Vocabulary.

• JOHANNES GUTENBERG: German blacksmith who introduced printing to Europe in the middle of the 15^th century thanks to his invention of mechanical movable type printing (the woodblock printing was known in China), which reduced the price of books and generalized its diffusion.

• LEONARDO DA VINCI: (1452-1519) he was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, enginee an scientist. Their innovations in the field of the painting (technical of the “sfumato”) and, mainly, in the areas of anatomy, optics and hydraulics, anticipated many of the advances of modern science. Their more important paintings are: “The Last Supper” and the “Mona Lisa” (“La Gioconda” or “Monna Lisa” in Italian). 

• MICHELANGELO: (1475-1564) he is perhaps the most creative genius in art history: architect and Renaissance painter, he saw himself as an sculptor (terribilitá: contained emotion of its sculptures). In Florence (Firenze in Italian). With only 13 years began to work for the Medici and had the opportunity to meet poets, princes and Popes. Their main works are: the Pietà, the David, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica located within Vatican City.

• MARTIN LUTHER: (1483-1546) German monk outraged by the sale of indulgences (the pardon of sin), or papal bulls and by the fact that the money raised went to Rome. In his 95 Theses he defended that the salvation is through faith and rejected the authority of the Pope. Then, he was excommunicated and he did not recognize more authority than the Bible, that the Christians had to read in their mother tongue and interpret freely. Also, he denied the cult to the Virgin and the saints, its adoration and its relics.