The Renaissance

1400-1600

The Renaissance

• The term “Renaissance”translates to “re-birth”.

• It was a cultural awakening signaling the beginning of modern times.

• The Renaissance began in the city-states of Italy, which were important centers of trade.

Humanism

• The Renaissance gave birth to humanism, the study of the Greek and Latin classics.

• Humanists sought fulfillment in daily life and believed individuals had dignity and worth.

• The belief in the ideal person- one who participates is a variety of activities- was renewed. The term Renaissance Manoriginates from this belief.

Humanism

• Humanists opened

schools to spread the

study of history,

philosophy, Latin, and

Greek- The Humanities.

• Humanist schools would

replace schools operated

by the clergy in many

areas of Italy. Plato – A Greek Philosopher who was

revered by the Humanists

Humanism

• Humanism inspired new

forms of writings about

the daily life and feelings

of people.

• Humanists broke free of

the tradition of writing

in Latin, making their

beliefs available to the

everyday person.

• Writing in everyday

language was called

vernacular.

• What difference did it

make writing in

vernacular rather

than Latin?

Noted Humanists

• Francesco Petrarca – wrote 366 sonnets, or short poems.

• Benvenuto Cellini – wrote the first modern autobiography. He encouraged anyone who had done anything of excellence to “describe it with their own hand.”

Francesco Petrarca

Benvenuto Cellini

Noted Humanists• Humanists like Lorenzo

Valla pushed the long

accepted traditions,

assumptions and

institutions.

• He would prove the

document that provided

the legal basis for the

pope’s supremacy over

kings was a forgery.

• How would the Humanists challenges to long standing traditions affect European society?

Niccolo Machiavelli

• One of the most revolutionary authors to rise from the Renaissance was Niccolo Machiavelli.

• In his book The Prince, he advised rulers how to gain and maintain power by any means necessary.

• Many modern day politicians who are seen as sneaky are termed to be “Machiavellian” in nature.

Niccolo Machiavelli author of The Prince

Machiavelli stated in his writing that the “end justifies the means”;

what does this imply?

Government

• Italy was not a unified state

during the time of the

Renaissance.

• It was divided into large tracts

of lands run by powerful city-

states.

• Some city-states were ruled by

powerful families.

• Powerful politicians or family

heads would rule as the signori.The Italian City-States as they were in the time of the Renaissance.

Government

• The city-states would fight

each other for control of land

and resources.

• Signori hired soldiers called

condottieri to fight their wars

making them costly.

• As a result they would

establish permanent

ambassadors in foreign city-

states.

Why did signori use hired soldiers instead of citizen soldiers?

Renaissance Cities

• Florence – Under the rule of the famous Medici ruling family promoted the ideas of the Renaissance.

• The Medici family used tax money to improve the city and to support artists, philosophers, and writers and to sponsor public festivals. Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy

Renaissance Cities• Rome – By 1500 Rome had

replaced Florence as the leading Renaissance city.

• The Pope and the Cardinals were the wealthiest and most powerful class.

• Renaissance Popes commissioned architects and artists to rebuild the ancient city. The most famous projects was St. Peters Basilica.

• The massed amount of manuscripts in the Vatican Library attracted scholars from all over Europe. St. Peters Basilica in Rome

Corruption in Rome

• Many Renaissance Popes were greedy and corrupt.

• In 1492 Pope Alexander VI bribed the College of Cardinals to elect him Pope. He then used the Church’s money to support his family.

• Pope Leo X had his forests stocked with exotic animals to entertain thousands of hunters for weeks. He also threw out his guests silver dinner plates after every meal.

Pope Alexander VI

Pope Leo X

Venice

• Venice was ideally situated to maintain a trade monopoly with Asia.

• It was a link between Western Europe and Asia.

• The variety of cultures in Venice contributed to its art and architecture. A Gondola in the Canals in Venice

Renaissance Art• Renaissance art focused on

realism and lifelike representations.

• Although the majority of art was still devoted to religious subjects it had more of a secular, or worldly overtones.

• Artists experimented to create a sense of perspective, which gave their paintings in depth. They also studied anatomy so they could portray their human figures more accurately. The Crucifixion - Luca Signorelli

Questions1. __________ Means “re-birth”.

2. __________ The area for the start of Europe’s “Cultural Awakening.”

3. __________ The study of the Greek and Latin Classics.

4. __________ He wrote 366 Sonnets.

5. __________ He is credited with the writing of the first autobiography.

6. __________ Author of The Prince.

