Renaissance metal chess set with blue and bronze chessmen and a 36 cm chessboard in an antique turquoise patina
After the Dark Ages, Europe was struck by a great nostalgia for classical antiquity. Literature, philosophy, art, science, architecture, and politics were reshaped by a resurgence of Greek values. The word Renaissance literally means "rebirth," as humanity's deep desire to recover from darkness. The value of human life and the extraordinary genius of the human brain were restored through the rediscovery of the spiritual legacy of ancient Greece.
Chess players.
The figures are gracefully slender and symbolically decorated, in keeping with the slender aesthetic of the period. The King and Queen reflect a more individualistic view of man, the Knight combines the influences of increased knowledge of nature, and the Rook represents a revival of classical learning.
The Renaissance period was a cultural awakening in the art world. Advances in perspective and the depiction of human anatomy led to an increasing trend of naturalism in Renaissance sculpture, where human and animal figures were depicted with striking lifelikeness.