Renaissance Figures

Renaissance Era

The period of “rebirth” and creativity that followed Europe’s Middle Ages.

Brunelleschi

Italian architect, he used mathematical formulas to design strong buildings like Il Duomo.

Michelangelo

Painter and sculptor who, for example, painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Raphael

An Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance, celebrated for the perfection and grace of his paintings and drawings.

Titian

The leading painter of the 16th-century, Titian was one of the most versatile of Italian painters, equally adept with portraits, landscape backgrounds, and mythological and religious subjects.

Leonardo da Vinci

Inventor and artist who sketched early tanks and cars and painted the Mona Lisa.

Galileo

Created a powerful telescope and was the first to observe and record sunspots

Copernicus

Published the theory that the Earth was not the center of the universe. (Heliocentric Theory)

Kepler

A German mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer, and a key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution.

Johann Gutenberg

Invented moveable type printing press

Vesalius

Published detailed descriptions of the human anatomy.

Erasmus

A Dutch priest and author who criticized corrupt clergy, which helped inspire the Protestant Reformation.

Cervantes

Wrote Don Quixote.

Petrarch

Early Italian Renaissance scholar, he wrote about the importance of knowing history.

Sir Thomas More

An English lawyer, author, and statesman who in his lifetime gained a reputation as a leading Renaissance humanist scholar.

Dante  

Italian Renaissance poet, he wrote The Divine Comedy in the Italian language.

Shakespeare

Playwright and author who wrote the play Romeo and Juliet, among others