The Discovery of a Renaissance Man (on Physical Female Beauty)

Abstract

The interest in the issue of human identity, the identification of person among others and the recognition of the merits of the individual are the main issues of the era. This paper attempts to understand the Italian Renaissance as a way of worldview inextricably linked to the everyday urban life of Italian citizens and its features in the middle of the XVI century. The notion of personality remains blurred: attempts to separate one person to another are reduced to highlighting the unique properties of his soul, body traits and external position (social status). Examination of the image of female beauty and its analysis on the example of two works: the treatise of Agnolo Firenzola “On the Beauty of Women” (1542) and the dialog of Federico Luigini “The book of fair woman” (1554) occupy the central place of the present paper.