FINAL ASSESSMENT

SEPTEMBER SEMESTER 2020

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1
(ARCH 1311)
ASSIGNMENT 4
(REPORT)
(ITALIAN RENAISSANCE)

MATRIC NO. : 202022086

EXAM I.D. : 8626M

NAME : IZZAH SYAZANA BINTI IBRAHIM

LECTURER : SHARYZEE MOHMAD SHUKRI

 ABSTRACT
The birth of the philosophy of humanism, which stressed the importance of individual
accomplishment in a wide variety of fields, ushered in the Italian Renaissance, which followed
the Middle Ages. Early humanists, such as writer Francesco Petrarch, took inspiration and
philosophy from the works of the ancient Greeks and Romans, merging Plato's and other
ancient thinkers' ideas with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Literature and the arts
ascended to new heights under the influence of the humanists.

The Revival started in Italy's great city-states and gradually spread across Europe. The
Renaissance goods grew up within the walls of Italian merchants and political leaders, who
sponsored and commissioned the great artists of the period. Florence, the Papal States (centred
in Rome), Venice, and Milan were the most important city-states. Each of these states
established its own distinct identity as a result of the various forms of government that ruled
over them. Florence, regarded as the birthplace of the Renaissance, rose to prominence as a
wool-trading post and remained so throughout the Renaissance thanks to the Medici family's
leadership, which ensured the city's financial stability while also becoming astute and generous
patrons of the arts. Rome was ruled by the Pope, who also acted as the head of the Catholic
Church. The Papacy gradually became the seat of an international politician rather than a
spiritual leader as the influence of the northern city-states increased, and many pontiffs
succumbed to the vices of corruption and nepotism that often followed a position of such
power. Nonetheless, during the Renaissance, Rome, which had suffered from a decline that had
nearly ruined the ancient city during the Middle Ages, flourished once more under papal
leadership. Venice and Milan became rich and influential as well, playing important roles in
Italian politics and drawing a slew of artists and authors to their gilded streets. Milan was
governed by a strong monarchy that created a line of powerful dukes, while Venice was ruled
by oligarchy in the hands of its Great Council of noble families.

The advancement of modern techniques and styles, as well as the advancement of the arts, was
probably the most influential characteristic of the Renaissance. Painters like Giotto and
sculptors like Ghiberti experimented with techniques to better represent perspective during the
early Renaissance. Other early Renaissance artists, such as Botticelli and Donatello, quickly
refined and expanded upon their techniques. The pinnacle of artistic creativity and output,
however, came later, during the High Renaissance, in the form of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael,
and Michaelangelo, who are still the most well-known Renaissance artists. In Europe, the
Renaissance saw the invention of printing and the emergence of literature as an integral part of
daily life. Because of the emergence of the printed book, Italian authors Boccaccio, Pico, and
Niccolo Machiavelli were able to publish their works far more conveniently and cheaply.

Unfortunately, the Italian Renaissance did not last indefinitely, and after the French conquest
of Italian land in 1494, Italy was plagued by foreign forces competing for parts of the Italian
peninsula. Finally, in 1527, foreign conquest reached a peak with the sack of Rome, and the
Renaissance came to an end under the rule of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.

Key ideas: The Medici reigned over Florence, which was the peak of Italian Renaissance
achievement, Humanism: Growing secular interests, glorification of "man" and our
accomplishments, ideal of being well educated Leading artists and thinkers should be mindful
of: Petrarch, Giotto, Pico, Machiavelli, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Brunelleschi, Raphael, Titian.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

NO CONTENT PAGE
1 Abstract 1
2 Introduction 3-6
3 Location 7
4 Timeline 8-9
5 Italy In the Mid-Fourteenth Century: The Rise of 10-11
Humanism (Mid-14th Century)
6 Florence And the Medici (1397-1495) 12-13
7 Rome: Papal Control and Early Resurrection (1400-1484) 14-15
8 Rome: The Depths of Corruption and The Rise of The 16-17
Golden Age
9 Venice And Milan (1300-1499) 18-20
10 Art in The Early Renaissance (1330-1450) 21-22
11 Art in The High Renaissance (1450-1550) 23-24
12 The Rise of Printing: Literature in The Renaissance 25-26
(1350-1550)
13 Women in The Renaissance 27
14 The Waning of The Renaissance (1499-1550) 28-29
15 Architecture Value 30-32
16 Conclusion 33
17 References 34-35

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 INTRODUCTION

From the beginning of the 15th century, art that originated in Florence and spread throughout
Italy and then Europe became known as "Renaissance" art rather than "Italian" art. Jacob
Burckhardt, a German historian, invented the term in the 1800s. With this word, he wished to
emphasize how, from that point forward, art returned to a classical aesthetic vision. In essence,
art in the 1400s was "reborn" in a way that projected ideas close to those of ancient Greece and
Rome.

