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 Bartholomeau Dias

 [|Bartolomeau Dias], a Portuguese navigator, was the first European to lead a voyage past the southern most tip of Africa called the Cape of Good Hope (This voyage took place in 1487). Dias was born into a family of nobleman; it is also believed that he came from a family of explorers such as Diniz Dias, who discovered the Cape Verde Islands. Dias was well-educated; he taught subjects like geometry, physics, and astronomy. Furthermore, Dias was a member of the Royal Portuguese Court; he also held the title of "Sailing Master of the Portuguese man-of-war Sao Cristotovao".

Dias sailed past the southern most tip of Africa. The main purpose of this voyage was to find the country ruled by a Christain African King. The Portuguse wanted to make friends with this African country, making this the whole point of the expedition. After ten months of preparation, the caravels finally set sail. In the year 1481, Dias had went along with Diogo d'Azambuja on an expedition to the Gold Coast. Later, in 1497, Dias also accompanied Vasco de Gama on his voyage to India. Dias died at sea on May 29, 1500.

= **Domenico Ghirlandaio - Giovanna Tornabuoni** =

In this picture, you can see many different techniques of art from the [|Renaissance] period such as [|Chiaroscuro], the contrast of lights and darks which makes artwork look more 3-D, and [|Sfumato], the skillful blending of colors to make the artwork look more realistic. It also portrays realism in which the art works were created with accurate depictions of real life. Realism rejects the imaginative idealization, meaning it was more realistic, and was based on close observations. The painting shows the woman, Giovanna Tornabuoni, in extravagant clothing which illustrates that she is wealthy. Tornabuoni also wears a delicate necklace of peals and rubies around her neck which also signifies wealth along with the red beads in the background there is also another similar piece of jewelry in the background. The background has a book in it showing that she was educated. She has a relaxed and gentle face and the expression she wears is almost sad or very serious. Since this painting no longer focuses on religion or death, it is influenced by "humanism".

[|Humanism] is portrayed in Ghirlandaio's "Giovanna Tournabouni" in many different ways. In the Middle Ages, artwork mainly focused on death and Christianity because of [|the Black Plague] and constant warfare; normal people were never painted. This painting is different from the others because it does not focus on religion an captures a real person instead. There is [|Individualism] portrayed in this painting, it no longer focuses on religion only but actual people and normal activities instead. It shows a person in every day life; it looks like "snapshot" or real life scenario. She looks as if she was looking out a window or crying because she holds a napkin in her hands (or some type of fabric). This was one of the main aspects of humanism; people no longer concentrated on religion. Domenico Ghirlandaio captured humanism and individualism well in his portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni. = **Bigger Picture for a close up view:** =

=Benito Mussolini =

[|Benito Mussolini] was associated with Italy. He was an Italian Politician who became the prime minister of Italy. He came to power through his military status. He held the supreme military rank, so through this he came to power. He was a strong believer in [|Italian fascism]. Some of his political movements and beliefs were fascist. He created the fascist party after the war was over. His ideas mostly revolved around the ideas of the fascism. Fascists supported aggressive nationalism. Mussolini's followers, known as the black shirts, won the support of Italians everywhere by going against communists and socialists. In 1922, one aggressive act Mussolini led was the March of Rome supposedly to fight communist revolution but it was really to scare the government into making him prime minister. Adolf [|Hitler] was influenced by Stalin and Mussolini when he was in power.