The Renaissance in Italy

Renaissance = “Rebirth”

The Renaissance 1300-1500

• The period after the Middle Ages/Dark Ages and before modern history

• At the end of the Black Death (plague)

• A time of great art and great thinkers

• It marked a shift from an agricultural to a urban society

• Trade was of greater importance

• (Italian gown shown here)

The Renaissance Began in Italy and Later Spread

• Italy is where the Roman Empire existed, so architecture & other artifacts were present.

• The Pope, head of the Roman Catholic Church, was also in Italy

• Geographic location was great for trade to the North, South and East

Renaissance Art

• Used religious figures, but against classical backgrounds

• Artists returned to the realism of classical times using perspective

Medieval Portrayals of the Madonna

Renaissance Portrayal of the Madonna

Leonardo da Vinci• Artist, Scientist, all

around Renaissance Man.

• -The Mona Lisa

• -The Last Supper

• -The Vitruvian Man

• -Self portrait

• BTW – He also robbed graves.

The Brilliance of Leonardo

• Out of 17 half brothers and sisters, Leonardo was recognized as “unusual” as a child.

• Apprenticed to a painter by 15.

The Brilliance of Leonardo

• Developed interest in science and technology.

• Tried to invent rockets, bridges, flying machines, parachutes, fire trucks with extendable ladders, etc.

• May have also invented the telescope?

• Was a lefty!

BTW:

• Leonardo and the next Renaissance Man absolutely HATED one another!!!

• Both are what we call “Renaissance Men”– Able to do more than

one thing quite well!

Michelangelo

• Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni[

• And we wonder why we just call him “Michelangelo”?

• Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet and engineer.

Michelangelo• La Pieta in the Sistine

Chapel in Rome.

David

The Divine Spark

Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

Raphael• The School of Athens • Portrayal of the

Madonna, mother of Jesus.

Self-portrait by Raphael, missing since World War II

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles• Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles were all named after the famous artists of the Renaissance.

• Master Splinter and Super Shredder were not.

Renaissance Writings• Wrote of philosophy and

scholarship• Developed guidebooks for

success• Machiavelli wrote a guide for

rulers on how to gain and maintain power

• He urged rulers to use whatever methods necessary to achieve their goal

Machiavelli

• “The end justifies the means.”

• He has a Machiavellian mind.– NOT a compliment!

THE RENAISSANCE IN THE NORTH – the late start!

• Northern Europe began the Renaissance nearly 100 years after Italy because they still suffered from the Black Death and had not experienced the same economic growth -- until the 1400’s!

Where it began in the North• The Northern Renaissance

began in a region called Flanders where there were lots of prosperous cities. (Present-day France, Belgium and Netherlands.

• It then spread into the remainder of France, Spain, Germany and England.

The Printing Revolution• 1455, John Gutenberg

of Germany invented a printing press with movable type

• Why was this a BIG DEAL?

The Gutenberg Bible

Ned Flanders

Northern Humanists and Writers • Those in the North also

stressed education and the classics.

• Writing had been in Latin -- began writing in everyday language (the vernacular)

• What affect would this have?

Erasmus• A Priest and Humanist• Used knowledge of

languages and produced a new edition of the Bible

• He called for a translation of the Bible into the vernacular

• Why was this a big deal?

Shakespeare• English poet and

playwright• Incorporated

Renaissance ideals into a language the people could understand

• Introduced more than 1700 new words

Shakespeare Insults

• “You vomitous mass”• “You crusty botch of

nature!”• “I never see thy face

but I think upon hell-fire.”