This new age was not merely creative in nature, but was spawned by a wider and more profound
way of thinking: the idea that man was at the core of the universe, endowed with not only free
will, but also an intellect that helped him to comprehend and decode the world around him. In
essence, man was released from the mysterious mediaeval worldview, in which the only source
of truth was God's word. The problem of consciousness for man became an even greater
problem from this point forward: how to sharpen one's methods of observation while still
possessing the capacity to interpret and deduce.

Leonardo da Vinci: Vitruvian Man

In general, four significant discoveries and improvements marked Renaissance art, which will
be addressed further down. The use of drawing was most definitely the deciding factor. One
was the birth of perspective, which was stylistically important. However, the Renaissance was
also a rediscovery of classical antiquity and, from a social perspective, a major shift in the
artist's picture.

Drawing as a Planning Instrument

It is only at the beginning of the Renaissance that artists really learn to draw that is, to use
design as a tool to construct anything images, artefacts, and space as weird as it might seem.
But it was more than a representational technique; it was a medium for thought. It was a
planning technique that we might call "visualization" because it helps the artist to see the
finished product before designing it. Today, we have even more powerful planning tools, such
as computers, that allow us to see a job as if it had already been completed.

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When we look at the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci over the course of a century, we can see
how drawing has become the artist's primary method. The Renaissance artist has the ability to
produce works of art, architecture, military works, civil and mechanical engineering, and so
on. And it is from this that renaissance artists formed their great eclecticism: never before had
the same person worked in so many different fields, and with such extraordinary results.

Filippo Brunelleschi’s drawing of the Dome of the Florence Cathedral

The invention of drawing had an unexpected consequence: the artist could now differentiate
between inspiration and execution. The master could restrict himself to designing or planning
the job, from architecture to sculpture and painting. The material execution could then be
assigned to partners and helpers.

Leonardo da Vinci’s Flying Machine

Perspective

In both painting and sculpture, mediaeval art simplified representation by ignoring spatial
effects. On a single vertical plane, figures were arranged in schematic poses and pictures. The
images did not resemble the images that our eyes took in from surrounding reality, giving the
depiction an unnatural feel. In art, naturalism can be described as a replication that takes us
closer to the things we see through our eyes. While our vision is controlled by very precise
optical rules, the painter, in practice, perceives a three-dimensional truth and transforms it to a
two-dimensional image using a logical framework known as "perspective."

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We'll list two of the several laws that make up the cornerstone of perspective:

1. Straight lines that are parallel in three dimensions appear to converge in the
representational plane at a point called the point of flight, which is only for parallel
lines in the same direction.
2. When you step away from the point of observation, the height of objects continues to
decrease.

After the discovery of chiaroscuro (light and shade), which uses light in a range of tonalities to
describe the three-dimensionality of volume, the discovery of perspective allows us to represent
the three-dimensionality of space using projective geometry.

In the third decade of the 15th century, in the work of Masaccio in painting and Donatello in
sculpture, the first applications of perspective were made. Filippo Brunelleschi, a painter and
architect, was the real founder of perspective. In reality, architecture and perspective have a
very close relationship. Straight lines, parallel lines, right angles, triangles, circles, and other
similar geographic forms are never found in nature. There are elements that can be found in
man-made architecture.

In fact, we are witnesses to a very close union between painting and architecture in the 1400s.
Early Renaissance painters have used architecture to create spatial complexity through
perspective. Geometric visibility was lifted to a new degree of elegance thanks to perspective.

The Return to Antiquity

The idea of beauty was entirely removed from mediaeval art because it was based on religion.
The goal of art was primarily didactic: to teach the stories of the Christian faith. Beauty was
unimportant; in fact, it was often regarded as dangerous. Since beauty appeals to the senses, it
has the power to lead to sin.

