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Renaissance magic

Polymath - Wikipedia

Renaissance man

"Renaissance man" redirects here. For use as a title of cultural works, see Renaissance Man.

The term "Renaissance man" was first recorded in written English in the early 20th century.[10]

It is used to refer to great thinkers living before, during, or after the Renaissance.

Leonardo da Vinci has often been described as the archetype of the Renaissance man, a man of "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination".[11]

Many notable polymaths[a] lived during the Renaissance period, a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th through to the 17th century that began in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spread to the rest of Europe.

These polymaths had a rounded approach to education that reflected the ideals of the humanists of the time.

A gentleman or courtier of that era was expected to speak several languages, play a musical instrument, write poetry, and so on, thus fulfilling the Renaissance ideal.

The idea of a universal education was essential to achieving polymath ability, hence the word university was used to describe a seat of learning. However, the original Latin word universitas refers in general to "a number of persons associated into one body, a society, company, community, guild, corporation, etc".[12] At this time, universities did not specialize in specific areas, but rather trained students in a broad array of science, philosophy, and theology. This universal education gave them a grounding from which they could continue into apprenticeship toward becoming a master of a specific field.

When someone is called a "Renaissance man" today, it is meant that rather than simply having broad interests or superficial knowledge in several fields, the individual possesses a more profound knowledge and a proficiency, or even an expertise, in at least some of those fields.[13]

Some dictionaries use the term "Renaissance man" to describe someone with many interests or talents,[14] while others give a meaning restricted to the Renaissance and more closely related to Renaissance ideals.