymath, or man of many

talents, as an inventor, sculptor, mathema!cian, painter and scien!st. S!ll,

Leonardo is renowned primarily as a painter. Among the artworks he painted,

the Mona Lisa is undeniably the most famous of his portraits. He also painted The Last

Supper the most reproduced religious pain!ng of all !me.

His quest to become a skilled painter

led him to dissec!ng bodies and

recording his findings in notebooks. In

fact, he even wrote his notes

backwards so his secrets would be

concealed. Furthermore, he sketched

ideas for rudimentary helicopters,

bridges, underwater diving suits and

even flying machines!

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Sculptor, Inventor, Scientist!

Renaissance Superheroes: Leonardo Da Vinci

D ante was a major Italian poet of the late Middle Ages/early Renaissance.

His Divine Comedy is widely considered the greatest literary work composed

in the Italian language and a true masterpiece of world literature. The Divine

Comedy was really a long poem that described a Chris!an journey through

the a&erlife. The main character Virgil

journeys through hell and purgatory (a

place between hell and heaven where

Chris!ans believed people worked to

pay off their sins). Later, the book

describes heaven as paradise. His work

was one of the first to ever be wri+en

in the local dialect and his wri!ng style

became a model for future writers!

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Renaissance Superheroes: Dante Alghieri

A round 1450 a revolu!onary prin!ng machine was

created by the German, Johannes Gutenberg. His

prin!ng press used moveable type to mass produce

documents and books, which replaced having to write

by hand. Before the prin!ng press it would take four to five

months to write a book by hand. This new type of prin!ng could

produce more than three hundred pages per day! This meant

that new ideas could be spread throughout Europe quickly, which

further inspired progress during the Renaissance. Furthermore,

as the Bible became accessible to all people, Chris!ans began to

ques!on the authority of the Church. This eventually led to the

reforma!on of the Catholic Church. Some historians refer to the

prin!ng press as most impac-ul inven!on ever made!

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Renaissance Superheroes: Johannes Guttenberg

T i!an was one of the most versa!le of Italian

painters, equally able to paint portraits,

landscape backgrounds and religious subjects.

His pain!ng methods, par!cularly in the way

he applied the paint and his

use of color, would influence

not only painters of the Italian

Renaissance, but future

genera!ons of Western art!

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Powerful Painter!

Renaissance Superheroes: Titian

D urer was an influen!al and brilliant painter, printmaker and theorist of

the German Renaissance. He established his reputa!on and influence across

Europe when he was s!ll in his twen!es! His high-quality woodcut prints were

among his most popular works of art. He

collaborated with the major Italian

ar!sts of his !me,

including Raphael, Giovanni

Bellini and Leonardo da Vinci. His vast

body of work includes engravings,

altarpieces, portraits and self-

portraits, watercolors and books. He

used principles of

mathema!cs, perspec!ve and ideal

propor!ons, which made him a true

Renaissance thinker and ar!st!

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Renaissance Superheroes: Albrecht Durer

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A ndreas Vesalius was an anatomist, physician,

and author of one of the most influen!al

textbooks on human anatomy, De Humani

Corporis Fabrica. He is widely acknowledged

as the founder of the study of human anatomy. He was

both a professor at the University of Padua and an

Imperial physician in the court of Emperor

Charles V. His research and curiosity about

the human body made him a true

renaissance superstar!

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Super Scientist!

Renaissance Superheroes: Andreas Vesalius

I sabella I was married to Ferdinand II of Aragon. Together, this dynamic duo would unify

Spain. Her reforms and those she made with her husband had an influence that

extended well beyond the borders of their kingdom! Isabella and Ferdinand are known

for being ruthless, but effec!ve. They completed the Reconquista (reconquering Spain

for the Chris!ans). They also ordered people to convert to Chris!anity or be subject to exile.

This par!cularly affected the Muslim and Jewish residents of

Spain during the Spanish Inquisi!on.

Most impressively, she is known for

suppor!ng and financing Christopher

Columbus's 1492 voyage that led to the

opening of the New World and to the

establishment of Spain as the first global

power who dominated Europe! It’s no

wonder that Isabella was !tled a Servant

of God by the Catholic Church in 1974!

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Renaissance Superheroes: Isabella I, Queen of Spain

and an

F irstly, England's defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588

associated Elizabeth with one of the greatest military

victories in English history. However, her period of

leadership is more noted for a period of growth in the

trade, educa!on and the arts. For this reason, Elizabeth's reign is

known as the Elizabethan era. The period is famous for the

flourishing of English drama, led by playwrights such as William

Shakespeare, which were created in the iconic Globe theatre.

