There are many figures in the Renaissance that are great representatives of that moment. Amongst many others, we can choose Leonardo DaVinci and Machiavelli as examples.
Renaissance is best characterized as a moment of great change in how those men and women saw their places in the cosmos. This was present in political thinking as it was in arts.
DaVinci (1452-1519) was a painter, a sculptor, an architect, a scientist and inventor. All these features by themselves tell of a time when human capacity to learn and to act on the world was encouraged. DaVinci painted works that are remembered until today, like the Mona Lisa (ca. 1503-1505), and he also studied physics and designed a machine that would be capable of perpetual motion, a great motif of curiosity for those who studied the world.
So he was a Renaissance man as he I) studied many different fields and II) painted works that put the human figure at their center, literally and simbolically.
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) was an experient public figure known for his book The prince. This book is a reflection on the ways a ruler may conquer and keep his power. It is also a work where politics is thought of as a field independent from moral and religion.
So he was a Renaissance man as he I) thinks politics as different and separate from religion and in doing this he II) values and highlight the human capacity fo acting on the world. This was important for the creation of a secular world.
