Transcript How did it impact visual art?

Myth Collage
Name________________ Period______
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What myth did you research and illustrate?
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What part of the myth are you showing?
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How does your collage show a
contemporary interpretation of the myth?
Humanism Triggers the Renaissance!
Humanism
A cultural and intellectual
movement of the Renaissance
that emphasized human
potential to attain excellence.
+ Promoted direct study of the
literature, art, and civilization
of classical Greece and Rome
The Humanities!
The philosophy that people
are rational beings –
humans have beauty,
worth and dignity.
Shift from
FAITH
REASON
Before Humanism – Medieval
Primary Focus = Church and Religion
Faith – unquestioning Thinking – about God, the afterworld, the saints
Events - significance of phenomenon ultimately
determined through uniform points of view
Decline of the power of the church in 14th C.
WHY?
1.Bubonic plague
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Disenchantment with the spiritual
Search for other explanations besides the spiritual for human
suffering
2.Economic Markets
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Money through trade
City-states rose in power and were governed more by economy
than religious restrictions (church too rigid and “stuffy”)
3.Feudalism
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System questioned
Feudalism
Economic political system that prevailed in Europe from about
the 9th-15th Centuries
Humanism Video - Student Made
Reasons for the
Decline of Feudalism
The Bubonic Plague - reduced population – labor more valuable
The Peasants Revolt
Peasants realized their worth and demanded changes. Charters were
granted, but ignored by nobles.
More trade saw the growth of more towns.
Peasants moved away from the country into towns, and they were
eventually allowed to buy their freedom
Land was rented and the rights of lords over labor decreased.
Unpopular
Nobles preferred to pay the King rather than to fight and raise troops
Armed men were paid a wage and Medieval warfare was financed
by taxes and loans.
Nobles became weaker - Kings took back their lands and power.
Centralized government established
Characteristics
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Revival of antiquity - Ancient Greece & Rome
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Belief in human potential and the individual
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Embraced the physical (natural) world
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Embrace VIRTÚ - “the quality of being a man”
and idea of excelling in all pursuits
Believed in education of the young and guidance
of adults (even rulers) in philosophical poetry +
rhetoric (Medieval period – clergy monopolized education)
Examined philosophy and perceived
experience – led to rise of modern social science
Humanism in Visual Arts
Realism
+ Natural World
Classicism
+ Human body
Human-centredness
+ Sought to dignify humans
+ Individual / Self Inquiry
+ Human Emotions
Art as Philosophy
+ Humanists ideas were translated
by the artists
+ symbols, structures, postures, and
colors convey messages
LIBERAL ARTS
7 liberal arts,
two groups of studies
Just like HHS!
•Trivium: grammar, dialectic
(logic), and rhetoric
•Quadrivium: arithmetic, music,
geometry, and astronomy
liberal arts Latin word liberalis
"appropriate for free men”
(social and political elites)
In contrast with the servile arts,
specialized tradesman skills and
knowledge needed by persons
who were employed by the elite.
Petrarch – Father of Humanism
b. 1304, Francesco Petrarca
Philosopher and Poet
“Father of Modern Italian Language”
“First Modern Man”
Studied law then the classics –
one of the world’s first classical
scholars
Discovered lost ancient Roman
texts – transcribed, edited, and
made them available to people
Florence, Italy
Humanist approach to politics
Florence had many humanists, led by historian
Leonardo Bruni.
At this time, Florence was extremely patriotic and
frequently attacked by Milan, a rival city-state.
Florence applied classical teachings and used them
to help solve their current problems. They found in
the ancient Roman literature a love of country and
then applied the patriotism to their current
problems.
Leonardo Bruni
+ secretary to papal chancery
+ served as chancellor of Florence
from 1427 until his death in 1444
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First to use term
‘humanism’
First “modern historian”
Writes first history of
Florence
Historiarum Florentini populi
libri XII (“Twelve Books of
Histories of the Florentine
People”)
Pico della Mirandola
Authored
Oration on the Dignity of Man
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Most famous Renaissance
work on nature of
humankind
Humans created by God and
given tremendous potential
for greatness, and even
union with God if they
desired it
Humans could also choose
negative course. Thus,
humans had FREE WILL to
be great or fail.
Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus, after 1482, tempera on canvas
■ Mythological and based on a Neo-Platonist Poem of ideal beauty
■ First female nude since antiquity - modest Venus pose
■ Controversial because of nudity and pagan theme (some
condemned this type of work)
Sandro Botticelli, La Primavera ("Allegory of Spring”)
1477-78; tempera painted on panel for the villa of Lorenzo de' Medici
Identify features of Renaissance art and humanism in this painting.