Renaissance in Italy

Describe the

characteristics of

the Renaissance and understand why it began in

Italy.

Identify Renaissance artists and explain how new ideas affected the

arts of the period.

Understand how writers of the time addressed Renaissance themes

Analyze how the Renaissa

nce shaped Europea

n thought, art and religion

Obj

ectiv

es

The Renaissance was a time of creativity and great change in

many areas:

Political

social economic

cultural

The Renaissance was a time of creativity and great change in

many areas:

social

cultural

Political/Economi

c

Political/Economic Change

Kings and church leaders had to make room at the top of the power structure for wealthy bankers and merchants.

During the Middle Ages, artists had worked not for themselves, but for the church. They were members of

the working class.

During the renaissance, however, great artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael mingled socially with nobles.

Raphael’s work

Raphael’s St. George

Raphael’s work

Sistine Cherub

Raphael’s work

Economic/Political Change

System based on King granting land to his important noblemen who became barons.

Economic/Political Change

The nobles in exchange pledged loyally to the king and to provide supplies and soldiers in time of war

Feudalism: System based on labor of the lowest rung of the social order.

Most Europeans were peasant farmers working on the land of a Feudal nobleman.

Marked the transition from medieval times to the early modern world

Slow shift from

agricultural to an urban society

Trade assumed greater importance than in the

past

Creative thinking let people comprehend

world more accurately

New technolo

gy let people

comprehend

world more

accuratelyRenaissanc

e

Peasants didn’t own their land, but worked it in exchange for a share of the

crop and labor when required.

As the Feudal system developed, the peasants or serfs became tied to the land, not allowed to leave it without permission of the lord of the manner.

Changes from the old Feudal System of the Middle Ages

resulted in a more flexible and liberal class system.

The divisions consisted of the old rich, the new rich nobles, the middle class, and the lower middle class (The poor didn't count)

The poor underneath coliseum

The poor underneath coliseum

Humanism

Perhaps of greatest importance was that Europeans began to develop a radically different self image as they moved from a God-centered to a more humanistic outlook.

BeforeBeforeAfterAfter

Europeans began to develop a radically different self image as

they moved from a God-centered to a more humanistic outlook.

Beauty was believed to afford at least some glimpse of a transcendental existence.

Human experience, man himself, tended to become the

practical measure of all things.

The ideal life was no longer a monastic escape from society, but a full participation in rich and varied human relationships.

Renaissance thinkers continued to use Latin as the language of the church as well as for scholarship

Renaissance man may indeed have found himself suspended between

faith and reason.

Living in the here and now was challenged by philosophical beliefs

As the grip of medieval supernaturalism began to

diminish,

secular and human interests became more prominent.

Creative minds set out to transform their own age

Felt their era was a time of rebirth after what they saw as the disorder and disunity of the medieval world.

Michelangelo’s David statute commissioned to express the power

& strength of Florence

Michelangelo sculpted his masterpiece out of a block of marble

Influence of Renaissance artists on present

Reawakened interest in the classical learning of Greece and Rome which medieval scholars had preserved

However, Medieval scholars had focused more on religious beliefs & spirituality

Yesterday I was Today I am Tomorrow I don’t know

thelma & louise

In contrast, Renaissance thinkers explored the richness & variety of human experience in here and now

Worshiped the creation

Instead of the creator titans

Society placed new emphasis on individual achievement

Renaissance ideal included a person with many talents

“Spirit of Adventure”

Curiosity led people to explore new worlds or to reexamine old ones.

Navigators sailed across the ocean

Scientists looked at the universe in new ways

Writer’s and artists experimented

With new forms and techniques e40

Spirit of adventure came from new view of man himself

“To (man) it is granted to have whatever he chooses, to be whatever he wills.”

Italian thinker: Pico della

Mirandola idol

Expressing Humanism

Humanist studied classical culture of Greece and Rome and used that study to increase understanding of their own times

grammar

rhetoric

language

history

poetry

Humanities : include study of the following subjects…

Francesco Petrarch: assembles a library of Greek and Roman manuscripts

Believed that it stimulated the individual’s creative powers

Humanists valued education

Francesco Petrarch’s efforts

Encouraged others to preserve the works of Great Roman and Greek classics,

Renaissance resulted in a

new world view based on human

experience and emphasis on education,

humanism and the spirit of adventure

Italy’s Vibrant City-States

Italy was divided into many small city-states

Each Italian city-state was controlled by a powerful family and dominated by a wealthy and powerful merchant family.

Merchant families exerted both political and economic leadership.

-their interest in art and emphasis on personal achievement helped to shape the Italian Renaissance.

The Medici (med uh chee) family

of Florence ranked among the richest merchants and bankers in Europe.

Cosimo de’ Medici gained control of the florentine government in

1434

-family continued as uncrowned rulers of the city for many years

Pope Pius II, said: "Political questions are settled in [Cosimo's] house. The man he chooses holds office...He it is who decides peace and war...He is king in all but name.”

Cosimos grandson: Lorenzo, aka “The Magnificent” represented the Renaissance ideal

Clever politician that held Florence together during the difficult times in The late 1400’s

Lorenzo de' Medici (January 1, 1449 – April 9, 1492) was an Italian statesman and de factor ruler of the Florentine Republic during the Italian Renaissance.

