The Renaissance“Rebirth”

1300’s-1600’s

Renaissance = rebirth

• Began in Italy– Rome and all of it’s history was there

• Characteristics:– Revival in learning– Urban society with a secular (worldly) viewpoint and

wealth– Recovery from disasters like the plague and a

decline in the Church’s power– Emphasized individual ability- “Renaissance Man”

like Leonardo da Vinci

Important Italian City-States

• Florence (Northern Italy)– Medici family (Lorenzo Medici especially)– Cultural center of Italy

Niccolo Machiavelli

• Wrote The Prince– About political power in the western world– How to get and keep power

• Leader acts on behalf of the state and can’t be concerned with what is morally right/wrong, only what will keep him in power

Renaissance Society

• 3 estates/classes• Peasants/Townspeople

– 85-90% of the population– Mostly merchants and artisans– 1300’s-1400’s feudalism ended and urban poverty rose dramatically– Urban society

• Patricians: wealth from trade, industry, and banking (dominate community)

• Burghers: shopkeepers, artisans• Workers: pitiful wages• Unemployed: 30-40% of population

• Nobles• 2-3% of population• Held most important political posts, advisors to the king

• Clergy

Humanism

• Intellectual movement of the Renaissance– Based on study of the classics (ancient Greeks and

Romans)• Petrarch: father of Italian humanism, began emphasis on

using pure classical Latin

– 14th century: intellectual life of solitude (monks)– 15th century: active life for one’s state, study of

humanities should be put to the service of the state so they served as secretaries in the city-states and to the princes and popes

Vernacular Literature (own language)

• Dante: Divine Comedy – a soul’s journey to salvation, written in Italian

• Geoffrey Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales- collection of stories told by a group journeying to the tomb of St. Thomas a Becket at Canterbury in England, described English society, written in English

• Christine de Pizan: French works written in defense of women, French vernacular

Education

• Humanists believed education could dramatically change human beings’ lives

• Liberal Studies– Enabled people to reach full potential– History, moral philosophy, rhetoric (public

speaking), grammar and logic, math, astronomy, music, and physical education

– Purpose: to produce individuals who follow a path of virtue and wisdom, a practical education to create complete citizens

Girls’ Education

• Few went to school• Girls studied the classics and were encouraged

to know some history, how to ride, dance, sing, play the lute, and appreciate poetry

• NOT taught rhetoric or math• Religion and morals should be the foremost in

educating “Christian ladies” so they could become good wives and mothers

Artistic Renaissance in Italy• Humans became the

focus of attention and were portrayed realistically

• Perspective: enabled artists to create the illusion of 3 dimensions so art looks more realistic

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v407/n6801/images/407134aa.0.jpg

New Techniques in Painting

• Fresco: painting done on wet plaster– Masaccio very well

known for his frescoes

• Also one of first to master perspective

The Tribute Money

www.myeport.com/.../slideshow/2/1.28070.G.jpg

Sculpture and Architecture

• Donatello– Sculptor– Statue of Saint George:

realistic, freestanding figure

Donatello: Statue of Saint George

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/d/donatello/donatello_george.jpg

Masters of the High Renaissance 1490-1520: Final stage of Renaissance painting

• Leonardo da Vinci– Realistic painting– Goal was to create

idealized forms that would capture the perfection of nature and the individual

– Dissected bodies to see how they naturally worked

www.latifm.com/artists/image/da-vinci-leonard...

www.penwith.co.uk/artofeurope/leonardo_da_vin...

Mona Lisa

The Last Supper

• Raphael– One of best painters in

Italy– Known for his

Madonnas– Tried to achieve an

ideal of beauty far surpassing human standards

– Known for frescoes in the Vatican Palace The School of Athens

www.penwith.co.uk/artofeurope/raphael.htm

• Michelangelo– Painter, sculptor,

architect– Driven by desire to

create, worked with great passion and energy on many projects

– Sistine Chapel ceiling in Rome

• Ideal figures in perfect proportions

http://www.italianvisits.com/people/michelangelo/images/michelangelo-sistine_chapel.jpg

Northern Artistic RenaissanceLow Countries: Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands• Flanders: cultural and artistic center of the

Northern Renaissance• How was the Northern Renaissance different

than in Italy? (besides happening a little later)– Italy: Large spaces to work on, mastered technical

skills that allowed them to portray humans in realistic settings

– North: Gothic Cathedrals (less space), no frescoes, painted illustrations for books and wooden panels for altar pieces, not as many learned perspective as quickly

Artists of the Northern Renaissance

• Jan van Eyck– Among 1st to use oil paint,

could use a variety of colors and create fine details with it

– Imitated nature by observing reality and portraying those details the best he could

– Did NOT use perspectiveThe Ghent Altarpiece

www.ibiblio.org/.../auth/eyck/ghent/ghentopn.jpg

• Albrecht Dürer– Learned perspective

during trips to Italy– Tried to use the details of

the Northern artists and combine with the Italian techniques

– Tried to achieve a standard of ideal beauty based on careful examination of the human form The Adoration of the Maji

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