Transcript The Italian Renaissance

The Italian Renaissance
The Birth of the Modern World
The Renaissance
• A sustained period of renewed interest and
remarkable development in art, literature,
science, and learning.
Causes of the Renaissance
• Black Death
▫ Surplus food=lower prices=extra money
• Trade
▫ Crusades – opened up Asia & Africa
▫ Specialization – regions focus on a few products
• Growth of city-states in Italy
▫ Powerful and wealthy merchants
• Rediscovery of classical culture (Greece, Rome)
• Focus on individuals and human nature
Where did it begin?
• Venice
▫ Trade
▫ Doge & Council of Ten
• Florence
▫ Medici family
▫ Banking
• Milan
▫ Food, silk, & weapons
• Papal States
▫ Pope & the Church
Old Ideas are New Again
• Crusades – ancient texts &
knowledge rediscovered in
Muslim culture
• Greek scholars fleeing
Ottoman Turks bring Greek
works
• Search through libraries to
find works that had been “lost”
or ignored during the very
religious medieval times
Humanism
• Focus on secular themes, not
religious
• Individualism – emphasis on
dignity & worth of individual
person
• Improvement – develop
talents in various arts & skills
Renaissance Politics
• Seems to encourage harsh
treatment of people
• Power & ruthlessness most
useful for ruler
• “better for a ruler to be feared
than loved”
• “The ends justify the means”
• The STATE and the RULER
are NOT the same thing
Renaissance Society
• How to behave in society
• “Renaissance man” idea
• Handbook for how to advance
your status
Renaissance Architecture
Gothic (Medieval)
Renaissance
Renaissance Art
• No one style, more of a change
in attitudes & techniques
▫ Realism
▫ Perspective – optical illusion
creating depth & 3D
▫ Individuals are focus
▫ Influence of classical styles
▫ Religious, mythological, or
portrayal of upper class
Compare & Contrast
Medieval Portrait
Renaissance Portrait
Focus on individual
Realism & Influence of classics
Perspective
Mythological, religious, upper class
The Patrons
• Artists in medieval times were
anonymous and art was
religious
• During Renaissance wealthy
individuals, city governments
& the church became patrons
▫ Medici family
▫ Sforza family
▫ Roman Catholic Church
• Competition led to vibrant art
scene where artists were like
rock stars
The Artists
• Leonardo da Vinci
▫ Painter, inventer, philosopher
• Michelangelo
▫ Painter, sculptor
• Raphael
▫ Architect, painter
• Bramante
▫ Architect