-Two young artists, Raphael and Michelangelo, were linked in service to Pope Julius II in the early 16th century
-Raphael and Michelangelo united Renaissance principals of harmony and balance with a new monumentality dynamic and synthetic whole, rich in color and controlled by cohesive design.
-Julius II intended the Stanza Della Segnatura, or room of the signature, to be his personal study
-he organized the mural program itself like a library, separated into divisions of theology, philosophy, the arts, and justice
-Italy was divided into states
-The 16th century was an age of social, intellectual, and religious ferment that transformed European culture.
-Cartographers began to acknowledge the Earth's curvature and the degrees of distance, giving Europeans a more accurate understanding of their place within the world
-At the state of the 16th century, England, France, and Portugal were nation-states under strong monarchs.
-The political maneuvering of Pope Clement VII led to a direct clash with Holy Roamn Emperor Charles V.
-16th century patrons valued artists highly and rewarded them well, not only with generous commissions buy sometimes even with high social status.
-Many artists recorded their activities-professional and private-- in diaries, notebooks and letters
