Transcript Overview of Ch 8: The Renaissance in Italy

Ideals, Art, and Some Important Figures
Renaissance and Humanism

 The Renaissance is the period following the Middle
Ages, c 1400-1600.
 Renaissance means “rebirth” in French. First applied to
this period in the 19th century.
 This period characterized by artistic innovation, new
confidence in human abilities, and interest in classical
civilization (Ancient Greek and Roman culture).
 In contrast to the medieval Christian view of humans as
sinful and depraved (St. Augustine), Italian Renaissance
thinkers praised the human character as God’s highest
creation.
Humanism Defined:

•
a humanist was simply a student of the Greek and
Roman literature, history, rhetoric, and ethics.
•
studia humanitatis or the ‘course that made one
human.’ The humanist movement which was both
cultural and intellectual began to consider secular
concerns as a result of the rediscovery and study of
the literature, art, and civilization of ancient Greece
and Rome. When thinkers of the time considered
Christian teachings, they did so in connection with
classical thought.
Humanism Continued:

The ideals of humanism gave rise to the concept of
the “universal man” or uomo universal: the
embodiment of an ideal and worldly man, skilled in
the arts and sciences, “well-rounded,” so to speak.
Good tastes, good manners, knowledgeable, and
socially adept.
Renaissance humanism was later broadened to
mean the age’s glorification of human potential and
power.
What makes the
Renaissance possible?

$$$$$ WEALTH $$$$$
• The Italian Renaissance was in part possible because Italy was
experiencing a period of wealth (not just economic stability).
• Europe during this time depended on Italy for much of its products
and commerce.
• Venice and Genoa were major trade cities
• Arts produced during the time were produced under the patronage
of wealthy nobles and rulers of Italy’s cities and courts.
• Learning was also basically sponsored by the rich (for the rich)
What made this possible?
(Cont’d)

• There was also a political system in Italy that
allowed for local governing (city-states).
• Civic humanism which was an outlook derived
from the republican ideals of the ancient Romans.
• In accordance with civic humanism, the noble
citizens of Italy’s cities were expected to participate
in the city’s politics as well as to use their wealth to
sponsor hospitals, rebuilding churches,
commissioning public art works, and sponsoring
other public services.
Education during the
Renaissance

 The invention of the printing press in the mid-15th
century made books more widely available and increased
literacy rates.
 However, school attendance did not increase greatly
during the Renaissance, was mostly for the children of the
wealthy merchant class.
 There is some indication that sometimes lower-class
children received some formal schooling but education
for all was not yet a standard.
 Children of the nobility and upper classes went on to
secondary schools and the university.
Lorenzo de’ Medici

 Ruler of Florence from
1469-1492
 A wealthy and
generous patron of the
arts and himself an
accomplished poet
 Pg 195 and handout–
Poem “Song of
Bacchus” or “Triumph
of Bacchus’
 Poem is an example of
the renewed interest in
classical themes,
culture, and
mythology.
 The golden age of
Florentine Renaissance
basically comes to an
end with the death of
Lorenzo in 1492.
STOP

Giovanni Pico della
Mirandola was born
on February 24th of
1463 in Mirandola, a
city in North Italy. He
died on November 17,
1494. He was an
Italian Renaissance
philosopher and a
prolific writer.
Della Mirandola Cont’d

His family had power over the city where he
was born. He went to study religious law at the
age of ten. At the sudden death of his mother
three years later, Pico renounced canon law and
began to study philosophy at the University of
Ferrara and later at the University of Paris.
He knew Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic. He
was well read in Christian and non-Christian
philosophy.
Della Mirandola Cont’d

• Rome, December 1486: published nine hundred theses
and invited interested scholars to discuss and debate
with him
• Oration on the Dignity of Man was to have been the
introduction to his defense.
• Pope Innocent VIII forbade the disputation. He also
appointed a papal commission to investigate the theses
• the commission found some of his work/ideas heretical
• Della Mirandola published Apologia to “apologize” and
or “explain.”
Oration on the Dignity of Man

In Oration on the Dignity of Man by Giovanni Pico della
Mirandola, della Mirandola tackles the question
regarding the admiration of man. He begins from the
premise that man is admired universally. The question
of he aims to answer isn’t about whether or not man
should be admired. Rather the questions is “why?”
Why should man be so admired? What distinguishes
the human from other creatures?
Why should man be so admired? What distinguishes
him from other living creatures and creations of God?

