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The Renaissance

“This century … like a golden age has

restored to light the liberal arts, which were

almost extinct: grammar, poetry, rhetoric,

painting, sculpture, architecture, and

music.”

Renaissance: 1300 to 1500

A rebirth of the classical arts of

Greek and Roman learning during a

brief period in European history.

Setting the Stage:

Europeans suffered from the Bubonic

Plague and the Hundred Years’ War

questioned the Church

questioned feudalism

educated people began to reject medieval

values and looked to the classical past for

ideas

Beginnings: Italy

began in northern Italy (Florence) and

spread north into Europe

3 Key Factors for Italy:

– thriving cities

• Cities = people exchange ideas

– a wealthy merchant class

– classical heritage of Greece and Rome

• studied ancient manuscripts

• drew inspiration from Roman ruins in Italy

Medici Family

merchants = wealthiest class, politics

individual achievement, not inheritance

ruled Florence, Italy (uncrowned kings)

patron of the arts (supported art)

fortune in trading, banking, mining, wool

gave loans to government officials

– ruled as a dictator despite elected government

Cosimo

de Medici (1389-1464)

Lorenzo

De Medici (1449-1492)

Classical & Worldly Values

Humanism = focused on human potential &

achievements

– understand ancient Greek and Roman values

– switched focus from religious issues

enjoyment of Life

– wealth = luxury, fine music, tasty food

– Church leaders = elaborate, expensive lives

secular (worldly) society

– concerned with here and now

Renaissance Man = Genius

desire to master or be an expert in every

area of study

“universal man” Renaissance man

Baldassare Castiglione = The Book of the

Courtier

young man = charming, witty, and well

educated in the classics; dance, sing, play

music, and write poetry; skilled rider,

wrestler, and swordsman; self-control

Artistic Styles Change

realistic style with religious subjects

(Renaissance) vs. spiritual ideas with

religious subjects (medieval)

use of shading to portray realistic people

– improved drawings of anatomy

painted prominent citizens

– reveals individual distinctions

– nude statues w/ facial expressions

Artistic Technique: Perspective

perspective = three dimensional view

– optical illusion

– distant objects look smaller

– closer objects are painted larger than objects

farther away.

used in classical times, forgotten in

medieval times, reborn during Renaissance

Michelangelo Buonarroti

Renaissance man

– excelled as a painter, sculptor, architect, poet

figures = forceful, powerful, heroic

explored human potential (humanism)

St. Peter’s Basilica (church) = dome

– model for U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C.

David & Pietà = classical sculptures

Sistine Chapel = painted ceiling

– laid on his back on scaffold to paint for 4 years

Sistine Chapel Ceiling (1508-1512)

The

Last

Judgment (1537-1541)

Sistine Chapel,

Vatican City

David (1501-1504)

commissioned by the guild of the wool merchants

he stands in contraposto, a classic Greek representation of heroes

Michelangelo was fascinated by the nude male body

Galleria dell’ Accademia, Florence

Pietà

(1499)

St. Peter’s,

Vatican City

sculpture of youthful

Mary holding dead Christ

across lap

finished before he was 25

years old

the only work of art that

Michelangelo ever signed,

which he later regretted

regarded as the greatest

work of sculpture ever

created

Pietà (1499)

Tomb of Julius II planned to be the most

magnificent of Christian

times

supposed to include

more than 40 figures out

of marble

ran out of money

ordered by the Pope to

put aside the tomb and

work on the Sistine

chapel

when he went back to

work it was created on a

much more modest scale

Leonardo da Vinci

Renaissance Man = world genius

– painter, sculptor, inventor, scientist

– Mirror writing = mysterious notebooks

• wrote backwards

– interested in how things worked

• muscle movement, veins of leaves, etc…

Mona Lisa

– What was she thinking behind that smile?

The Last Supper (religious painting)

– Christ & apostles on the night before his crucifixion

– recently restored due to decaying & use of experimental paint

The Mona Lisa (1503-1505)

Musée du Louvre, Paris

The Last Supper (1495-1498)

Santa Marie delle Grazie, Milan

Raphael Santi

learned from studying the works of Michelangelo and Leonardo

Madonna and the Child

School of Athens

– shows classical influence of the Renaissance

– combination of classical/Renaissance figures

• Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Averroës (Arab phil.)

died at the age of 37

– Romans, pope, court = mourning

The School of Athens (1511)

Apostolic Palace, Vatican City

Changes in Literature

wrote for self-expression & “how-to” ideas

Francesco Petrarch

– great humanist/poet

– wrote sonnets about Laura (died from plague)

– wrote in Italian and Latin

Balderssare Castiglione (1478-1529)

The Book of the

Courtier

– describes the

manners,

skills, learning,

& virtues

someone at

court should

possess

Il Cortegiano

The Book of

the Courtier

(1528)

Early modern English cover

William Shakespeare

Writer in Renaissance England

Greatest playwright of all time

Revealed souls of men and women through

dramatic conflict

Macbeth, King Lear, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet

Drew on classical, historical figures for inspiration

– Julius Caesar, Mark Antony & Cleopatra, Richard III

Do you know these words?

Bedroom

Lonely

Generous

Gloomy

Heartsick

Hurry

Sneak

All of these words and almost

1700 others were introduced to

our language by Shakespeare.

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527)

political thinker, patriot, poet, historian

The Prince (1513)

– political guidebook

– How can a ruler gain power and keep it despite

efforts of his enemies?

– most people are selfish, fickle, and corrupt.

– prince = strong as a lion, shrewd as a fox

– trick enemies and own people for the good of

the state (end justifies the means)

– concerned with effective politics, not morals

Getting results is more important

than keeping promises.

“How praiseworthy it is for a prince to keep

his word and live with integrity rather than

craftiness, everyone understands;

yet…those princes have accomplished most

who paid little heed to keeping their

promises, but who knew how craftily to

manipulate the minds of men.”

Printing Spreads Renaissance Ideas

Chinese technology = moveable type

– separate piece of type for each character

Renaissance= demand for knowledge/books

Johann Gutenberg (Germany)

– reinvented the moveable type (about 1440)

– invented the printing press

• paper pressed against a tray full of inked type

– Gutenberg Bible (1456)

• first complete Bible printed with movable type

movable metal type, and composing stick

Effects of the Printing Press

printers produce mass copies

books = cheaper than hand-copied editions

new ideas spread through book contents

– religious works, travel guides, medical

manuals, gardening, hobbies

desire to learn to read = rise in literacy

Bible printed in the vernacular = leads to

different interpretations of the Bible

demand for religious reforms

Results of the Renaissance

Renaissance = burst of creative activity

revived and studied classical culture

praised individual achievement

produced new works with new techniques

new ideas and artistic styles appeared

influenced European thought

gave rise to democratic ideas