Focus Question

What do you think of when you hear the word “Renaissance”?

When I hear the word Renaissance, I think of…

Focus Question

• How would you describe humanism?

• I would describe humanism as….

Focus Question

• How did art change during the Renaissance?

The Renaissance

Causes of the Renaissance• Lessening of feudalism

– Crusades• Mercenary armies

– The Church’s power began to decline• Monarchs started to gain more power

– Black Plague• Those who survive began to question the norms

and values of Medieval Society

– Hundred Years’ War• Stimulated nationalism; turned France into a

centralized state

Causes of the Renaissance• Fall of Constantinople

– Greek scholars fled to Italy– Brought with them the “lost” and “forgotten”

classical knowledge

• Education

• Nostalgia among the Italians to recapture the glory of the Roman empire

• People began returning to the cities

• Trade began to increase– Especially as a result of the Crusades

• European society began to change, new ideas began to appear– The Renaissance (1400’s to 1600’s)

Causes of the Renaissance

• Renaissance = rebirth– Classical Greco-Roman ideal shaped a new

outlook on life

• Began in Italy– Italian city-states grew wealthy from trade of

the Crusades– Wealthy families or individuals influenced

growth of learning, arts and architecture

• Began in trade-oriented city-states of Northern Italy: Florence, Rome, and Venice

• They were struck hardest by the plague, and were ready to move beyond the tragedies of the past

• Humanism – revival of and focus on classical learning (Greek and Roman)– Emphasized human potential and

achievement– Worldly interests more important than those of

the afterlife

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Italy_1494_v2.png

Florence

• Ruled by the Medici family beginning in 1400’s

• The birthplace of the Italian Renaissance

• First Income Tax = Heavier burden of taxes on wealthy

• Taxes used to make city improvements: sewers, paved streets, etc…

Rome• During the 1500s Rome was the leading Renaissance city• Pope & Cardinals lived in the Vatican, wealthiest class• The Popes used their $$$ to rebuild Ancient Rome

* Architecture, churches & Artists flourished in Rome• St. Peter’s Basilica = Largest church in Christian world

was built during this period

Venice• Port city on the Adriatic Sea• Traders and Merchants from all over the world did

business in Venice• $$$ from World Trade• Spent $$$ to modernize city

POLITICAL IMPACT

• Machiavelli– wrote The Prince (guidebook on how to secure & maintain political power)

• Keep state strong to survive “the end justifies the means”

• ECONOMIC IMPACT• Renaissance ideas spread all over Europe• Greater variety of products (clothes, foods,

wines, & furnishings)• Increase in trade & growth of cities

• Wealthy merchant families dominated politics and business– Replaced the Church as the most important

patrons of the arts

The Medicis of Florence

Italian Renaissance Art

• Characterized by:– Linear perspective– Geometrical arrangement of figures– Shadowing and softening edges– Individualism– Classicism– Expression– Nature– Still religious…but not ALL religious like the Middle

Ages

ARTISTIC IMPACT• · Painting & Sculpture•  Giotto-lifelike space (showed emotions)•  Masaccio-developed perspective (guidelines to

calculate how things recede in distance•  Leonardo Da Vinci-Mona Lisa & The Last Supper he

study the anatomy to make art more lifelike•  Michelangelo-Sistine Chapel•  Architecture– used columns & circular arches• Built Florence Cathedral & Brunelleschi finished it with

an immense dome

horizontal

vert

ical

Perspective!Perspective!

The Last Supper - da Vinci, 1498

Perspective!Perspective!Perspective!Perspective!

Betrothal of the Virgin

Raphael

1504

The Last Supper - Geometry

Mona Lisa – da Vinci, 1503-4

Raphael’s Canagiani Madonna, 1507

Shadowing/Softening Edges

ChiaroscuroChiaroscuro

SfumatoSfumato

The School of Athens – Raphael, 1510 -11

Raphael

Da Vinci

Michelangelo

AristotleAristotle::looks to thislooks to this

earth (theearth (thehere andhere and

now).now).

PlatoPlato::looks to thelooks to theheavens (or heavens (or

the idealthe idealrealm).realm).

