The Renaissance

1400-1600
 The Renaissance
• The term “Renaissance”
translates to “re-birth”.
• It was a cultural
awakening signaling the
beginning of modern
times.
• The Renaissance began
in the city-states of Italy,
which were important
centers of trade.
 Humanism
• The Renaissance gave birth to humanism, the
study of the Greek and Latin classics.
• Humanists sought fulfillment in daily life and
believed individuals had dignity and worth.
• The belief in the ideal person- one who
participates is a variety of activities- was
renewed. The term Renaissance Man
originates from this belief.
 Humanism
• Humanists opened
schools to spread the
study of history,
philosophy, Latin, and
Greek- The Humanities.
• Humanist schools would
replace schools operated
by the clergy in many
areas of Italy. Plato – A Greek Philosopher who was
revered by the Humanists

• Humanism inspired new
forms of writings about
the daily life and feelings
of people.
• Humanists broke free of
the tradition of writing in
Latin, making their
beliefs available to the
everyday person.
Humanism
• Writing in everyday
language was called
vernacular.
• What difference did it
make writing in
vernacular rather than
Latin?
 Noted
Humanists
• Francesco Petrarca – wrote
366 sonnets, or short poems.
• Benvenuto Cellini – wrote
the first modern
autobiography. He Francesco Petrarca
encouraged anyone who had
done anything of excellence
to “describe it with their own
hand.”

Benvenuto Cellini
 Noted
Humanists
• Humanists like Lorenzo
Valla pushed the long
accepted traditions,
assumptions and
institutions.
• He would prove the • How would challenges
document that provided to long standing
the legal basis for the traditions affect
pope’s supremacy over European society?
kings was a forgery.
 Niccolo
Machiavelli

• One of the most

revolutionary authors to
rise from the Renaissance
was Niccolo Machiavelli.
• In his book The Prince,
he advised rulers how to
gain and maintain power
by any means necessary. Niccolo Machiavelli author of The Prince
• Many modern day Machiavelli stated in his writing
politicians who are seen that the “end justifies the means”;
as sneaky are termed to
be “Machiavellian” in what does this imply?
nature.
 Government

• Italy was not a unified state

during the time of the
Renaissance.
• It was divided into large tracts of
lands run by powerful city-states.
• Some city-states were ruled by
powerful families.
• Powerful politicians or family
heads would rule as the signori. The Italian City-States as they
were in
the time of the Renaissance.
 Government
• The city-states would fight
each other for control of land
and resources.
• Signori hired soldiers called
condottieri to fight their wars
making them costly.
• As a result they would Why did signori use hired
establish permanent soldiers instead of citizen
ambassadors in foreign city- soldiers?
states.
 Renaissance
Cities

• Florence – Under the

rule of the famous Medici
ruling family promoted
the ideas of the
Renaissance.
• The Medici family used
tax money to improve the
city and to support artists,
philosophers, and writers
and to sponsor public
festivals. Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy
 Renaissance
Cities
• Rome – By 1500 Rome had
replaced Florence as the leading
Renaissance city.
• The Pope and the Cardinals were
the wealthiest and most powerful
class.
• Renaissance Popes
commissioned architects and
artists to rebuild the ancient city.
The most famous projects was St.
Peters Basilica.
• The massed amount of
manuscripts in the Vatican
Library attracted scholars from all
over Europe. St. Peters Basilica in Rome
 Corruption in
Rome

• Many Renaissance Popes were greedy and

corrupt.
• In 1492 Pope Alexander VI bribed the College of
Cardinals to elect him Pope. He then used the
Church’s money to support his family.
Pope Alexander VI
• Pope Leo X had his forests stocked with exotic
animals to entertain thousands of hunters for
weeks. He also threw out his guests silver dinner
plates after every meal.

Pope Leo X
 Renaissance
Cities

• Venice was ideally

situated to maintain a trade
monopoly with Asia.
• It was a link between
Western Europe and Asia.
• The variety of cultures in
Venice contributed to its art
and architecture.
• Venice was a republic with
an elected doge, or leader.
A Gondola in the Canals in Venice
 Renaissance Art
• Renaissance art focused on
realism and lifelike
representations.
• Although the majority of art
was still devoted to religious
subjects it had more of a
secular, or worldly
overtones.
• Artists experimented to
create a sense of
perspective, which gave
their paintings in depth. They
also studied anatomy so they
could portray their human
figures more accurately.
The Crucifixion - Luca Signorelli
 Questions

1. __________ Means “re-birth”.

2. __________ The area for the start of Europe’s “Cultural Awakening.”
3. __________ The study of the Greek and Latin Classics.
4. __________ He wrote 366 Sonnets.
5. __________ He is credited with the writing of the first autobiography.
6. __________ Author of The Prince.
7. __________ Italian Renaissance City under the rule of the Medici
family.
8. __________ Home to St. Peters Basilica.
9. __________ He bribed the College of Cardinals.
10. __________ He stocked his lavish gardens and held hunting parties.
11. __________ City ideally situated to maintain trade with Europe and
Asia.
12. __________ Means “worldly.”
 Renaissance
Assignment

• Choices:
– Choose an influential personality from the
Renaissance period and write an essay (500
words typed) on how they contributed to the
Renaissance and its values.
Choose a painter from the Renaissance and
duplicate a piece of his artwork on to a ceiling
tile.
– Choose a statue or sculpted art work and
reproduce it in a miniature form.
– Time Frame: Two Weeks from today.
 The Building Style of
the Renaissance

• The architects of the

Renaissance returned to
the classical Greek and
Roman style of building
with domes and columns.
Gothic- Medieval Architecture
• They sought beauty and
comfort in their buildings
adorning them with
tapestries, paintings,
statues, fine furniture, and
glass windows.