The study of neo-platonism, which emerged in the third century, was notable for its aesthetic
reflections. It also played a part in reintroducing the idea of beauty to a new age in the 1400s.
As a result, the Renaissance rediscovers antiquity in this way. It restores the sense of elegance,
proportional harmony, and the satisfaction of the ideal form. Renaissance art, like classical art,
aspires to a higher degree of naturalism: it aspires to a portrayal of reality that is well conscious
of what it is portraying. The art also contributed to the development of the Renaissance man—
a man who explores the world around him with any possible tool in order to better understand
it.

Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus

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The New Role of the Artist

Throughout Medieval times, the artist was known as an artisan, or someone whose primary
skill was manual. The arts were divided into “liberal” and “mechanical” groups according to
an ancient distinction. The first were those that concentrated on thoughts and words, while the
second suggested material manipulation. The figurative arts were included in the mechanical
arts division. Painters and sculptors might, and sometimes did, be illiterate, so no thinking
action was expected of them. They just wanted to be technically capable of carrying out the
buyers' demands.

Over time, the situation shifted. We see an exceptional growth in the social regard of the artist
as early as the 1300s, with Giotto, for example. However, it is during the Renaissance that the
artist's image takes a major leap forward: from this point forward, the artist assumes the
intellectual position for himself.

Even the artist's place of residence changes: it is no longer the studio, but the court. Many
artists were hired directly by the men who controlled the small states that separated the
peninsula in that century. The artist as courtesan was a corollary to the figure of the prince-
patron. In the prince's court, the artist encountered all of the major intellectual figures of the
time—poets, authors, philosophers, mathematicians, and so on.

Portrait of Leonardo da Vinci

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LOCATION

7
 TIMELINE

April 6, 1341: Poet Laureate Francesco Petrarch has been elected. This date is considered by
many historians to be the start of the Renaissance.

1397: Giovanni De Medici Sets Up Shop in Florence the papal banker Giovanni de Medici
establishes his headquarters in Florence and becomes active in Florentine public life and
patronage of the arts, setting the foundation for his son Cosimo de Medici's rise to power.

1401: Ghiberti is given the right to sculpt the Baptistry's northern gate. Ghiberti is
commissioned to sculpt the bronze doors of the Florentine cathedral, which takes him 28 years
to complete. The doors are now considered one of the Renaissance's most important objects.

1420: The Papacy Re-establishes Its Existence in Rome After being based in Avignon since
1305, the Papacy returns to Rome, carrying with it the prestige and wealth needed to rebuild
the city.

1423: The Doge of Venice is Francesco Fosari. Fosari becomes doge and tries to usurp great
political influence, much to the chagrin of the Great Council, Venice's oligarchic governing
body, which declares its power over the doge and tortures him before he resigns.

1429: Cosimo De Medici assumes management of his father's business. After his father dies,
Cosimo de Medici takes over the bank and uses his economic strength to consolidate political
power. Within five years, he has unquestionably taken charge of the city.

1447: The Throne Is Ascended by Pope Nicholas V Pope Nicholas V starts the process of
transforming Rome into a Renaissance city by undertaking various building projects and
supporting the arts.

1450: Milan is taken over by Francesco Sforza. Milan returns to monarchy as Francesco Sforza
assumes control of the city after a brief experiment with republican rule. Ludovico Sforza is
his most notable successor.

1453: The Fall of Constantinople Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, falls to
the Ottoman Turks, prompting a mass migration of Greeks, as well as works of art and
literature, to the Italian city-states.

1454: Prints by Johann Gutenberg The Bible of Gutenberg Gutenberg is credited with inventing
the printing press in Europe, ushering in the age of printed books and encouraging all
Europeans to read literature.

1464: In Florence, Lorenzo De Medici rises to power. Following Cosimo's death in 1464, his
son Piero reigns until 1469, when control passes to Lorenzo, who reigns until 1491, bringing
Florence to the peak of the Renaissance.

1471: Sixtus IV ascends to the throne of the Roman Empire. Pope Sixtus IV ascends to the
throne, completing a number of successful ventures in Rome but also dishonouring the Church
by corruption and nepotism.

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1486: Pico publishes his 900 treatises series. Pico's ideology often contrasts with the Catholic
Church's, and he is branded a heretic. The intervention of Lorenzo de Medici saves him from
death.

1492: Rodrigo Borgia was a member of the Borgia tribe. Assumes Pope Alexander VI is
generally regarded as a greedy and manipulative pope who schemes for the benefit of his kin.
Many assume that during his pontificate, the Papacy experiences the greatest spiritual
regression since the Renaissance.

