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 after-life

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

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 Renaissance Revolutionizes Art

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