The Renaissance and the classical heritage

History 100, April 26, 2006

Reminder: no response paper this week

The sacramental system(finishing up from last time)

• Life-cycle: birth (baptism), age of reason (confirmation), marriage/ordination, death (extreme unction, “last rites”)

• Annual cycle of sin, penance, and grace (penance, Eucharist)

• Priests must perform penance, Eucharist, and extreme unction; bishops, confirmation and ordination

The Renaissance: a cultural movement

• “Rebirth” of letters and arts

• Italy, beginning in 14th century (just after Dante)

• From Italy to transalpine Europe, late 15th and 16th centuries

Key aspects

• Sense of distance from the Greek and Roman past

• Idealization of antiquity (especially Rome)

• Use of ancient models

• Rejection of medieval “barbarism” in language and art

Pantheon

• Imperial Roman temple

• 2nd century AD

Reims Cathedral

• c. 1225-1290

• Gothic architecture

Pantheon & Reims Cathedral

Bramante, Tempietto

• Inside S. Pietro in Montorio, Rome

• Authorized 1502

• Completed after 1511

Pantheon & Tempietto

Palladio, Villa Rotonda (begun 1567)

Pantheon & Villa Rotonda

Myron, Discobolus

• Roman copy in marble

• 5th-century BC original

Laocoon Group

• Marble

• Roman copy of Hellenistic original

• Rediscovered 1506

Arnolfo di Cambio, Madonna

• c. 1300

• Marble

• Designed for exterior of Florence Cathedral

Myron & Arnolfo di Cambio

Donatello, St. George

• c. 1415-17

• Marble

• Designed for exterior of Or San Michele, Florence

Myron & Donatello

Michelangelo • Dying

• Marble

• 1505-6, 1513-16

• Designed for tomb of Pope Julius II

Laocoon & Michelangelo

Classical models for literature• Latin based on ancient

models, especially Cicero

• Ideal of the orator (Quintilian): general education in the humanities:1. Grammar2. Rhetoric3. Poetry4.History5. Ethics (moral

philosophy)