7. __________ Italian Renaissance City under the rule of the Medici family.

8. __________ Home to St. Peters Basilica.

9. __________ He bribed the College of Cardinals.

10.__________ He stocked his lavish gardens and held hunting parties.

11.__________ City ideally situated to maintain trade with Europe and Asia.

12.__________ Means “worldly.”

Renaissance Assignment

• Choices:– Choose an influential personality from the

Renaissance period and write an essay (500 words typed) on how they contributed to the Renaissance and its values.Choose a painter from the Renaissance and duplicate a piece of his artwork on to a ceiling tile.

– Choose a statue or sculpted art work and reproduce it in a miniature form.

– Time Frame: Two Weeks from today.

The Building Style of the Renaissance

• The architects of the Renaissance returned to the classical Greek and Roman style of building with domes and columns.

• They sought beauty and comfort in their buildings adorning them with tapestries, paintings, statues, fine furniture, and glass windows.

Gothic- Medieval Architecture

Classical- Renaissance Architecture

Filippo Brunelleschi

• Brunelleschi is noted as the most famous architect of the Renaissance.

• He is best known for the dome he designed and completed in 1436 for the Cathedral of Florence.

• This dome was considered to be the greatest engineering feat of its time. IL Duomo – Florence Italy

Renaissance Sculpture

• Renaissance sculpture of nude figures resembled ancient Greek and Roman sculptures; they were not stiff and rigid like medieval sculptures.

• Some of the best known sculptors came from Florence – Donatello, Michelangelo, and Ghiberti.

La Pieta – Sculpted by Michelangelo

Donatello

• Donatello one of

the most famous

sculptors of the

Renaissance, was

the first to cast a

statue in bronze

since ancient

times.

Donatello's equestrian statue of Gattamelata

Lorenzo Ghiberti

• Lorenzo Ghibertitook 21 years to create 10 magnificent Old Testament scenes on bronze doors for Florence’s cathedral baptistery.

Renaissance Painting

• Italian Renaissance painters departed from the flat, symbolic style to a more realistic style.

• The artist Giottoeffectively captured emotion in a series of frescoes portraying St. Francis of Assisi.

• The Florentine artist Masaccio gave even greater realism to his paintings by using lighting and perspective.

Masaccio’s Tribute Money c.1425What techniques did Masaccio use to give his painting depth?

Leonardo Da Vinci

• The greatest artist of the Renaissance was Leonardo da Vinci.

• Best known for the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper.

• He was also a scientist and inventor as his designs included parachutes, flying machines, mechanical diggers, and artillery.

Questions

1. __________ Renaissance architects reverted to this style of architecture.

2. __________ Most famous architect of the Renaissance.

3. __________ This was considered to be the greatest engineering feat of the Renaissance.

4. __________ He was the first to cast a statue in Bronze since the ancient times.

5. __________ He spent 21 years creating a set of Bronze doors in Florence.

Michelangelo Buonarroti• Michelangelo began his

career as a sculptor in Florence.

• It was in Florence where he sculpted a marble statue of David, the legendary biblical king.

• He would later sculpt La Pieta, showing a dead Jesus in the arms of his mother.

• In 1505 Michelangelo would be commissioned to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapelin Rome.

The Northern Renaissance

• When France invaded Italy in 1494 King Francis I became fascinated by the Italian Renaissance.

• He brought Leonardo da Vinci and other artists and scholars to there court in France.

• In 1440 a German

metal worker

named Johannes

Gutenberg

produced the first

printing press.

This was later used

to spread the ideas

of the Renaissance

through Europe.

Johannes

Gutenberg

The Northern Renaissance

• Pierre Ronsard wrote

his own sonnets with

common humanist

themes such as love,

the passing of youth,

and the poet’s

immortality.

• Michel de Montaigne

created the personal

essay.

Pierre Ronsard

Michel de Montaigne

The Northern Renaissance

• Humanism in the north took on a more religious tone. Known as Christian Humanists, they pressed for reform in the Catholic Church.

• The most famous Christian humanist was Erasmus of Rotterdam who encouraged his colleagues to study the Bible in Greek and Hebrew to gain a better understanding of it.

The Northern Renaissance

• Jan and Hubert van Eyck painted scenes from the Bible and daily life in sharp, realistic detail.

• In England the Humanist Thomas Moore wrote the book Utopia, where he criticized society by comparing it with an ideal society.

• The two most famous writers of the English Renaissance were Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare. They wrote plays and stories about love, jealousy, ambition and love.