New Ideas and Art

Get Ready to Read

Section OverviewThis section describes how humanists spread ideas and Renaissance artists created great paintings and sculptures.

Get Ready to Read (cont.)

Focusing on the Main Ideas

New Ideas and Art

• Humanists studied the Greeks and Romans, and the development of the printing press helped spread their ideas.

• Renaissance artists used new techniques to produce paintings that showed people in an emotional and realistic way.

• Renaissance ideas and art spread from Italy to northern Europe.

Get Ready to Read (cont.)

Locating Places• Flanders (FLAN·duhrz)

• Dante Alighieri (DAHN·tay A·luh·GYEHR·ee)

Meeting People

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• Johannes Gutenberg (yoh·HAHN·uhs GOO·tuhn·BUHRG)

• Leonardo da Vinci (LEE·uh·NAHR·doh duh VIHN·chee)

Get Ready to Read (cont.)

• Michelangelo Buonarroti (MY·kuh·LAN·juh·LOH BWAW·nahr·RAW·tee)

Meeting People (cont.)

New Ideas and Art

• William Shakespeare (SHAYK·SPIHR)

Building Your Vocabulary

• humanism (HYOO·muh·NIH·zuhm)

• vernacular (vuhr·NA·kyuh·luhr)

Get Ready to Read (cont.)

Reading Strategy

Organizing Information Create a diagram like the one on page 618 of your textbook to show features of Renaissance art.

New Ideas and Art

Renaissance Humanism

• Humanists sought a balance between religion and reason.

• Western Europeans began studying Greek and Roman works in the 1300s.

• Humanism was a way of understanding the world that was based on the values of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

(pages 619–621)

• During the Crusades, Western Europeans were exposed to Greek and Roman culture that had been preserved by Arab scholars.

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Renaissance Humanism (cont.)

• Petrarch was a famous scholar of ancient works.

• He encouraged Europeans to search for Latin manuscripts in monasteries.

• Italians studied ancient books, statues, and buildings.

(pages 619–621)

• New libraries were built to house the manuscripts, including the Vatican Library in Rome.

New Ideas and Art

Renaissance Humanism (cont.)

• Dante Alighieri wrote The Divine Comedy, one of the world’s greatest poems, in the vernacular.

• In England, the poet Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales in English.

• Writers during the Renaissance began writing in the vernacular, the everyday language of a people.

(pages 619–621)

• Johannes Gutenberg developed a printing press that used movable type.

New Ideas and Art

Renaissance Humanism (cont.)

• Gutenberg’s Bible was the first European book printed on the press.

• Leonardo da Vinci was a great scientist, artist, inventor, and engineer.

• The press could print books quickly, so more books became available.

(pages 619–621)

• Leonardo imagined machines long before they were invented, such as the airplane and helicopter.

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Renaissance Humanism (cont.)

• People studied plants, human anatomy, and medicine, as well as astronomy and mathematics.

• Interest in other topics flourished as well.

(pages 619–621)

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How did Gutenberg’s movable type differ from Chinese movable type?

Chinese movable type was difficult to use because their large alphabet contained characters that were whole words. Gutenberg’s press contained individual metal letters that could easily be manipulated.

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Artists in Renaissance Italy

• Renaissance artists used new techniques, such a perspective and chiaroscuro, to add realism and express drama and emotion.

• There are major style differences between medieval and Renaissance art.

(pages 623–624)

• The peak of the Renaissance occurred between 1490 and 1520.

• Leonardo da Vinci, a great scientist, was also a trained artist.

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Artists in Renaissance Italy (cont.)

• Raphael was one of Italy’s most famous painters who painted frescoes in the Vatican.

• One of his most famous works was The Last Supper.

(pages 623–624)

• His best-known painting is School of Athens.

• Michelangelo Buonarroti was a painter and sculptor.

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• He is best known for his sculpture David.

What was significant about the chiaroscuro technique?

Chiaroscuro used light and shadows instead of stiff outlines to separate objects in a painting. This softening of the edges created more drama and emotion in a painting.

New Ideas and Art

The Renaissance Spreads• The Northern Renaissance refers to art

from places we know today as Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, and the Netherlands.

(pages 625–626)

• Northern Renaissance artists used different techniques than artists in Italy.

• Artists in Flanders, a region in what is today northern Belgium, developed oil painting.

New Ideas and Art

The Renaissance Spreads (cont.)

• Jan van Eyck was a great oil painter.

(pages 625–626)

• Albrecht Dürer was an artist best known for his engravings.

• Engravings are made in wood, metal, or stone, and covered in ink.

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• The image is then printed on paper.

The Renaissance Spreads (cont.)

• In England, the Renaissance created great works of theater and literature.

(pages 625–626)

• William Shakespeare was the greatest English writer of the Renaissance.

• He wrote tragedies, comedies, and historical plays.

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Why do you think theater was so popular in England during the Renaissance?

The upper class of England enjoyed theater, and admission to the theater was cheap, so even the poor could attend.

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Explain the beliefs of humanists during the Renaissance.

Humanists believed the individual and human society were important. They wanted a balance between faith and reason.

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By showing objects at different distances, artists create a scene that is more realistic.

Explain the artistic technique of perspective.

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Evaluate What was the importance of the printing press on Renaissance society?

it helped ideas grow and spread across Europe

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Science Link Describe the scientific efforts and contributions of Leonardo da Vinci.

Answers should be based on the text.

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Explain How were the ideals of the Renaissance expressed in England? Provide examples.

in writing and in plays, such as Hamlet

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Expository Writing Choose a painting or sculpture shown in this section. In a short essay describe the work and explain how it demonstrates Renaissance techniques or characteristics.

Answers will vary.

New Ideas and Art

Locate and label Rome, England, and other places from this section on a blank map of Europe.

New Ideas and Art