In practice but not ordained by law. “In fact”

In practice but not ordained by law. “In fact”

Fragile peace that Lorenzo held between the states ended with

his death

Death marked the end of Golden Age in

Florence

Buried in Medici Palace in Florence

Lorenzo, a generous patron and financial supporter of the art

He invited poets and philosophers to the Medici Palace

Artists learned their craft by sketching Roman statute displays

in the Medici gardens

Florence symbolized the energy and brilliance of the Italian Renaissance

Medici’s great wealth and influence informed Florence more than any other city

Like the ancient city of Athens, it produced a dazzling number of poets, artists, architects, scholars, and scientists in a short span of time

Renaissance attained its most glorious expressions in its paintings, sculptures,

and architecture.

Wealthy patrons, popes, and princes played a major role in the

architect flowering

Renaissance artists revived many classical forms

Donatello’s soldier

Realism: the depiction of subjects as they appear in everyday life

During the Renaissance, painters returned to the realism of classical times by developing new techniques for representing both humans and landscape

Rules of perspective allowed Renaissance artist to create

realistic art

Perspective: By making distant objects smaller than those closer to the viewer,

artist could paint scenes that appear three-dimensional

Realism in Art

Giving their work energy and realism, Renaissance artists used setting to make objects look round and real-- and new oils to reflect light.

Painters and sculptures also studied human anatomy and drew from observing live models.

As a result they were able to portray the human body more accurately than Medieval artists

Social art: architecture was transformed in Renaissance Italy

Renaissance architecture

Social Art Defined:

Architect Leon described architecture as a “…form meant to blend beauty with utility and improvement of society.”

Architecture rejected the gothic style of the late Middle

Ages as disorderly

Greek and Roman Influence

Renaissance artists adopted the column, arches, and domes that had been favored by the Greek and Roman

Similar arch depicted in

Renaissance art

Cathedral in Florence

Filippo Brunelleschi (Broo Nay Lays Kee) created a majestic dome of the Pantheon in Rome

Brunelleschi: Renaissance man

*multi-talented

*studied the arts and sculptures with Donatello

*accomplished engineer * inventing many of the machines

used to construct his dome.

Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo had endless curiosity that fed his genius for invention

Leonardo Da Vinci

He made sketches of nature and of models in his studio, and dissected corpses to learn how bones and muscles work.

Mona Lisa

As a result, Leonardo’s paintings grip people with their realism. The Mona Lisa is a portrait of a woman whose mysterious smile has baffled viewers for centuries.

Last Supper

The Last Supper, showing Jesus and his apostles on the night before the crucifixion, is both a moving religious painting and a masterpiece of perspective.

Leonardo Da Vinci self- proclamation as an artist

However he had many talents including botany, anatomy, optics, music, architecture, and engineering

Stroke of Genius

Though most of his paintings are lost today, his many notebooks survive as a testament to his genius and creativity.

Michelangelo Buonarroti

He was a sculptor, engineer, painter, architect, and poet.

“Melancholy Genius”

Michelangelo has been called a “melancholy genius” because his work reflects his many life-long spiritual and artistic struggles.

Masterpieces

In his twenties, he created masterpieces such as David and the Pietà marble. The Pietà which captures the sorrow of the Biblical Mary as she cradles her dead son Jesus on her knees.

Michelangelo’s heroic statue of David

The biblical shepherd who killed the giant Goliath, recalls the harmony and grace of ancient Greek tradition.

Michelangelo decorates the Sistine Chapel

Temptation and fall

Temptation and fall

Sistine Chapel

The enormous task, which took four years to complete and left the artist partially crippled, depicted the biblical history of the world from the Creation to the Flood.

Michelangelo: famous architecture

His most famous design was for the dome of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome.

Served as a model for later structures like the White House

Raphael

Raphael (rah fah el) (1483–1520) was widely admired both for his artistic talent and “his sweet and gracious nature.”

Raphael studied the works of the great masters but developed his own style of painting that blended Christian and classical styles.

Madonna

Tender portrayal of the Mother of Jesus

The School of Athens Raphael pictured an imaginary gathering

of great thinkers and scientists, including Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, and the Arab philosopher Averroës.

Renaissance Confidence

Raphael included the faces of Michelangelo, Leonardo—and himself.

Giorgio Vasari writes biography on Leonardo Da Vinci

“. . so great was his genius, and such its growth, that to whatever difficulties he turned his mind, he solved them with ease.”

“In him was great bodily strength . . . with a spirit and courage ever royal and magnanimous; and the fame of his name so increased, that not only in his lifetime was he held in esteem, but his reputation became even greater among posterity after his death.”

Handbook: The Book of the Courtier describes the manners, skills, learning, and virtues that a court member should

have

Castiglione’s ideal courtier was a well-educated, well-mannered aristocrat who mastered many fields, from poetry to music to sports.

Castiglione’s ideal differed for men and women.

Ideal man: athletic—but not overactive; good at games—but not a gambler; plays musical instrument, knows history and literature—but is not arrogant dw highlights

The ideal woman offers a balance to men.

She is graceful and kind, lively but reserved. She is beautiful, “for outer beauty,” wrote Castiglione, “is the true sign of inner goodness.”

Niccolò Machiavelli (mahk ee uh vel ee)

wrote a guide for rulers on how to gain and maintain power

Unlike ancient writers such as Plato, Machiavelli did not discuss leadership in terms of high ideals.

The Prince looked at real rulers in an age of ruthless power politics

Machiavelli stressed that the end justifies the means. He urged rulers to use whatever methods were necessary to achieve their goals. ruthless

Machiavelli saw himself as an enemy of oppression and

corruption,

but critics attacked his cynical advice.

Machiavellian” came to refer to the use of deceit in politics.)

Later students of government, however, argued that Machiavelli provided a realistic look at politics.

Questions?