•
•
He possess free will/choice
He is capable of transformation; can be whatever
he chooses to be.
 Conclusion: In his noblest shape man is at least equal to
the angels and is in God’s likeness
Quotes from Oration…
God tells Man:

 “I have placed you at the very center of the world, so
that from that vantage point you may with greater
ease glance round about you on all that the world
contains. We have made you a creature neither of
heaven nor of earth, neither mortal nor immortal, in
order that you may, as the free and proud shaper of
your own being, fashion yourself in the form you
may prefer. It will be in your power to descend to
the lower, brutish forms of life; you will be able,
through your own decision, to rise again to the
superior orders whose life is divine.”
Quotes cont’d

 “If you see a man dedicated to his stomach, crawling on the
ground, you see a plant and not a man; or if you see a man
bedazzled by the empty forms of the imagination, as by the
wiles of Calypso, and through their alluring solicitations made
a slave to his own senses, you see a brute and not a man. If,
however, you see a philosopher, judging and distinguishing all
things according to the rule of reason, him shall you hold in
veneration, for he is a creature of heaven and not of earth; if,
finally, a pure contemplator, unmindful of the body, wholly
withdrawn into the inner chambers of the mind, here indeed is
neither a creature of earth nor a heavenly creature, but some
higher divinity, clothed in human flesh.”
Quotes Cont’d

 “Let us disdain things of earth, hold as little worth
even the astral orders and, putting behind us all the
things of this world, hasten to that court beyond the
world, closest to the most exalted Godhead. There, as
the sacred mysteries tell us, the Seraphim, Cherubim
and Thrones occupy the first places; but, unable to
yield to them, and impatient of any second place, let
us emulate their dignity and glory. And, if we will it,
we shall be inferior to them in nothing.”
Characteristics of
Renaissance Art

 Would combine classical and Christian themes
and/or symbols
 Linear Perspective: the attempt to depict (on a twodimensional surface like paper or canvas) an image as
it is viewed by the eye. Adds depth, makes more
realistic
 Sfumato: refers to the technique of oil painting in
which colors or tones are blended in such a subtle
manner that they melt into one another without
perceptible transitions, lines or edges.
Piero della Francesca

 Piero della Francesca was a painter of the Early
Renaissance (1415-1492). He was also known as a
mathematician and geometer. Nowadays, Piero della
Francesca is chiefly appreciated for his art. His
paintings were characterized by their serene
humanism and their use of geometric forms and
perspective.
 The painting An Ideal City presented in your book on
p 189 is attributed to him or to his students.
Perspective Defined:

• Perspective in the visual arts is the technique for creating
the illusion of three-dimensional depth on a flat surface.
A representation of the image as it would be seen by the
eye out in the real world.
• Linear perspective: Using lines to create the illusion of
depth by making straight lines converge in the distance.
• Atmospheric perspective: The technique that creates the
illusion of depth by blurring the outlines and altering the
color tones of distant objects.
Oil on panel, mid-15th century. Notice that the ideal city seems balanced, clean, open.
The perfect space for the civic engagement of man. (Civic humanism: Derived from
ancient ideals of the Roman republic and possibly the Greek polis as well, civic
humanism bound Florence citizens to balance their pursuit of self-interest against their
obligation to the civic good. The virtuous citizen engaged in the city’s politics and
employed his wealth to benefit all its citizens.)
Sandro Botticelli’s Birth of Venus p 190; Tempera on canvas
One of the 1st large scale depictions of classical mythology since antiquity.
Figures: Venus, Zephyr (wind god), Aura or Flora?, and Hora (One of the
Horae)
From a surviving
fragment of the epic
Cypria: “Aphrodite wore
clothing made for her by
the Charites and Horai,
dyed with spring flowers,
such as the Horai
themselves wear.”
Capitoline Venus; Venus de Medici; Copy of Venus Pudica

Botticelli’s La Primavera (Birth of Spring) p. 201
Although the figures in this painting are directly from Greek
mythology, the garments of Venus suggest a correlation between her
and the Virgin Mary who was traditionally dressed in red and blue.
“As she talks, her
lips breathe spring
roses: I was Chloris,
who am now called
Flora.” --Ovid