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Renaissance man
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Leon Battista Alberti Leonardo da Vinci: self-portrait
Leonardo da Vinci: More Than Just an Artist
The Life and Work of Leonardo da Vinci
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Leon Battista Alberti
Leon Battista Alberti Leon Battista Alberti, self-portrait plaque, bronze, c. 1435; in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Renaissance man

philosophical concept
Also known as: Homo universalis, Universal man, Uomo universale
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Last Updated: •Article History

Renaissance man, an ideal that developed in Renaissance Italy from the notion expressed by one of its most-accomplished representatives, Leon Battista Alberti (1404–72), that “a man can do all things if he will.” The ideal embodied the basic tenets of Renaissance humanism, which considered man the centre of the universe, limitless in his capacities for development, and led to the notion that men should try to embrace all knowledge and develop their own capacities as...

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