Also, she is known for hiring pirates like Sir Francis Drake to steal

gold from weighted down Spanish Galleons returning from the

New World. It’s no wonder that Elizabeth I is acknowledged as a

charisma!c, fearless leader of the Renaissance in England!

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Renaissance Superheroes: Elizabeth I, Queen of England

W illiam Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor. He is widely

regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and some!mes ever! His

plays have been translated into every major language and are performed more

o&en than those of any other playwright! His early

plays were primarily comedies and histories, and these are

regarded as some of the best work ever

produced in these genres. Later, he

wrote mainly tragedies, including

famous works such

as: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear,

and Macbeth. These plays are

considered some of the finest works in

the English language. In his last phase,

he wrote tragicomedies, also known as

romances, and collaborated with other

playwrights. The most recognizable play of this era is Romeo and

Juliet!

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Renaissance Superheroes: William Shakespeare

M achiavelli was an Italian Renaissance historian,

poli!cian, diplomat, philosopher, humanist, and

writer. As senior official of the Floren!ne Republic,

he was responsible for diploma!c and military

affairs. He was secretary Republic of Florence from 1498 to 1512

at the same !me when the Medici family were out of power. He

wrote his most popular work The Prince in 1513. In the Prince he

proclaimed that, “leaders should be feared and not loved.” He

also stated that, “a leader should be a master of war above all

else.” His harsh leadership style has awarded him the las!ng

modern reference of being “Machiavellian” or exceedingly harsh

use of authority.

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Righteous Leader!

Renaissance Superheroes: Niccolo Machiavelli

M arco Polo was an Italian merchant whose travels are

recorded in Livres des merveilles du monde (Book of

the Marvels of the World, also known as The Travels

of Marco Polo, c. 1300), a book that introduced

Europeans to Central Asia and China. He traveled to

China with his father and brother where he served

in Mongol leader Kublai Khan’s court. When he

returned, he explained to Europe the marvels that

he saw in China, including luxury items like silk and

porcelain. He inspired a new genera!on of traders

to travel to Europe to seek profit from new Chinese

products that were in high demand all over Europe.

Historians o&en credit Marco Polo for ini!a!ng the

economic backbone that would fuel the

Renaissance!

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Awesome Explorer

Renaissance Superheroes: Marco Polo

C ervantes is widely regarded as the greatest

writer in the Spanish language. In fact, his

influence on the Spanish language is greater

than any other writer! For this reason Spanish is

some!mes called the “the language of Cervantes.” He is

most noted for wri!ng a sa!rical story about the Middle

Ages called Don Quixote. The story is about the

adventures of man named Mr. Alonso Quixano who reads

so many chivalric romances that he loses his sanity and

decides to set out to revivechivalry, undo wrongs, and

bring jus!ce to the world, under the name Don Quixote de

la Mancha.

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Renaissance Superheroes: Miguel Cervantes

T he Medici Family was a wealthy merchant family from Florence, Italy.

Over!me, the family evolved into bankers, which financed new

Renaissance businesses. They grew extraordinarily wealthy from the

interest paid on the loans they made. S!ll, their most important

accomplishment is that they were patrons of the arts. They paid ar!sts handsome

commissions to beau!fy Florence

with statues, pain!ngs and

architectural wonders. Since there

was money to be made as an

ar!st, they provided great

incen!ve for ar!sts to study and

create art in Italy. For this reason,

the splendor of the Renaissance

era is forever !ed to the great

Medici Family!

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Renaissance Superheroes: The Medici Family

N icolas Copernicus proposed the theory that Earth and other planets

revolved around sun. He is responsible for defining modern astronomy

and for encouraging other scien!sts of the Renaissance to ques!on

accepted faith-based beliefs of the Catholic

Church. He completed his book De revolu!onibus

orbium coeles!um (On the

Revolu!ons of the Celes!al Spheres)

just before his death in 1543. The

comple!on of his book is considered

a major event in the history of

science, triggering what is referred

to as the Copernican Revolu!on,

also called the Scien!fic Revolu!on!

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Awesome Astronomer!

Renaissance Superheroes: Nicolas Copernicus

C alled the father of humanism because he believed that people

should focus on human values, capabili!es and self worth instead

of faith. He was a well known poet that loved old books, collec!ng

a large library of Ancient Greek and Roman texts.

He encouraged studies of classical culture, which provided

humanists with a new way of looking

at life. Humanist study subjects of the

humani!es or grammar, persuasive

language, speech, history, poetry and

moral behavior. Petrarch taught that

humanists should use their minds to

ques!on everything. This brought he

and his humanist followers into

conflict with the Catholic Church o&en

since the Church believed that life

a&er death was more important than

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Renaissance Superheroes: Petrarch