1494: The Medici family is removed from Florence. Savonarola, Girolamo Preaching a return
to simple faith, Savonarola leads a widespread revolt against the Medici, forcing them to flee.
Savonarola's reign is brief, and in 1495 he is burned as a heretic.

1494: The French Invasion of Italy Is Allowed By Ludovico Sforza Ludovico invites the
French to invade Italy, giving them free passage via Milan, in order to weaken his rival, the
King of Naples. Despite the failure of this invasion, the French return in 1499, turning on
Ludovico and seizing Milan, ushering in a new period of international rivalry for Italian
territory.

1503: The Papal Throne Is Assumed by Pope Julius II The Roman Golden Age begins with
Pope Julius II's ascension, during which both the city and the Papacy flourish. Julius II reverses
the Papacy's spiritual collapse and makes major strides in the rebuilding of Rome.

1513: Pope Leo X is elected. Julius II Pope Leo X, the son of Lorenzo de Medici, continues
the Golden Age theme by demonstrating his talents as a gifted administrator and astute patron
of the arts. Rome is flourishing.

1513: The Prince is written by Niccolo Machiavelli. The Prince, generally regarded as the most
popular political book of all time, presents the case that a monarch should be hated rather than
loved.

1517: The Protestant Reformation Begins Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses on the door of a
church in Wittenburg, Germany, sparking a revolution that causes the Roman Catholic Church
to break in two.

1519: Leonardo Da Vinci Passes Away Leonardo da Vinci, perhaps the Renaissance's most
remarkable figure, dies in France after establishing himself as a painter, sculptor, engineer, and
scientist.

1523: The Throne Is Ascended by Pope Clement VII Following Pope Leo X, Pope Clement
VII ascends to the throne in tough times. He easily reveals that he is an inexperienced politician,
and his bad decisions result in the sack of Rome.

May 6, 1527: The Attack on Rome After Pope Clement VII refuses to pay a ransom, the
imperial army assaults Rome, which it takes in just over twelve hours. The sack of Rome
symbolises the end of Renaissance Italy, as the settlement of Bologna in 1530 subjugated most
of the country under Imperial-Spanish rule.

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 ITALY IN THE MID-FOURTEENTH CENTURY: THE RISE OF
HUMANISM (MID 14TH CENTURY)
During the late Middle Ages, Italy's cities prospered as trading posts, linking Europe to the
Byzantine Empire and the Moslem world via the Mediterranean Sea. Commerce enriched and
empowered areas where the feudal system had not yet taken root, especially in northern Italy.
Florence, Venice, and Milan, the most prosperous of these cities, developed into powerful city-
states that ruled over the surrounding regions. The Papal States, based in Rome, eventually
expanded to rival the riches of northern cities, and as the seat of the papacy, exercised immense
control over Italian life and politics. These four regions, along with a few other minor centers
of wealth and influence, such as Urbino, Mantua, and Ferrara, became the cradle of the
Renaissance, experiencing political, economic, and artistic changes beginning in the fourteenth
century.

In the mid-fourteenth century, the Renaissance began with a move away from mediaeval life
and ideals governed by the Church and toward the philosophical concepts of humanism.
Individual achievement became important to the Italian people, particularly the educated
middle class, and life in this world was prioritized over preparation for life in the next world,
which was emphasized by religion. They were firm believers in the capacity of individuals to
achieve personal achievement in the arts, literature, politics, and personal lives. Individuals
were encouraged to compete in a number of fields and to demonstrate their skills. Renaissance
thinkers derided mediaeval life as barbaric and backwards, and sought inspiration from earlier
times of history, such as the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Francesco Petrarch, regarded as the father of humanism, was one of the first and most
influential humanist authors. Many historians consider Petrarch's inauguration as Poet Laureate
on the Capitol in Rome on April 6, 1341, to be the true start of the Renaissance. True eloquence
and ethical knowledge, according to Petrarch, had been lost during the Middle Ages and could
only be found in the writings of the ancients, especially Virgil and Cicero. Petrarch wrote a
great deal, including poetry and biographies of historical figures, as well as a large number of
letters, many of which were later published and widely read. "The Ascent of Mount Vertoux,"
one of his most famous letters, describes his path to the top of a peak, but it's also an allegory
comparing the challenges of the climb to the effort to attain true Christian virtue.

More than anything else, geography gave Italy an advantage over northern Europe in terms of
wealth accumulation and breaking away from the feudal system. Because of their strategic
position on the Mediterranean Sea, between the majority of Europe and the Byzantine Empire,
Italian cities had no choice but to engage in foreign trade and the market economy, and to
incorporate commercial activities into everyday life. As a result, Italy was exposed to large-
scale movements of goods and ideas much earlier than most other European countries.
Northern Italy prospered economically and intellectually in the later Middle Ages as a result.
Furthermore, feudalism did not take root in northern Italy as it did elsewhere in Europe because
Italy retained its market economy while the rest of Europe formed a self-contained barter
economy of feudal territories spawned by agrarian life. Northern Italy may be said to be more
advanced and open in both culture and mind than the rest of Europe.

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Owing to the geographical position of the Italian city-states, which had been built largely on
top of the remains of the Roman Empire, the history and ideas of the ancient Greeks and
Romans, which had been thrown into shadow across Europe in mediaeval times, had perhaps
remained closer to the surface of contemporary thinking in Italy than elsewhere. This
geographical proximity, however, should not be emphasized. Even in Rome, the empire's
buildings had fallen into disrepair, and many had been covered by decades of waste and
overgrowth. Even the people of Rome who lived in the shadow of the Coliseum and the
Pantheon during the Middle Ages had little sense and respect for the past around them. The
trade with the Byzantine Empire, which had as a byproduct the flow of ideas and culture, kept
the Greek influence on northern Italian cities alive. As the Ottoman Turks gradually threatened
Constantinople, the center of the Byzantine Empire, which fell in 1453, Greek influence rose
in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. Many Greeks were forced to seek refuge in
northern Italy, which gained greatly from the riches and knowledge of ancient Greece brought
with them by these refugees/immigrants. Many Italian and Greek contemporaries noted that
Constantinople had not actually fallen, but had been transferred to Florence.

The effect of the revived interest in Greek and Roman history is undeniable, and it greatly
affected the mood of the time. While the intellectual emphasis of the period developed and
changed to reflect this impact, the primary element of mediaeval life, the Church, remained
dominant, and religion continued to exert extraordinary influence over people's thoughts and
actions, as Petrarch's writings show. Petrarch and many other Renaissance thinkers also spoke
of being divided between two sides of their personalities in this way. Petrarch, like many
Renaissance thinkers, favored the solitude of pious monastery life, but he also enjoyed
travelling. He embraced the Christian ideal of self-denial, but he still relished the world's
pleasures. He promoted study and learning, but was worried that acquiring worldly knowledge
would preclude him from attaining salvation. This was a common problem for Renaissance
thinkers, as humanism's values started to rival the Church's doctrines.

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 FLORENCE AND THE MEDICI (1397-1495)
Florence is often referred to as the Renaissance's birthplace. This city in the northern hills of
Italy created the first writers and artists of the time. The city's political control as a hub for the
European wool trade was largely in the hands of the wealthy merchants who controlled the
industry. These merchants contributed to the physical rebirth of the city by building large gilded
mansions in the city, villas in the countryside, and contributing to the construction of grand
cathedrals. The rich merchants formed a competitive spirit, frequently vying against one
another to commission the grandest buildings and the finest works of art. The city's passion for
the Revival was heightened by rivalry.

The Medici family, who ruled Florence for most of the Renaissance, was instrumental in the
patronage of the arts and the city's political growth. Giovanni de Medici, the Papal Court's
banker, built headquarters in Florence in 1397. Giovanni had almost no choice but to engage
in public life as a wealthy and powerful citizen, holding almost every political office in
Florence at some point. Giovanni de Medici died in 1429, leaving a legacy of patronage for the
arts, a considerable wealth, and a son, Cosimo de Medici, who was trained in humanist
principles. At the age of forty, Cosimo de Medici took over the family banking business.
Cosimo built up his father's fortune and developed business ties all over Europe as a prosperous
businessman.