Classical- Renaissance Architecture

 Filippo
Brunelleschi
• Brunelleschi is noted as
the most famous architect
of the Renaissance.
• He is best known for the
dome he designed and
completed in 1436 for the
Cathedral of Florence.
• This dome was
considered to be the
greatest engineering feat
of its time. IL Duomo – Florence Italy
 Renaissance
Sculpture

• Renaissance sculpture of
nude figures resembled
ancient Greek and Roman
sculptures; they were not
stiff and rigid like medieval
sculptures.
• Some of the best known
sculptors came from
Florence – Donatello,
Michelangelo, and
Ghiberti.

La Pieta – Sculpted by Michelangelo

 Donatello

• Donatello one of the

most famous
sculptors of the
Renaissance, was
the first to cast a
statue in bronze
since ancient times. Donatello's equestrian statue of Gattamelata
 Lorenzo Ghiberti
• Lorenzo Ghiberti
took 21 years to
create 10
magnificent Old
Testament scenes
on bronze doors
for Florence’s
cathedral
baptistery.
 Renaissance
Painting
• Italian Renaissance
painters departed from the
flat, symbolic style to a
more realistic style.
• The artist Giotto effectively
captured emotion in a
series of frescoes
portraying St. Francis of
Assisi.
• The Florentine artist
Masaccio gave even
greater realism to his
paintings by using lighting
and perspective.
 Masaccio’s Tribute Money
c.1425
What techniques did Masaccio use to
give his painting depth?
 Leonardo Da Vinci
• The greatest artist of the Renaissance was
Leonardo da Vinci.
• Best known for the Mona Lisa and The Last
Supper.
• He was also a scientist and inventor as his
designs included parachutes, flying
machines, mechanical diggers, and artillery.
Da Vinci’s The Last Supper
Sketches of Leonardo Da
Vinci
 Questions

1. __________ Renaissance architects reverted to

this style of architecture.
2. __________ Most famous architect of the
Renaissance.
3. __________ This was considered to be the
greatest engineering feat of the Renaissance.
4. __________ He was the first to cast a statue in
Bronze since the ancient times.
5. __________ He spent 21 years creating a set of
Bronze doors in Florence.
 Michelangelo
Buonarroti
• Michelangelo began his
career as a sculptor in
Florence.
• It was in Florence where he
sculpted a marble statue of
David, the legendary biblical
king.
• He would later sculpt La Pieta,
showing a dead Jesus in the
arms of his mother.
• In 1505 Michelangelo would be
commissioned to paint the
ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in
Rome.
 The Northern Renaissance

• When France invaded

Italy in 1494 King
Francis I became
fascinated by the
Italian Renaissance.
• He brought Leonardo
da Vinci and other
artists and scholars to How did the capture of Da Vinci
help spread the ideas of the
there court in France.
Renaissance to Northern Europe?
 The Northern Renaissance

• In 1440 a German Johannes

metal worker named Gutenberg
Johannes Gutenberg
produced the first
printing press. This
The first
was later used to printing
spread the ideas of the press
Renaissance through
Europe.
How did the printing press help
spread the ideas of the
Renaissance?
 The Northern Renaissance

• Pierre Ronsard wrote his

own sonnets with common
humanist themes such as Pierre Ronsard
love, the passing of youth,
and the poet’s immortality.
• Michel de Montaigne
created an informal
autobiography or the
personal essay in which
the writer would clearly Michel de Montaigne
express their views on a
subject.
The Northern Renaissance

• Humanism in the north took on a more

religious tone. Known as Christian
Humanists, they pressed for reform in the
Catholic Church.
• The most famous Christian humanist was
Erasmus of Rotterdam who encouraged
his colleagues to study the Bible in Greek
and Hebrew to gain a better understanding
The Northern Renaissance

• Jan and Hubert van Eyck painted scenes from the

Bible and daily life in sharp, realistic detail.
• In England the Humanist Thomas Moore wrote the
book Utopia, where he criticized society by
comparing it with an ideal society.
• The two most famous writers of the English
Renaissance were Christopher Marlowe and
William Shakespeare. They wrote plays and
stories about love, jealousy, ambition and love.
 William Shakespeare

• Celebrated as the greatest poet of

the English language.
• Shakespeare wrote numerous plays
and poems, most of which became
famous after his death.
• He is considered to be England’s
national poet and his works have
been translated into every major
language and are preformed more
than any other playwrights works.
 Christopher
Marlowe

• Marlowe was and English

playwright second only to
William Shakespeare.
• A well educated man who
was rumoured to be in the
employ of the secret service.
• He was killed in a tavern at
age 29 in a fight.
 Questions
1. __________ Created the “personal essay”.
2. __________ Book in which society was criticized by
comparing it to an ideal society.
3. __________ He encouraged people to study Greek and
Hebrew to gain a better understanding of the Bible.
4. ___________ He invaded Italy and brought Da Vinci to
France.
5. ___________ Considered to be England’s national poet.