The Renaissance Sistine Chapel Michelangelo Buonarroti

The Renaissance

Sistine ChapelMichelangelo Buonarroti

What is the Renaissance? •A “Rebirth” of Roman and Greek Classical Learning/Culture

• Time of artistic, scientific and intellectual discovery

• New emphasis on secular spirit and the individual

Causes of the Renaissance

• Increase in agricultural production

• End of Feudalism

• Crusades opened trade with Middle East

• Re-emergence of urban centers

• Decline of Church control-Great Schism

Background of the Italian Renaissance

• Increase in agricultural production-Italian city-states to produce enough

food to sustain their own populations

• Increase in trade-HRE provided a vast market for

manufactured goods -The Mediterranean Sea allowed Italy

to easily engage in trade

Economic

Economic Result

• Economic wealth is consolidated into the hands of a small number of merchant families in Italy’s growing cities

Background of the Italian Renaissance

Political

• The collapse of the HRE and Great Schism left no unifying force in Italy

Political Result

• Wealthy merchant families are able to use economic influence (patronage) to gather political power

Background of the Italian Renaissance

Social

• Decline in Church control and increased economic wealth leads to a turn from Medieval Spiritualism to Classical Humanism.

Social Result

• The arts flourish in Italy

• Education took on a new importance

FlorenceThe Cathedral of Florence (Duomo)

Filippo Brunelleschi

FlorencePalazzo Strozzi

Small windows used for lending moneyRustication

FlorencePalazzo Vecchio

Michelangelo’s David

FlorencePonte Vecchio

Major Italian Cities Florence

• Republic on paper, but really an oligarchy of wealthy merchants

• Ultimately under the control of the Medici-Cosimo-Lorenzo the Magnificent

• Major industries: textiles (wool, cotton and silk) and finance

MilanSanta Maria delle Grazie

Donato Bramante

MilanSanta Maria presso San Satiro

Donato Bramante

Milan

• Located just south of the Alps

• Provided manufactured goods to the French and HRE

• Centralized state under the Visconti and later the Sforza

-Da Vinci

Naples

Naples

Naples

• Hereditary monarchy.

• Trade-based economy

• Eventually taken over by Spanish

-most cosmopolitan city in Europe

VeniceThe Doge’s Palace

Canale di San Marco

Venice

VeniceBasilica di San Marco

Byzantine Influence

Venice

• Economy based on Mediterranean trade

-Byzantine Empire

• Maritime military power

• Oligarchy of wealthy merchant/aristocracy

Vatican CityGiovanni Lorenzo BerniniMichelangelo Buonarroti

Sistine Chapel

Michelangelo Buonarroti

The Pantheon

Raphael’s Burial Place

Rome

Colosseum

Rome•Seat of the Bishop of Rome (Pope)

•Acts as the capital of the Papal States-City-State politics on an international level

•Home to many large building projects to highlight various wealthy Italian families’ power

-Sistine Chapel  

Renaissance Society

Classes• Patrician merchants began to blur the

roles of the clergy, nobility and commoners

-The Book of the Courtier by Baldassare Castiglione

The Book of the Courtier by Baldassare Castiglione

Education

• Educational practices reflected the Patrician merchants’ blurring of the roles of the clergy, nobility and commoners

-Humanism and virtù

-Liberal Studies and Physical Education/Renaissance Man

Leonardo Da Vinci

Families • Patrician merchants tried to increase their

economic and political power through family networks

-marriage

-Giovanni Tournabuoni

-Palla di Noferi Strozzi

-Pope Julius II and Sixtus IV

Sistine Chapel

Michelangelo Buonarroti

acorns

Family Crests

Julius II

Leo X

Clement VII

Della Rovere(acorns)

Medici

Tornabuoni Chapel

Domenico Ghirlandaio

Ludovica Tornabuoni

Tornabuoni Chapel

Domenico Ghirlandaio

Alessandro di Francesco Nasi

Ludovica Tornabuoni

Patronage

• Through both familial and extra-familial systems of reciprocity, Patrician merchant tried to increase their economic and political power

-Medici

Small Chapel of the Medici Palace

Piero de' Medici

Cosimo de' Medici

Benozzo Gozzoli

Lorenzo de’Medici

Santa Trinita in Florence

Gentile da Fabriano

Portrait of Pope Leo X with Cardinals Giulio de' Medici

and Luigi de' Rossi

Raffaello Sanzio

Pope Leo XPope Clement VII

Church

• The Catholic Church became increasingly secular due to the rise of humanism and patronage networks

-Renaissance Popes

Borgia Apartments

Vatican City

Bernardino di Betto (Pinturicchio)

Alexander VICesare Borgia

Borgia Apartments Vatican City

Cesare Borgia

Baldassare Castiglione

Raffaello Sanzio

Portrait of Pope Leo X with Cardinals Giulio de' Medici

and Luigi de' Rossi

Raffaello Sanzio

Pope Clement VII

Baldassare Castiglione• Born near Mantua-from a noble family

• Worked as a envoy to Pope Leo X, Pope Clement VII, the Sforza family (Milan) and the Duke of Urbino

• Wrote The Book Of The Courtier

• Clement VII accused him of duplicity when Charles V sacked Rome

The Book Of The Courtier• Greatly influenced royal court behavior• Described how a courtier behaved• Accorded with traditional ideas of leadership

behavior• Stated that nobles are born and not made• Advised nobles to not only master military

skills but also to pursue a classical education• Told courtiers to behave according to strict

standards of conduct• Key term sprezzatura - the cultivated ability to

"display artful artlessness"

Goals of Courtier

• To use his skills to win the favor of the prince so that he can give the prince honest council without fear of angering him

• To advise the prince to pursue the morally correct course

Niccolò Machiavelli

Santi di Tito Palazzo Vecchio, Florence

Lorenzo de’Medici

Andrea del Verrocchio

Niccolo Machiavelli

• Born in Florence-From poor branch of a prominent family

• Worked as a diplomat• Eventually forced into exile after the Medici

returned from their own exile at the hands of Girolamo Savonarola

• Wrote The Prince to regain the favor of Lorenzo de’ Medici

The Prince• Greatly influenced politics throughout the rest of

history• Described how a leader should behave• Broke with the traditional understanding that

leaders should behave according to moral ethics• Asserted that people are bad by nature• Stated control is the most efficient means of governing• Advised leaders that their decision making should be

based on increasing their own political power• Key phrase-"It is much safer for a prince to be feared

than loved, if he is to fail in one of the two"

Goals of the Prince

• To acquire and maintain power

Question

Do you agree with Machiavelli or Castiglione?

Question

Would George Bush agree with Machiavelli or Castiglione?