Humanism, "with its respect for the classical past, was merely a convenient vehicle for the subtle genius " of scholars, authors, and artists of the Renaissance (Kekewich 3). ... His achievements in the retrieval of Greek and Roman traditions, including rhetoric, and his attempts to follow classical style lead to the movement itself (Humanism: Italy" 2). ... Written text itself was epitomized in classical Latin literature and he believed that the prose of Cicero was the ultimate model. ... Such was exhibited in Lorenzo Valla's De elegantiae linguae latinae (Elegances of the Latin Languag...

• Word Count: 2321
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Here Botticelli passionately tries to recapture the former glory of Rome, because the classical myths had become popular among educated laymen. To these men, the mythology of the Greeks and Romans represented something more than captivating stories; they were convinced these classical legends must have contained some profound and mysterious truth. ...

• Word Count: 1718
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

When the new upper class movement, Renaissance, occurred in Italy around the 14th century, a revival of the classical forms originally developed by the ancient Greeks and Romans, an intensified concern with secular life, and interest in humanism and assertion of the importance of the individual began. ... His most famous and recognized work, however, the Birth of Venus uses the combination of mythology and religion, also a popular humanistic idea adopted from the Greeks. ...

• Word Count: 948
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate