Transcript File

THE RENAISSANCE
“THE REBIRTH”
of Europe
The Beginnings
• Life at the beginning of the Renaissance was
very different from European feudal society
from the Middle Ages.
– The medieval world was built around the manor
and castles
– At the time of the Renaissance, towns in
southern Europe had grown in both size and
influence
– Wealth had transferred from landowners to
merchants in the cities
– These wealthy people had more time for leisure
and used their wealth to patronize the arts.
WHY ITALY?
• The Heartland of the old Roman Empire
– Most of Italy still used Roman laws which
made trade between regions easier
• The Roman artwork still present in Italy
inspired many Italian artists and architects,
it was their ancestors that had created
them
• The Geography of Italy
Geography of Italy
• A group of city-states
• The largest cities were successful trading cities
that had good harbours and access to the sea
– Genoa and Venice
• Mild Italian climate meant that weather did not
disrupt trade and also that food was plentiful all
year long
– This meant people had more time to devote to leisure
activities
• Italy also had close ties with the Muslim world
Geography continued
• The mountains down the “spine” of Italy
(The Apennines) greatly affected Italy’s
development
– Mountains make travel difficult
– As a result there are few well travelled trade
routes
– Cities on these trade routes were scarce but
tended to be very busy
– The city of Florence was a major “hub” on a
trade route between the east and west coasts
• This made Florence one of Italy’s most powerful
cities
The Italian City-States
• A city-state consists of a city and the rural
area immediately surrounding it.
– This area is known as the hinterland, provides
food and other necessities for the city
• City-states have their own government
and armies
• War was common among the city-states
– The city-states hired mercenaries to fight for
them led by a condotierri
– Fought only for the pay and most battles were
more ceremonial than real
Florence
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Made its fortune in the cloth trade
Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci lived here
In 1330 had a population of 100,000
Was a democracy controlled by the wealthiest
and most powerful families
• A revolt by cloth workers in 1378 led to the
citizens being treated quite well
• The rulers financed many beautiful public
buildings and works of art
Venice
• Built on piles sunk into marshy islands
• Had a population of 150,000
• Was successful because of the powerful navy
which controlled the trade routes of the
Mediterranean Sea
• Was known as a democracy but was actually
controlled by a Doge, a supreme ruler elected
for life
• The secret Council of ten
– Most powerful arm of the government
– Had power to imprison, torture and execute any
citizen of Venice
The Family
• Families were very large
• Mothers, fathers and their kids shared a
house with their aunts, uncles and
grandparents
• Children usually went into the family
business
Marriage
• Middle-class and poor had considerable
freedom to marry
• The wealthy had arranged marriages wishes of
the woman were hardly every considered
• The woman was always much younger than the
man and owed her husbands family a large
dowry (pg 219)
• Weddings were very extravagant and expensive
The Medici Family
• The most famous, influential, and powerful
family in Italy during the Renaissance
• They were the rulers of Florence for more
than three centuries
• Made their fortune in wool, silk and
banking
• Cosimo de Medici gained enough wealth
and power to take control of Florence in
1434
– He started the Medici tradition of patronizing
promising artists
The Medici Family continued
• The Medici made many enemies while in
power
• The most famous of the Medici was
Lorenzo the Magnificent
• Politics took a heavy toll on the Medici
family (see pg 221 in the textbook)
RENAISSANCE THOUGHT
The Humanists
• Humanists were artists that were more
concerned with the goals of human beings
than with spiritual matters
• Believed in the power of reason to find
truth instead of relying on the Bible
• Believed is each person's ability to choose
and create his or her own destiny
Francesco Petrarch
• One of the first humanists
• Admired the culture of ancient Rome more than
his own time
• Collected ancient manuscripts to preserve them
for future generations
• Recommended that artists and writers study the
ancient masterpieces, the emphasis on beauty
• Modelled his own writing style on the ancient
Roman Cicero
• Became the first idea of a `Renaissance Man`
• Ideas inspired the great artists and brought
about a transformation in the way people viewed
their world and the potential of their lives
Machiavelli and The Prince
• Nicolo Machiavelli, born 1469
• Wrote The Prince
– Stated that people were wretched creatures
that had to be forced by a strong ruler to do
what was right
– The leader would have to be ruthless to
maintain the power he needed to force the
citizens to behave properly
Savonarola the Reformer
• A preacher in the Dominican Order
• Dedicated his life to reforming the corruption in
the Church and society
• Persuaded Michelangelo and others to join his
cause
• Attacked the luxuries which many in Florence
bought as sinful
• Built bonfires of the vanities to destroy the
luxuries
• Preached against Pope Alexander VI which
resulted in his torture and execution, first
hanging then burning
THE GREAT ARTISTS
•
Two remarkable innovations came to
light at the beginning of the Renaissance
1. Proportion – everything in a painting is in
scale ex. People and buildings.
Developed by Giotto di Bondone.
2. Perspective – Showing distance in a
painting. Ex. Makes things look threedimensional. Developed by Filippo
Brunelleschi.
Leonardo da Vinci
• Did not receive a classical education, instead he
became an apprentice painter
• Tried to learn about the natural world through
direct observation and experiment
• Not only a great painter but also an inventor,
engineer, and scientist of genius
• First to design a helicopter, tank, parachute, and
a flying machine
• Regarded as the ideal renaissance man
• Learned a lot about human anatomy by
dissecting human bodies, which was
blasphemous at the time
SELF PORTRAIT
THE VITRUVIAN MAN
VIRGIN OF THE ROCKS + MADONNA OF THE ROCKS
THE LAST SUPPER
M
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Michelangelo
• Perhaps the greatest artist of the high
Renaissance but was first and foremost a
sculptor
• Apprenticed at an early age was known as
the best sculptor in Italy by age 20
• Lived to the age of 89
P
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DAVID
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Artemisia Gentileschi
• Daughter of a famous painter
• At a time when a woman’s options were
very limited she achieved fame and
independence through art
• A very accomplished portrait painter
J
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and
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The Northern Renaissance
Printing Technology
• Reproduction of books used to take
months to copy out a single book
– Authors were lucky if fifty copies were made
• The printing press with moveable type was
invented by Johann Gutenburg
• Now thousands of books could be
reproduced in the time it used to take to
copy one
• Writers could now reach thousands of
people instead of a few wealthy individuals
Northern Art
• Ideals of Humanism and Gothic art was
the subject of northern artists
• It is much darker than its Italian cousins
• With the focus on religion it also seems
more medieval
• Developed the secrets of light and shadow
to give art more realism
The Scientific Revolution
• In the 14th and 15th centuries science
began to separate from religion
• Scientists thought they could learn more
from studying real things rather than
reading about them in the Bible or works
of philosophers like Aristotle
• Still very dangerous for scientists to
challenge the teachings of the Church
Nicholas Copernicus
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A Polish scientist trained as a lawyer, doctor,
mathematician, and church administrator
Was the first scientist to state, in 1543, that the
earth is not the centre of the universe
Did not have a telescope to help form his
hypothesis he used mathematics instead
Theorized that the Earth moves in two ways
1. By rotating on it’s axis
2. By revolving around the sun
•
Also theorized the sun was one of just many
stars
Galileo Galilei
• Born in Pisa, Italy in 1564
• Studied to be a medical doctor but turned to
astronomy
• Made a telescope that made things about thirty
times larger and thirty times nearer than they
actually were
• This allowed him to observe things no one had
ever seen before
– Proved the moon and planets were solid
• His writings went against the teachings of the
Church
• He was threatened with torture and he said he
would accept the Church’s view
• He was sentenced to indefinite house arrest