The RenaissanceHumanism and the Italian Renaissance

Bell Ringer

Laura, who was distinguished by her own virtues, and widely celebrated by my songs, first appeared to my eyes in my early manhood, in the year or our Lord 1327, upon the sixth day of April, at the first hour, in the church of Santa Clara at Avignon; in the same city, in the same month of April, on the same sixth day, at the same first hour, in the year 1348, that light was taken from our day, while I was by chance Verona, ignorant, alas! of my fate. The unhappy news reached me at Parma, in a letter from my friend Ludovico, on the morning of the nineteenth of May, of the same year. Her chaste and lovely form was laid in the church of the Franciscans, on the evening of the day upon which she died. I am persuaded that her soul returned, as Seneca says Scipio Africanus, to the heaven whence it came.

- On the death of Laura written in a manuscript of Virgil by Petrarch

• What do you believe was the ideal women according to the Humanist?

The Renaissance

• French for “rebirth”

• “High Renaissance,” 1450-1600• Art flourished• Italy made up of city-states

• Florence the most influential of the city states

• Invention• Printing Press, moveable print• Gutenberg Bible (1456)

• About 180 copies produced

• Books are starting to become more available

• Commerce• Usury

• Lending money with interest prohibited by the Catholics during the Middle Ages

• Limited investments• Secularism allows Christians to

start “ignoring” some laws

• Medici Family• Prominent in Florence• Medici Bank• Patrons of the Arts

The Values of the Renaissance

• Humanism• The study of humanity

• Cicero described the study of humanities as the education of a cultivated human being

• Enjoyed the Classics• Greek, Roman, and Biblical literature in the original

language• Influence: Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

• Summa Theologica, attempted to reconcile Aristotle’s philosophy and Christian teachings

• Individualism • Focus on the individual and the power of man

• Secularism• The Renaissance Humanists were devout Christians, but

studied the classics for their own enjoyment• Human-centered, not Christian-centered

Humanist Intellectuals

• Petrarch (1304-1374)• “Father of Humanism”• Obsessed with Greek History

• Believed the Middle Ages forgot about this Classical Inheritance

• “And men go about to wonder at the heights of the mountains, and the mighty waves of the sea, and the wide sweep of rivers, and the circuit of the ocean, and the revolution of the stars, but themselves they consider not.”

• Pico della Mirandola• Oration on the Dignity of Man

• The “Manifesto of the Renaissance”

• 900 Theses• Syncretism: blending of different ideas and

beliefs … creation of equality among ideals

Humanist Intellectuals

• Castiglione• A Book of the Courtier

• A guide on how to be a respectable (and respected) gentleman (or lady)

• “Castiglione helped adapt humanism to the world of the court and the court to humanism.” – Peter Burke

• Machiavelli• The Prince

• “Machiavellian”

• The ends justify the means

Renaissance Art

Bell Ringer

• Identify this art work and its creator.

• How has Humanism contributed to this statue? (identify at least two different ways)

Art of the Middle Ages

Western Europe Eastern Europe

Raphael, The School of Athens (1511)

• How does this piece of art embody the ideas of classicism?

Artist of the Italian Renaissance: Donatello

St. Mark, 1413 St. George, 1417 David, 1430

Masaccio, The Tribute Money (1420)

Leonardo da Vinci

Mona Lisa, 1503-1519 The Last Supper, 1498 Vitruvian Man, 1487

Michelangelo

Pieta, 1499 David, 1504 Moses, 1515

The Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome

Women in Art: Raphael

La Velata, 1515Young Woman with Unicorn, 1506 La Fornarina, 1520

Renaissance Architecture

St. Peter’s Bailisca La Rotonda

The Northern Renaissance

Erasmus, The Praise of Folly

Those who are the closest to these [the theologians] in happiness are generally called "the religious" or "monks," both of which are deceiving names, since for the most part they stay as far away from religion as possible and frequent every sort of place. I cannot, however, see how any life could be more gloomy than the life of these monks if I [Folly] did not assist them in many ways. Though most people detest these men so much that accidentally meeting one is considered to be bad luck, the monks themselves believe that they are magnificent creatures. One of their chief beliefs is that to be illiterate is to be of a high state of sanctity, and so they make sure that they are not able to read. Another is that when braying out their gospels in church they are making themselves very pleasing and satisfying to God, when in fact they are uttering these psalms as a matter of repetition rather than from their hearts....

Moreover, it is amusing to find that they insist that everything be done in fastidious detail, as if employing the orderliness of mathematics, a small mistake in which would be a great crime. Just so many knots must be on each shoe and the shoelace may be of only one specified color; just so much lace is allowed on each habit; the girdle must be of just the right material and width; the hood of a certain shape and capacity; their hair of just so many fingers' length; and finally they can sleep only the specified number of hours per day. Can they not understand that, because of a variety of bodies and temperaments, all this equality of restrictions is in fact very unequal? Nevertheless, because of all this detail that they employ they think that they are superior to all other people. And what is more, amid all their pretense of Apostolic charity, the members of one order will denounce the members of another order clamorously because of the way in which the habit has been belted or the slightly darker color of it....

