Transcript The Intellectual and artistic renaissance

THE INTELLECTUAL AND
ARTISTIC RENAISSANCE
Humanism, Literature, Education, Art
ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
HUMANISM
• Humanism: secularism and emphasis on the individual
• Study of classics (literary works of ancient Greece & Rome)
•
Grammar, rhetoric, poetry, morals, history (humanities)
• Petrarch: father of Italian Renaissance humanism
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•
Looked for forgotten Latin manuscripts
Emphasis on using pure classical Latin (Roman instead of medieval)
• Early humanists (1300s) thought intellectual life was life of solitude
• Later (1400s) thought intellectuals should be active in community
•
Many became secretaries for city-states, princes, or popes
VERNACULAR LITERATURE
• Vernacular: language spoken in a particular area
• Classical Latin (humanist) used among scholars,
lawyers, theologians
• Many writers began to use vernacular
• Dante & Geoffrey Chaucer made it most popular
DANTE
• Divine Comedy
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Soul’s journey to salvation
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Epic poem
Hell, Purgatory, Heaven (Paradise)
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Imaginary journey through each level
until he reaches God
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“the love that moves the sun and the other
stars”
CHAUCER
• The Canterbury Tales
• Clear, forceful language &
beautiful expression
• His dialect is root of modern
English
• Collection of stories told by 29
pilgrims (portrayed every level of
English society from high to low
born)
• Satire
CHRISTINE DE PIZAN
• The Book of the City of Ladies
•
• Wrote in vernacular
Denounced many male writers who
argued that women, by nature, were
unable to learn and were easily
swayed
• “I assure you that women are equally
well-suited and skilled to carry them
out and to put them to sophisticated use
once they have learned them”
• Translation……?
EDUCATION
• Began to think about education theory
• Humanists believed liberal studies allowed humans to reach their full
potential
•
History, morals, philosophy, eloquence (rhetoric), letters (grammar/logic), poetry,
math, astronomy, and music
• Produce individuals who follow path of virtue and wisdom (and
who can persuade others to do the same)
• Greek ideal of sound mind and body (phys. ed.)
• Practical preparation for life
• Women not largely present
•
A couple attended but were not encouraged to learn math or rhetoric (focus on
music, poetry, and religion)
ARTISTIC RENAISSANCE:
PAINTING
• New Techniques
• Fresco: painting done on fresh, wet plaster with water based paint
• Perspective: creating the illusion of 3 dimensions (made paintings
look lifelike instead of flat)
• Developed by Masaccio in Florence at the beginning of the 1400s
• Technical focus: understanding laws of perspective and
organization of outdoor space and light through geometry
• Investigation of movement and human anatomy: realistic
portrayal of humans (nude)
ARTISTIC RENAISSANCE:
SCULPTURE & ARCHITECTURE
• Donatello: spent time in Rome studying and imitating statues of
Greeks & Romans (most famous for St. George)
• Filippo Brunelleschi: inspired by buildings of classical Rome to
create new architecture in Florence (most famous for church of San
Lorenzo)
• Columns and rounded arches
• Comfortable space to fit humans (not divine beings like medieval churches)
HIGH RENAISSANCE
• 1490-1520: final stage of Renaissance painting (artistic developments)
• Leonardo daVinci: mastered art of realistic painting
• Dissected human bodies to better see how nature worked
• Create idealized forms (perfection of nature & individual)
• Raphael: regarded as one of Italy’s best painters
• Madonnas (paintings of Virgin Mary)
• Ideal beauty surpassing human standards
• Frescos in Vatican palace reflected balance, harmony, order (principles in
classical Roman and Greek art)
• Michelangelo: painter sculptor, architect
• Sistine Chapel
• Ideal human being with perfect proportions (as reflection of divine
beauty)