Transcript The Renaissance

Renaissance
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Means Rebirth
Time of creativity and change in political,
social, economic, and cultural
Reawakened interest in classical learning, the
culture of ancient Rome, creative minds
transformed their age
Explored new attitudes toward culture and
learning
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New emphasis on individual achievement
Spirit of adventure and wide-ranging curiosity
that led people to explore new worlds
Secular thought was more prominent. Secular:
Worldly rather than spiritual
Italian Beginnings
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Began in Italy, specifically, Florence in the mid 1300s
(a number of small city-states)
Spread North to the rest of Europe
Reached its height in the 1500s
Italy was the center of ancient Roman history and
there was a new interest in ancient Rome
Served as trading centers for the distribution of goods
to Northern Europe
Wealthy and powerful merchant class promoted the
cultural rebirth – Patrons: financial supporters of the
arts.
Jan Van EyckNorthern Renaissance
Medieval art and
literature focused on
the Church and
salvation;
Renaissance art and
literature focused on
individuals and
worldly matters,
along with
Christianity
Medieval
Italian portrait
of the
Madonna.
Renaissance
Italian
portrait of the
Madonna.
Renaissance vs. Medieval Art
Differences
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Medieval Style
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Byzantine Influence
Conservative with
Human body
Flat, two
dimensional
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Renaissance Style
Greek and Roman
Influence
 Celebration of the
Human body
 Three dimensional depth
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Humanism
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Based on the study of classical culture, focuses
on worldly subjects rather than on religious
issues
Believed that education should stimulate the
individual’s creative powers
Main areas of study were grammar, rhetoric,
poetry, and history
Studied the ancients to increase their
understanding of their own times
Humanism
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Celebrated the Individual
Stimulated the study of Greek and Roman
literature and culture
Was supported by wealthy patrons
Lorenzo Di Medici
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1400s Florence, the Medici family organized a
banking business
Held cultural and political power
Lorenzo di Medici-politician and generous
Patron (financial supporter) of the arts
Francesco Petrarch
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Francesco Petrarch
Florence, early Renaissance Humanist- Father
of Renaissance Humanism
Assembled a library of Greek and Roman
manuscripts
Sonnets, humanist scholarship
A Golden Age in the Arts
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Renaissance reached its most glorious
expression in its paintings, sculpture, and
architecture
Portrayed religious figures, set against Greek
or Roman backgrounds, portraits of well
known figures of the day
Golden Age of the Arts
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Perspective-making distant objects smaller
than those close to the viewer
Made pictures three dimensional
Used shading to make objects look round and
real
Studied human anatomy and drew from live
models
Could portray the human body more accurately
Leonardo DaVinci
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Florence
Paintings regarded for their freshness and
realism
Most popular –Mona Lisa and Last Supper
Made sketches of nature, models, dissected
corpses to learn how bones and muscle work
Art, botany, engineering anatomy, optics,
music, architecture
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Sketches of flying machines and undersea
boats
Michelangelo
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Sculptor, engineer, painter, architect, poet
Pieta-sorrow of Mary cradling Christ
David-statue of the Shepherd shows harmony
and grace of ancient Greek tradition
Sistine Chapel
Raphael
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Paintings blend Christian and classical styles
School of Athens-imaginary gathering of great
thinkers and scientists
Best known for his Madonnas
1: Zeno of Citium or Zeno of Elea? – 2: Epicurus – 3: Frederik II of Mantua? – 4: Anicius
Manlius Severinus Boethius or Anaximander or Empedocles? – 5: Averroes – 6:
Pythagoras – 7: Alcibiades or Alexander the Great? – 8: Antisthenes or Xenophon? – 9:
Hypatia or the young Francesco Maria della Rovere? – 10: Aeschines or Xenophon? – 11:
Parmenides? – 12: Socrates – 13: Heraclitus (painted as Michelangelo) – 14: Plato holding
the Timaeus (painted as Leonardo da Vinci) – 15: Aristotle holding the Ethics – 16:
Diogenes of Sinope – 17: Plotinus? – 18: Euclid or Archimedes with students (painted as
Bramante)? – 19: Strabo or Zoroaster? – 20: Ptolemy – R: Raphael as Apelles – 21: Il
Architecture
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Adopted columns, arches, and domes that were
favored by the Greeks and Romans
Rejected Gothic style
Filippo Brunelleschi created a dome modeled
on the Pantheon in Rome
Writers
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How to books on how to rise in the
Renaissance world will be popular
Northern Renaissance- the moveable type
printing press and the production and sale of
books (Gutenberg Bible) helped disseminate
ideas.
Machiavelli
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The Prince-1513-guide to rulers on how to gain and
maintain power – absolute power of the ruler
An early modern treatise on government
Advises that one should do good if possible, but do
evil when necessary
The end justifies the means
Saw himself as an enemy of oppression and
corruption raised important ethical questions about
the nature of government
The Northern Renaissance
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1400s-France, Belgium, the Netherlands
Growing wealth in Northern Europe supported
Renaissance ideas
Northern Renaissance thinkers merged with
humanist ideas with Christianity
Jan Van Eyck
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Painted townspeople/religious scenes
Developed oil paint-produced strong colors
Bruegel
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Leading Flemish artist
Vibrant colors/lively scenes of peasant life
Rich colors, vivid details
Northern Humanists
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Stressed education and revival of classical
learning
Emphasized religious themes
Christian Humanists: Very popular in Northern
Renaissance because they believed you could
still be inspired by Christian ideals.
Erasmus
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Produced a new Greek edition of the New
Testament, Latin translation also
Called for reforms in the church
The Praise of Folly-used humor to expose the
ignorant and immoral behavior of many people
of his day, including clergy
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He believed in a Christianity of the heart rather
than of ceremonies and rulers.
Sir Thomas More
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Utopia-describes an ideal society, where men
and women live in peace and harmony, no one
is idle, all are educated, justice is used to end
crime rather than to eliminate the criminal
Literature of the Northern
Renaissance
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Rabelais-French
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Shakespeare
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Gargantua and Pantagruel-offered his opinions on
a wide variety of subjects
English, wrote 37 plays
Cervantes
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Spain
Don Quixote-mocks romantic notions of chivalry
The Printing Revolution
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1456-Johann Gutenberg developed the printing
press
By 1500-20 million volumes had been printed
Books were cheaper and easier to produce
People learned to read and write
People gained access to knowledge
Influenced religious and secular thought
Castiglione
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The Book of the Courtier-artistocrat who
mastered many fields from poetry to music to
sports
Men-athletic, good at games, music, literature,
history, not arrogant
Women-graceful, king, lively, pure, outer
beauty is the true sign of inner goodness
Albrecht Durer
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Nicknamed the German Leonardo due to his
diverse interests and talents
Helped to spread the ideas in his homeland