Many of them work so hard at protocol and at traditional fastidiousness that they think one heaven hardly a suitable reward for their labors; never recalling, however, that the time will come when Christ will demand a reckoning of that which he had prescribed, namely charity, and that he will hold their deeds of little account. One monk will then exhibit his belly filled with every kind of fish; another will profess a knowledge of over a hundred hymns. Still another will reveal a countless number of fasts that he has made, and will account for his large belly by explaining that his fasts have always been broken by a single large meal. Another will show a list of church ceremonies over which he has officiated so large that it would fill seven ships.

The Northern Renaissance

• Contrasting to the Italian Renaissance• More Christian than the Italian

Renaissance• Italian Renaissance had more of a

pagan vibe

• Advocated Social Reform based on Christian principles• Italian Renaissance focused more on

individualism

• Comparing to the Italian Renaissance• Both focused on the Classics

• Greek, Roman, Biblical

Northern Humanist

Erasmus

• The Netherlands, devout Catholic

• The Praise of Folly• Foolishness personified (lack of common

sense)• “I went to a religious dispute. I’m often

there.” … get it!

• Brings to light that the Church is NOT actually following the Classical text. • Should the church burn heretics? Where is the

scriptural basis for this?• Paul says speak to wayward men and if they

don’t come around let them go.

• Sows the seed of the Protestant Reformation

• Peter’s Patrimony

Sir Thomas More

• England• Chancellor to Henry VIII, devout Catholic

• Classical Scholar• Martyred during the Reformation in England

• Opposed HVIII reforms

• Utopia• His revival of Plato’s Republic• The Republic focused on the ideal state• Ideal State

• Kept Christian roots

• Criticized for ignoring social order and justice

• More chose to focus on social reform and how to fix the world of their ills.

Peter’s Patrimony: Peter is the First Bishop of Rome

Peter’s Patrimony

• Vasco Fernandes: St. Peter in his throne (c. 1530)• Looks like a Pope

• Looks wealthy

• Carved throne

• Nice robe

• Printed Bible

• Erasmus notices in the Bible that the apostles were simple fisherman, not rich.

• Most were persecuted

Peter’s Patrimony

• Icon of St. Peter in St. Catherine’s Monastery (6th century)• Dressed much more simply

• Holding a cross and nails to symbolize the death and suffering

• Not Wealthy

• More Biblical

• Erasmus sees an issue with how the Church portrays itself now verse the Biblical portrayal in the Classics.• Wants the Church to give up some of

their wealth

Northern Renaissance Art

Bell Ringer

1. Identify which painting is Northern Renaissance and which one is from the Italian Renaissance.

2. What similarities can you find in these paintings?

3. How do these paintings differ?

Northern Renaissance Art

• How is it different than Renaissance and Early Renaissance Art?• Renaissance Art:

• Human body

• Realism

• Frescos

• Linear perspective

• Northern Renaissance Art:

• Gothic churches provided little space

• Detail, painted what they saw

• Empirical Perspective

• Seen primarily in (A) the Netherlands and (B) Germany

• Major Characteristics of Northern Art:• Oil paintings

• Altarpieces

• Wooden Panel Painting

• Wood Carvings

• Major Artist of the movement:• Jan van Eyck

• Peter Bruegel the Elder

Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride, Jan van Eyck

Ghent Altarpiece, Jan van Eyck

The Peasant Wedding, Peter Bruegel the Elder

Tower of Babel, Peter Bruegel the Elder

Machiavelli

Bell Ringer

“…it appears to me more appropriate to follow up the real truth of a matter than the imagination of it;… because how one lives is so far distant from how one ought to live, … sooner effects his ruin than his preservation; for a man who wishes to act entirely up to his professions of virtue soon meets with what destroys him among so much that is evil.

Hence, it is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to necessity.” -Machiavelli

1. Explain this statement: “how one lives is so far distant from how one ought to live”.

2. What does a prince need to know how to do and when to use it?

3. Describe the perfect prince according to Machiavelly.

Machiavelli

• Father of political pragmatism• Virtuous Leader = not moral excellence, but

political effectiveness

• Obsessed with Greek and Roman traditions• Roman Empire owned the entire

Mediterranean

• Italy fragmented city-states, continuously engaged in battle

• The Prince: How can this be done? More importantly, What kind of leader would it take to rebuild this massive empire?

The Prince by Machiavelli

• War was the greatness of the Roman Empire, when they became soft they lost their empire.• “When princes have thought more of ease

than of arms, they have lost their states.”

• The practice of pragmatism… do whatever works even if one needs to abandon morality• “It being my intention to write a thing

which shall be useful to him who apprehends it, it appears to me more appropriate to follow up the REAL truth of the matter than the imagination of it.”

• Leaders lead with action, not thought• “A man who wishes to act entirely up to his

professions of virtue soon meets with what destroys him.”

• Civic Virtue is EFFECTIVE political leadership• “It is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his

own to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it OR NOT according to necessity.”

• Machiavellian• The end justifies the mean. Did you get the job

done? Were you effective?• Better to be feared than loved.

• Nevertheless a prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that, if he does not win love, he avoids hatred; because he can endure very well being feared whilst he is not hated, which will always be as long as he abstains from the property of his citizens and subjects and from their women