Cosimo de Medici had secured control in Florence for himself and his family by 1434, thus
retaining the appearance of democratic rule. Cosimo clung to his private citizen status, but it
was plain to everyone that he ruled Florence from behind the scenes. Cosimo's dominance was
preserved by the actions of a clever schemer, but other facets of his life were nothing short of
admirable. He was a generous patron of the arts, commissioning the design of large cathedrals
and commissioning the best artists of the period to decorate them. He founded the Platonic
Academy for the study of ancient works, demonstrating his strong support for education.
Cosimo is said to have spent approximately 600,000 gold florins on architecture, scholarly
learning, and other arts before his death in 1464. When one considers that Cosimo's father left
him an unprecedented fortune of just 180,000 florins, this amount is evidently exceptional.

Following Cosimo's death in 1464, his son Piero reigned for five years before being succeeded
by Cosimo's grandson, Lorenzo de Medici, nicknamed "Il Magnifico." Lorenzo was a more
elegant man than Cosimo, and he relished the glare of influence. The Florentine economy
developed dramatically under his rule, and the lower classes were afforded greater comfort and
security than they had previously. Florence became undeniably the most powerful city-state in
Italy and the most beautiful city in all of Europe during Lorenzo's reign, which lasted from
1469 to 1492. The arts flourished, and trade developed, but Lorenzo caused his family's
business to deteriorate, and the Medici were forced to leave Florence two years after he died.

Girolamo Savonarola, a fanatical priest, was the inspiration for the widespread revolt that
overthrew the Medici dynasty. Since 1491, when he began preaching against the Renaissance's
worldliness and paganism, Savonarola had developed a following. He argued for a return to
fundamental faith. Savonarola took power after the Medici were deposed in 1494, writing a
new draconian constitution and trying to resurrect the mediaeval spirit. He had burned a number
of books and drawings that he felt were unethical. In 1495, Savonarola requested that Pope
Alexander VI be deposed. By this time, the renegade priest had lost all support in Florence,
and he was branded a heretic and burned at the stake.

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The renegade priest had lost all popularity in Florence by this time, and he was condemned to
be a heretic and burned at the stake.

Rich merchants employed the most talented artists and paid them well to do their most inspired
work to carry out the design of the great architectural works of the period. Merchants sought
to marry into royalty in order to retain their place of influence, and, more importantly, to obtain
popular favor and recognition. Merchants became great patrons of the arts as a result of this.
The wealthiest merchants' grand artistic endeavors, on the other hand, did not always inspire
the public. In the shadow of the rich merchants, known in Florence as "fat people," millions of
lower middle-class and lower-class residents worked long hours at unpleasant tasks. The lower
classes were well aware that their plight was unlikely to change, and they watched with
disappointment as the city around them became increasingly filled with displays of upper-class
wealth. As a result, class conflict was a major feature of Florentine life, often escalating into
violence.

Although the Medici were undoubtedly influential in the Florentine Renaissance, several
historians have argued that their position has been exaggerated by those who have studied the
time. A historian called William Roscoe, writing about the turn of the nineteenth century,
describes the Medici as practically responsible for the whole Renaissance. This kind of
glorification of the family's power and wealth has gained the Medici widespread adoration from
some, as well as widespread disdain from others, who see their legacy as one of tyrannical
central government by a special interest community. Present scholars, on the other hand, see
the ruling family as enlightened patrons who aided an existing movement, rather than as having
played a greater role in the Renaissance than is generally thought.

The Medici played an enigmatic part in Florence's history. Given the appearance of democracy
and republican government, the Medici were effectively the city's rulers by inheritance. Despite
taking great measures to retain their control, the Medici remained private citizens. In reality,
Cosimo would often turn down those who begged him for favors, saying that as a private
citizen, he couldn't support them. This lighthearted rejection, on the other hand, belied the
reality of the case. During the Renaissance, the Medici were second only to the Papacy in terms
of influence, and they most certainly contributed more to the spirit of the times than the body.
Florence was regarded as the birthplace of the Renaissance, attracting thinkers and artists to
the city based on the benevolent rulers' reputations and developing thinkers and artists through
the Medici and other benevolent rulers' colleges.

Florence thrived during the Renaissance because of its links to the rest of the world. The city
rose in importance as a crossroads for wool merchants in the late Middle Ages. Giovanni and
Cosimo de Medici used banking to turn Florence into a financial crossroads. Florence became
a crossroads for ideas as a result of these interactions. The city was exposed to the ideas and
philosophies of distant lands, which it incorporated into its writing and art, which then flowed
freely across Italy and the European continent. Financial and political means were used by the
Medici to keep these relations secure. Both Florence and Rome benefited greatly from the
relationship they formed with the Papacy. During the Renaissance, the two cities, which might
have been competitors, formed together in a spirit of cooperation: Rome provided a destination
for many Florentine artists and authors, and Florence benefited from the control of the papal
purse.

