Transcript The Renaissance Man - Livingston Public Schools

From the Middle Ages to the
Renaissance!
Middle Ages (400’s - 1400’s)
Renaissance (1300’s-1600’s)
What are some changes that occurred from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance?
The Renaissance:
Why Italy?
•
Italy’s advantages
•
•
Urban Centers – City States
Merchants and Bankers
•
Classical Heritage
•
World geographical location
Geography
•
Italy is located at the intersection of the middle
east and western Europe
•
Sea access provides easier movement of good
and ideas
Urban Centers – Italian City States
•
Crusades spur trade
•
Development of Rome, Florence, and Venice as intellectual
and cultural centers along trade routes
•
In 1300’s Bubonic plague had killed 60% of population,
disrupting the economy
•
Florence was the first city to thrive during the Renaissance
Merchants and Bankers
•
A wealthy merchant class develops
•
More emphasis on individual achievement
•
The Medicis- a large banking family, provides patronage for
many Renaissance artists and developed a close
relationship with the Pope
Godfathers of the Renaissance
Renaissance Values
•
Humanism
•
Classicism
•
Secularism
Classical Heritage
•
Artists and scholars study ruins of Rome and
Latin, Greek manuscripts
•
Greco-Roman manuscripts preserved in
monasteries
•
Scholars move to Rome after the fall of
Constantinople to Mehmet in 1453.
Secularism
•
Focus on the
enjoyment of the
worldly pleasures in life
rather than a focus on
religion and the afterlife
Classics lead to Humanism
Humanism – intellectual movement
focused on human achievements
Humanists studied classical texts,
history, literature and philosophy
•
How is the Italian Renaissance an example of
Cultural Diffusion. Refer to previous slides and
write down as many reasons as you can
Patrons of the Arts
• Patron—a financial supporter of
artists
• Church leaders spend money on
artworks to beautify cities
• Wealthy merchants also patrons of
the arts
The Renaissance Man
• Excels in many fields: the classics,
art, politics, combat
• Baldassare Castiglione’s The Courtier
(1528)
•The book teaches how to become a
“universal” person
•Who are modern Renaissance
‘people’?
Today do we value the specialist or the generalist?
Important Renaissance
People
Michelangelo - St Peter’s Basilica, Sistine Chapel, David
Leonardo Da Vinci - The Renaissance Man
Raphael - Artist
Petrarch - poet
Boccacio - writer
Castiglione - “The Courtier
Machiavelli - “The Prince”
Pope Julius II - “The Warrior Pope”, Patron of Arts
The Renaissance Woman
• Upper-class, educated in classics,
charming
• Expected to inspire art but not create it
• Isabella d’Este, patron of artists, wields
power in Mantua
The Renaissance Revolutionizes Art
Artistic Styles Change
• Artists use realistic style copied from
classical art, often to portray religious
subjects
• Painters use perspective—a way to
show three dimensions on a canvas
Realistic Painting and Sculpture
• Realistic portraits of prominent
citizens
• Sculpture shows natural postures and
expressions
•The biblical David is a favorite subject
among sculptors
The Virgin of the Chancellor Rolin (about 1434), Jan van Eyck.
Middle Ages Icons
Categories of Renaissance Art
•
Architecture
•
Painting
•
Sculpture
•
Textiles (tapestries)
•
Manuscript illumination
•
Gardens
Filippo Brunelleschi, dome of Florence Cathedral (1420-36)
Leonardo, Renaissance Man
•Leonardo da Vinci—painter, sculptor,
inventor, scientist
• Paints one of the best-known portraits
in the world: the Mona Lisa
• Famous religious painting: The Last
Supper
Raphael Advances Realism
• Raphael Sanzio, famous for his use of
perspective
• Favorite subject: the Madonna and
child
• Famous painting: School of Athens
Raphael
Pope Julius II
Michelangelo
Sistine Chapel Virtual Tour 3m
Da Vinci
Renaissance Writers Change
Literature
New Trends in Writing
• Writers use the vernacular—their
native language
• Self-expression or to portray
individuality of the subject
Petrarch and Boccaccio
• Francesco Petrarch, humanist and
poet; woman named Laura is his muse
• Boccaccio is best known for the
Decameron, a series of stories
Boccaccio
Machievelli Advises Rulers
• Niccolò Machievelli, author of
political guidebook, The Prince
• The Prince examines how rulers can
gain and keep power
•Better for a ruler to be feared than to
be loved
•Ruler should be quick and decisive in
decision making
•Ruler keeps power by any means
necessary
•The end justifies the means
•Be good when possible, and evil when
necessary