video slide – introducing the renaissance

I.B. History of the Americas II :: Session 2 :: The Renaissance :: Davis & Bakkal

Video Slide – Introducing the Renaissance


The Renaissance (c. 1350 –c. 1550)

In 1500, Europe was in the middle of a cultural revival called the Renaissance (“Rebirth.”)

“Rebirth” of what?

Rebirth of classical Greek and Roman ideas.


How did the Renaissance differ from the Middle Ages?

In the Renaissance, people explored the richness of human experience (the here and now, emotions) rather than focusing on religious issues (life after death.)

It was a period of great creativity.


Humanism

At the heart of the Renaissance was an intellectual movement known as humanism.

Humanism is a view of the world with human needs and hopes at the center. Most humanist scholars were Christians who hoped to use the wisdom of the ancients to understand their own times.


Humanist Beliefs Humanists believed that education should

stimulate the individual’s creative power and studied the humanities, the subjects taught in ancient Greek and Roman schools.

The main areas of study were grammar, rhetoric (public speaking), poetry and history.


Humanist Beliefs Renaissance humanism was a threat to

the Church because it emphasized a return to the original sources of Christianity (the Bible & early Christians)

The humanists tended to ignore or denounce the proceedings of Church councils.


Someone Call Dan Brown!

Circa 500 A.D. is the fall of the Roman Empire. The Renaissance peaks in Europe around 1500 A.D, hence there is a “1000 year gap.”

So who preserved ancient Greek and Roman works for a millennium?


Survey Says During the Middle Ages, monks & Church

scholars preserved ancient classics through painstaking copying (Latin.)

The Muslim empires and the Byzantine Empire respected, studied and preserved Greek classics (Arabic & Greek)


Birth of the Renaissance The Renaissance began in Italy, which had

been the center of the Roman Empire. In the north, city-states like Florence, Milan,

Venice and Genoa grew into prosperous centers of trade.

A wealthy and powerful merchant class contributed to the birth of the Renaissance in Italy. These wealthy merchants, such as the Medici family, were patrons of the arts.


Birth of the Renaissance The new merchant class of the Commercial

revolution was more interested in the secular world and less interested in the world of religion.

Rome (in central Italy), Naples (in southern Italy) and other city-states contributed to the cultural revival.


Realism Classical art inspired Renaissance

painters and sculptors depicted the human figure very realistically.

In their effort to achieve realism, Renaissance painters and sculptors gave great attention to anatomy.

They also discovered how to create a more convincing illusion of space (perspective.)


Examples of Perspective


A New Worldview Emerges

Renaissance art reflected the humanist interest in individual achievement. In the Renaissance, portraiture flourished as artists worked to capture the unique character of individual people.

Scenes of everyday life, known as genre, also became popular.


Introducing: The Ninja Turtles

In painting, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo dominated the peak period of the Renaissance (1500-1527)


Leonardo da Vinci He was the embodiment of the

Renaissance genius. In addition to being one of the greatest painters in history, da Vinci’s inventions were hundreds of years ahead of their time (helicopter, airplane and submarine).

Leonardo painted two of the most famous paintings of all time, “The Last Supper” and the “Mona Lisa.”


The Last Supper, by da Vinci


The Mona Lisa, by da Vinci


Raphael Raphael was recognized as one of the

most brilliant painters of his age.

Among his best work is “The School of

Athens,” which was part of a series of frescoes (wall paintings) he painted for Pope Julius II in the Vatican Palace in Rome.


The School of Athens, by Raphael


Michelangelo Michelangelo was both a sculptor and a

painter.

He carved the “Pieta,” a monumental depiction of the Virgin Mary holding the body of her son Jesus. The “Pieta” made Michelangelo famous.

Pope Julius II asked him to paint the great ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. He depicted the Bible story of the Creation, painting hundreds of grand human figures.


The Pieta, by Michelangelo


The Sistine Chapel, by Michelangelo


Renaissance architecture The Greek and Roman styles (columns,

domes, arches) were the most popular.

Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) Florence Cathedral Dome [S. Maria del Fiore] (1420-34)


Writers and Philosophers (Thinkers)

Machiavelli: Author of The Prince. The focus of The Prince was how rulers

could gain and maintain power.

Be Ruthless: the end justifies the means.

It is better to be feared then to be loved.



Machiavelli: Author of The Prince.

"We Italians then owe to the Church of Rome and to her priests for our having become irreligious and bad; but we owe her still a greater debt...that the Church has kept and still keeps our country divided."



Machiavelli: Author of The Prince. "...It is, then, much safer to be feared than

to be loved...for touching human nature, we may say in general that men are untruthful, inconstant, dissemblers, they avoid dangers and are covetous of gain. While you do them good, they are wholly yours...but when (danger) approaches, they revolt."



Petrarch: Sonnets to Laura. His most famous works were love

sonnets to a married woman whom he admired from a distance


Renaissance in Northern Europe The Renaissance began in Italy and

moved to Northern Europe (France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and England.)

The Renaissance occurred in northern Europe later because the Black Death delayed economic growth in that region.


Albert Durer, the German Leonardo Durer is often compared to da Vinci since

both men had a wide range of interests. He helped bring the genius of the Italian

Renaissance to Northern Europe. Many of his finest works were engravings.


Hans Hoblein He specialized in paintings of almost

photographic detail. Hoblein enjoyed great success in England, where he painted portraits of King Henry VIII.


Christian Humanism Much of Northern Renaissance writing was devoted to

combining humanism with Christian teachings.

The Northern Renaissance differed from the Renaissance in Italy in that it placed greater emphasis upon religious piety.

Inspired by the Renaissance ideal of human dignity, many Christian humanists developed plans for social reform based on Christian values.

Two Christian humanists were especially famous: the Dutch priest Erasmus and the Englishman Thomas More.


Christian HumanismErasmus: Desiderius Erasmus, “Prince of Humanism.”

His most famous work was The Praise of Folly, which poked fun at merchants and scholars, as well as priests.

Erasmus felt that the Vulgate, which was the standard Latin translation of the New Testament, contained errors. Therefore, he edited and published new translations of the New Testament in Greek and then in Latin.


Christian HumanismErasmus:

"I dissent from those who are unwilling that the sacred Scriptures should be read by the unlearned and translated into the vulgar tongue, as though Christ had taught such subtleties that they can scarcely be understood even by a few theologians..."


Christian HumanismThomas More: In Utopia, he described an ideal society in

which no one is idle, all are educated and justice is used to end crime (rather than to eliminate the criminal.)


LiteratureShakespeare: English poet & playwright. Author of

Twelfth Night (comedy), Richard III (historical play), and Romeo and Juliet (tragedy).

Shakespeare enriched the English language with more than 1,700 new words, including . . . bedroom, lonely, generous, gloomy, hurry and sneak.

video slide – introducing the renaissance

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