Browse Items (202 total)

This painting, by Josse Lieferinxe, was completed in 1497 and depicts a group of diseased and injured pilgrims visiting the tomb of St. Sebastian, the patron saint of soldiers and the plague-stricken. Lieferinxe was originally from the Southern…

The bust (pictured above) depicts Plato. Regarded as one of the greatest thinkers of Classical Greece, the study of Plato and his works was prevalent throughout the Renaissance (one example can be seen in "The School of Athens," an item found in the…

Authored by Plato’s student Aristotle, Politics is a collection of writings on different political constitutions (though we have a conception of a constitution as a written document, “political constitution” as used by Aristotle is synonymous with…

The painting uses oil paint applied on canvas.

The papacy of Clement IX lasted only thirty months, from the summer of 1667 to December 1669. His papacy is primarily remembered if at all for a truce of sorts in the Jansenist controversy, discussed later in this exhibit, but Clement IX was also…

This painting of Desiderius Erasmus captures the character of the Dutch humanist writer and demonstrates the strong humanist presence in the Low Countries. Erasmus situated himself in a central position in the intellectual world of the Renaissance.…

While strategic marriages for either resources or power have always been present in European history, their importance during the renaissance cannot be understated. The marriages of Maximilian the I (top left) and subsequent marriages that he planned…

After 1450, humanism began to spread from its roots in Florence -- long regarded as a hub for scholars -- to Vienna, Heidelberg, and the royal seats of England, France, and Spain (Wiesner-Hanks, 140). Scholars traveled all over Europe, carrying their…

Enlightenment ideals were not, on the surface at least, confined to just the leading intellectuals of the time. European monarchs began attaching themselves to Enlightenment principles and thinkers. For instance, the French philosopher Voltaire…

Hyacinthe Rigaud’s “Portrait of Louis XIV” serves as an idyllic artistic illustration of the mechanisms of Absolutism which Louis XIV established in France. The monarch, who was well into his sixties during the time of this portrait, is depicted in…

Menasseh ben Israel, a Sephardic Jewish rabbi from Amsterdam, embodies aspects of the religious environment of the Dutch Republic during the 17th century. Throughout the 17th century, Jewish communities from both Iberia (Sephardic) and Germany…

Released in 1689, this engraving of Robert Boyle (1627-1691) presents a portrait of one of the great natural philosophers of the Scientific Revolution. Widely considered to be the first modern chemist, Boyle contributed to the understanding of air…