The School of Athens – Raphael, details

Averroes

Hypatia

Pythagoras

Zoroaster

Ptolemy

Euclid

• David

• MichelangeloBuonarotti

• 1504

• Marble

The Sistine Chapel

Michelangelo Buonarroti

1508 - 1512

The Sistine Chapel’s CeilingMichelangelo Buonarroti

1508 - 1512

The Sistine Chapel Details

The Creation

of the Heavens

The Sistine Chapel Details

Creation of Man

The Sistine Chapel Details

The Last Judgment

INTELLECTUAL/RELIGIOUS IMPACT

•  Scholarship & Literature

• Humanist study Roman & Greek literature

• Petrarch-”Father of Humanism” study ancient texts/Erasmus criticized the texts including the Church

• Writers wrote in vernacular (local) language for ex. Shakespeare from England & Cervantes from Spain

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY IMPACT

• The Church taught the Earth was the center of the universe Copernicus (Polish scientist) said the Earth orbited the sun

• Galilei-(Italian scientist) through the use of one of the first telescopes backed up Copernicus’ theory

• Both were banned from the Church• Gutenberg-developed a printing press with

movable type which allowed mass production of books/this spread the new ideas & let more people read

Northern Renaissance

• Brought by merchants and traders who traveled from Italy– 1495 – war in Italy caused many artists to flee

to safety in Northern Europe

• Unique from Italy– Impact of Black Plague not as great as in Italy– In addition to classical studies, Northern

learning was more focused on the teachings of the Christian church fathers:

• The apostles, St. Paul, St. Augustine, and others

• Movable type printing (1488)– Most significant of all of

Renaissance ideas spread out of Italy

• Johann Gutenburg – invented the printing press in Germany– Supply of books grew rapidly– Books became cheaper– People encouraged to become

literate– Ideas spread farther and faster

than ever before– First book printed – the Bible

Renaissance Art in Northern Europe

• Italian influence was strong.

• The differences between the two cultures:– Italy change was inspired by humanism with its

emphasis on the revival of the values of classical antiquity.

– N. Europe change was driven by religious reform, the return to Christian values, and the revolt against the authority of the Church.

• More princes & kings were patrons of artists.

• Characterized by– The continuation of late medieval attention to

details.– Tendency toward realism & naturalism (less

emphasis on the “classical ideal”).– Interest in landscapes.– More emphasis on middle-class and peasant

life.– Details of domestic interiors.– Great skill in portraiture.

Van Eyck

The Crucifixion

&

The Last Judgment

1420-1425

Van Eyck

The Crucifixion

&

The Last Judgment

1420-1425

Giovanni Giovanni Arnolfini and Arnolfini and

His WifeHis Wife

Jan Van Jan Van EyckEyck

14341434

Jan van Eyck - Giovanni Arnolfini & His Wife

(details)

Massys’s The Moneylender & His Wife, 1514

Dürer – Self-Portrait in Fur-Collared Robe, 1500

Sir Thomas More

• English Humorist• Wrote “Utopia”• Criticized society of his

day by showing what a perfect, ideal society should look like

• All citizens should be equal & prosperous

• Available at most public libraries & bookstores

William Shakespeare = English Playwright• Drew ideas from Medieval Legends, Classical

Mythology & Ancient History• Dealt with human qualities:

* Jealousy

* Ambition

* Love

* Despair• Realistic look at Human Nature• Audiences today still relate to his plays• More than 420 feature length movies have been made

from his plays making him the most filmed author ever

Hans Holbein - Artist to the Tudors

Henry VIII (left), 1540 and the future Edward VI (above), 1543.

Holbein - The Ambassadors, 1533

A Skull

Multiple Perspectives

• More’s best-known work, Utopia, contains criticisms of English government, society

• Presents vision of perfect, non-existent society based on reason

Sir Thomas More

• Italian-born writer focused on role of women in society

• Grew up in French court of Charles V; turned to writing when widowed

• Championed equality, education for women

Christine de Pisan

• Combined Christian ideas, humanism

• Wrote of pure, simple Christian life, educating children

• Fanned flames of discontent

• Roman Catholic Church censored, condemned works

Desiderius Erasmus

• Northern humanists expressed their own ideas

• Combined interests of theology, fiction and history

• Created philosophical works, novels, dramas, and poems

Philosophers and Writers

Other Things That Happened During the Renaissance…

• Columbus discovers the New World in 1492• Niccolo Machiavelli wrote The Prince – political

writing, “the end justifies the means”• Spanish Inquisition – to maintain Catholicism in

Spain and its lands• Shakespeare becomes a famous playwright• Don Quixote is written by Miguel de Cervantes• The Protestant Reformation (Luther, Henry VIII)• Absolutism begins…more on that tomorrow…

Processing

• Write a play about the Renaissance (with at least three characters and 5 facts about it)

• Write a song about the Renaissance (with at least 5 facts about it)

• Draw a mosaic of at least 5 things dealing with the Renaissance