The city of Florence, capital of Tuscany, nestles in the
Arno valley some 50 miles from the Mediterranean. Established by the Romans, by the
year 1400, the city was a vibrant trading centre and headquarters of an
international banking network founded by the Medici family.
Florentine families principally made their fortunes from wool and silk, but the chief guilds of the city also represented every other conceivable business - from lawyers and goldsmiths, to spice merchants, poets and craftsmen. The guilds formed the basis for popular government, the Signoria. Florence was one of the few republics in the world run by the people, for the people.
Florentine families principally made their fortunes from wool and silk, but the chief guilds of the city also represented every other conceivable business - from lawyers and goldsmiths, to spice merchants, poets and craftsmen. The guilds formed the basis for popular government, the Signoria. Florence was one of the few republics in the world run by the people, for the people.
Between 1300 and 1600 the Western world was transformed. An
extraordinary wave of artistic and cultural innovation shattered medieval
society and brought European culture reluctantly into the modern era.
Florence was one of the main backdrops for this phenomenon termed the Renaissance.
Artists discovered how to paint in three dimensions, bringing new life and realism to their subjects. Breaking away from the religious traditions of the medieval world, they created entirely new genres of art, rich in drama and emotion. Radical new techniques were invented, like painting with oils, and perspective, which transformed how we saw our world.
Artists discovered how to paint in three dimensions, bringing new life and realism to their subjects. Breaking away from the religious traditions of the medieval world, they created entirely new genres of art, rich in drama and emotion. Radical new techniques were invented, like painting with oils, and perspective, which transformed how we saw our world.
In architecture and science, buildings were constructed that were bigger and better than ever before. Taking inspiration from the classical past, new rules were invented governing proportion and perspective. Magnificent temples to wealth were designed across Florence and the largest dome in the world was built by the brilliant engineer Brunelleschi.
Men no longer accepted at face value the teachings of the Church. Now they wanted to study the natural world, to discover for themselves the secrets of the universe. The study of human anatomy was pioneered by Leonardo da Vinci, and the Catholic establishment was rocked by Galileo’s announcing that the Earth revolved around the Sun.
In politics, liberated from the exclusive grasp of the Catholic Church, education filtered down to the upwardly mobile middle classes. Ancient texts, unread for more than 1,000-years, were devoured and debated. With the invention of printing, ideas swept across Europe faster than ever before, and thinkers and writers shared their opinions with the general public. Giorgio Vasari, the first art historian, recorded the lives of artists and the contribution of the Medici, the great patrons of the arts, was of crucial importance to the developments in Florence.
