The Renaissance1300-1600

Bell Ringer• Think back to the end of the Middle

Ages: – The Bubonic Plague (killing 1/3 of

Europe’s population)– The 100 Years War– The Great Schism

• Journal Entry: Describe how you would feel about life in general. Would all this suffering overtake you? Would you do something about it?

•Those who survived wanted to celebrate life and the human spirit.

•They began to question the church.

•How can they express this new spirit?

The Renaissance (1300-1600)

•Started in Italy - an explosion of creativity in art, writing, and thought

•“Rebirth” = a revival of art and learning from what culture? – Greece and Rome (aka Classical)

•Led to new values, styles, and art.

Why Italy?

• During what time period of the Middle Ages did trade rapidly increase? – Crusades

• Large city-states grew in Italy because of trade

• Why are cities an ideal breeding ground for an intellectual revolution?

The Rise of Merchants and Florence

• > 60% of the population had died, so more citizens could become involved in political life

• Fewer laborers – so merchants began to pursue other interests

• Florence, a city-state, came under rule of the powerful banking Medici Family– Expanded learning, art, and

architecture in Florence

Humanism• Thinkers studied classical texts

(Greece and Rome) and focused on human potential and achievements

• Movement to secular society• Increased understanding of the

world• Have you heard of the

“Humanities” subjects?– Philosophy, history, and literature – http://www.wfu.edu/humanities/

Are these the “ideal men” of our society?

The ideal “Renaissance Man”

• Volunteer?

• Create art• Educated• Charming• Dance• Sing• Play music• Write poetry• Skilled rider• Wrestler• Swordsman

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

• Painter, Inventor, Sculptor, Scientist– A true

“Renaissance man”

• 3,500 pages of drawings and writings survive

• Only 17 of his paintings survive

• Perhaps the most talented artist ever?

Mona Lisa

• Wife of a wealthy merchant of Florence; he commissioned da Vinci to paint it

• So real looking– What’s behind

that smile?

The Last Supper

Vitruvian Man

spiral screw achieving flight

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)

• Another Renaissance Man

• Painter, Sculptor, Architect, Poet

• Portrayed the human body in painting and sculpture– Forceful and

heroic figures

Statue of David

Sistine Chapel

Sistine Chapel

The dome of St. Peter’s

Summarization Activity

•Write down three truths and a lie about what you learned today.

•Then we will go around the class and see if we can figure out the lie.

Homework

• You need to find out the contributions of the following people. Why were they important during the Renaissance? Describeeeeee! – Machiavelli (pg. 476-477)– Petrarch (pg. 475-476)– Dante (pg. 392)– Erasmus (pg. 482)– Guttenberg (pg. 484)