The Italian Renaissance

HWH UNIT I

CHAPTER 1.1

How does this painting define the Renaissance?

Humanism• Intellectual

movement

• Modeled after

Greek and Roman

culture

• Humanities:

rhetoric, grammar,

poetry, history

Petrarch (1304-1374)

• The “Father of

Humanism”

Classical Antiquity

• Revival of Greek

and Roman ideas

and values (art and

architecture too)

• Homer, Virgil,

Cicero

Secularism

• Non-religious or

“worldly” (as

opposed to the

Middle Ages)

Individualism

• Focus on the

individual as

something worthy

of glorification

Why Italy?

• Rome

• Papacy

• Trade

• Middle Class

• City-States

City-States in the Renaissance

• Ruled by a wealthy

family

– Usually merchants or

bankers

– Generally despotic

– Patronized the arts

– Glorified their city-state

Florence: the Heart of the Italian Renaissance

The Medici

Cosimo (1389-1464)

• Civic Humanism

– Patronage

– 600% of city’s

budget

Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449-1492)

Savonarola (1452-1498)

• “Bonfires of the

Vanities”

• Expelled the

Medici, 1494

• Executed, 1498

Portrait of Savonarola by Fra Bartolomeo (1498), Museo di San Marco, Florence

Renaissance Art and Architecture

Madonna Enthroned by Cimabue (1285)Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Maesta by Duccio (1308-1311)Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena

Madonna Enthroned with the Child by Cimabue (1286)Musée du Louvre, Paris

The Duke of Urbino by Francesca (1472) Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

The Duchess of Urbino by Francesca (1472) Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

The Birth of Venus by Botticelli (1485) Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Primavera by Botticelli (1485) Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

The Adoration of the Magi by Botticelli (1475) Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

The Procession of the Magi by Gozzoli (1459) Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence

Cosimo

Lorenzo

The School of Athens by Raphael (1508)Vatican Museum, Rome

The Sistine Chapel Ceiling by Michelangelo (1508)

The Creation of Adam

The Fall of Man

The Last Judgment

Leonardo’s Notebooks

Madonna of the Rocks by Da Vinci (1483-86) Musée du Louvre, Paris

The Last Supper by Da Vinci (1498)Santa Maria della Grazie, Milan

The Baptistery in Florence

The Doors of the Baptistery by Ghiberti

The Sacrifice of Isaac by Brunelleschi (1401-02)

Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence

The Sacrifice of Isaac by Ghiberti (1401-02) Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence

Brunelleschi’s Dome on the Florence Cathedral (1410)

David by Donatello (1430) Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence

David by Michelangelo (1501)Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence

Pieta by Michelangelo (1498)St. Peter’s Basilica, The Vatican

St. Peter’s Cathedral, The Vatican

Italian Humanists

Baldasarre Castiglione (1478-1529)

The Book of the Courtier, 1518

Niccolo Machiavelli

The Prince (1513)