The Italian Renaissance is considered by historians the beginning of the modern age. The name itself literally means rebirth, an accurate description of this period of innovation in both the sciences and the arts. The literary arts were also given much attention, as Renaissance thinkers turned to the lost texts of the ancient world for new understanding. This renewed interest in history, literature, and the arts was the birth of a whole new way of thinking, one which centered on the world of mankind as much as a concern for the hereafter which was the sole concern of medieval man. This new way of thinking is called humanism, tracing back to the Greek concept of man as the measure of all things. With the invention of movable type during the Renaissance, new ideas and ancient scholarship spread faster than ever before. The general dates given for the Renaissance period are 14001550, and its birthplace was unmistakably Florence, a prosperous merchant town in Italy . It was necessary that the cultivation of great ideas and art would begin in a center of great wealth... for it required such prosperity to fund the building of great cathedrals which were elaborately decorated by the best artists that the region had to offer. Wealthy citizens often donated their money for specific art commissions, for both religious and secular projects. The greatest art patrons in Florence were the Medici family, who decorated their city with sculptures brought from Greece and Rome, commissioned artists and architects to create, and who also funded the first universities.

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