Netherlands, for instance, Jan van Eyck
and others began using oil-based paints as
a medium and stretched canvas as a sur-
face—materials that gave painting a greater
range of more naturalistic color. The Flem-
ish painter Pieter Brueghel expanded the
subject matter of art to the everyday
world. Instead of saints and holy men,
Brueghel depicted peasants, farmers, and
ordinary city-dwellers going about their
daily lives.
As artists took up new techniques and
materials, mathematicians and astrono-
mers relied on logic, reasoning, and obser-
vation to challenge long-held concepts of
the natural world and the heavens. The
earth lost its position as the center of the
universe in the observations and writings
of Nicolaus Copernicus, who rejected the
geocentric system of the ancient Greek as-
tronomer Ptolemy that had been accepted
wisdom since the second century. The tele-
scope allowed Galileo Galilei to observe
the moons of Jupiter. Biologists began the
systematic classification of plants and ani-
mals. Physicists explored the properties of
gravity, light, and motion. A new approach
to medicine and healing replaced tradi-
tional concepts of the “bodily humors” and
the influence of the stars and planets on
the human body. The scientific method
employing observation, deduction, and
reasoning, replaced the slavish devotion to
the rigid systems of ancient Greek thinkers
Aristotle (in the natural sciences) and Ga-
len (in medicine).
Mannerism and the End of
the Renaissance
The Renaissance began with a fragmented
map of small states and principalities. It
ended with a few national monarchies
dominating the continent, after consoli-
dating their authority of surrounding
smaller and weaker principalities. Spain
had been united by the marriage of Ferdi-
nand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile;
the French kings extended their control to
once-independent states such as Brittany.
England under the Tudor dynasty, which
ended with the reign of Elizabeth I, had
become a major naval power and the seat
of a far-flung colonial empire.
By the middle of the sixteenth century
younger artists had fully accepted the
naturalistic approach of the early Renais-
sance, and commonly took classical my-
thology as their theme. Artistic innovation
slowed; the masterpieces of the High Re-
naissance, in the opinion of many, simply
could not be surpassed. Artistic innova-
tion declined as creators imitated their
predecessors, adding only complex com-
position and exaggerated forms and emo-
tion. Architects decorated their structures
with elaborate forms and statuary, mar-
ring the simply geometrical beauty that
Brunelleschi and others had strived for.
This “Mannerism” spelled the end of the
Renaissance and the “rebirth” of classical
virtues, such as the balance of the elements
of a picture or building. As humanism be-
came a virtue of the past, a new period of
Baroque art came into being, and the map
of Europe was soon to be dominated by
wealthy and powerful states such as France
that saw their interests extended well be-
yond the old borders.
Over a short span of two centuries,
men and women of the Renaissance cre-
ated many of the world’s greatest works of
art, sculpture, architecture, music, and lit-
erature. Writers and scientists accepted the
humanist worldview, while artists in the
following generations imitated towering
figures such as Michelangelo and Le-
onardo, and many others who still exert aPreface