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 ROME: PAPAL CONTROL AND EARLY RESURRECTION (1400-1484)

Rome seemed to be approaching the end of a long downturn at the beginning of the fifteenth
century. The remains of once-magnificent buildings dotted the skyline. Wild animals roamed
freely in the thick undergrowth that covered the city's centre. The city that had once ruled the
entire globe was now a mere shadow of its former self. Rome had a population of around one
million people in the first century. The population of the city at the beginning of the fifteenth
century was estimated to be about 25,000. Rome was not a major commercial hub, and the
papacy, which had long sponsored the city through its wealth and diplomatic clout, had
relocated to Avignon in the fourteenth century.

Under Pope Martin V, the papacy was restored to Rome in 1420. The papacy would rebuild
the city in the coming decades, and the Papal States, based in Rome, would assume a major
role in Italian affairs. Through the sale of church offices and taxation of the Papal States, the
papacy closely supervised the Renaissance evolution of Rome, retaining its economic power
and thus control of the region. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, there were
intermittent bursts of support for political freedom from church influence in papal holdings.
However, the papal hold remained strong, and the fates of the city and the church remained
inextricably connected.

The ascension of Pope Nicholas V in 1447 was the first step in resurrecting Rome after the
papacy was restored. Nicholas V had been supported financially as a monk in Tuscany by
Cosimo de Medici, a Florentine banker who had lent him money without asking for collateral.
Nicholas made Cosimo Papal Banker as a result. Nicholas founded the Vatican library with the
aid of the Medici family. He gathered significant works by ancient scholars from all over the
continent. When Constantinople fell in 1453, Nicholas V bought many of the thousands of
Greek books that had been left unclaimed. At the Vatican, he instilled the importance of
education, which ignited the birth of intellectualism in Rome. Nicholas V performed miracles
of devastation and regeneration in Rome during his eight years as Pope, ushering in the reforms
that would turn Rome into a Renaissance city capable of competing with the splendour of the
North.

In Rome, the Papacy remained a guiding force for reform. However, as Rome became wealthier
and more powerful, the Papacy became more corrupt. Throughout the fifteenth century, the
trend persisted. The Papacy started a decline into spiritual decay with the election of Pope
Sixtus IV in 1471, while Rome rose to its greatest splendour since Roman times. Nepotism hit
fresh and unethical heights under Sixtus IV. Sixtus' 'nephews' (the papal nephew was a long-
established term for the pope's illegitimate children) were given powerful positions and large
salaries. Sixtus IV also planned the assassination of the powerful Medici family when he
suspected they were messing with one of his nephews. Throughout the Renaissance, this model
of papal rule was followed, weakening papal moral authority while enabling the Papacy to
grow politically and economically powerful.

At the same time, Pope Sixtus IV embarked on a major project to redevelop and rebuild Rome,
widening streets and razing decaying ruins. He ordered the famous Sistine Chapel's design and
summoned a slew of great Renaissance artists from around Italy. Artists flocked to Rome in
search of Roman gold as the city was steadily transformed and infused with riches. They
redecorated and restored almost all of Rome after receiving it.

14
The city of Rome had not done well during the Middle Ages. The mediaeval darkness had
descended literally on the former core of the empire, just as it had overshadowed the glory and
intellectualism of the Roman Empire. Rome's people had little emotional connection to their
historical roots, and thus saw little need to devote much effort to preserving the area. As a
result, Rome's majestic structures began to deteriorate, at the hands of looters and robbers. The
buildings started to collapse without the protection of the people, and many became less and
less visible as dirt and waste accumulated around them. The schism in the Catholic Church in
the fourteenth century, which forced the Papacy to flee to Avignon, was the final nail in the
coffin for Rome, which had suffered from the loss of wealth and power and had become a city
of poverty and sorrow. The Romans of the fourteenth century had forgotten the glory of
previous centuries and saw no way forward in the present. They watched as northern cities
grew prosperous in the late Middle Ages as trade flourished, and many emigrated in the hope
of bettering their economic situation.

In 1420, the first rays of hope for Rome to catch up to its northern rivals appeared. The Papacy
returned to Rome, carrying with it the riches and reputation that Rome needed to regain its
former glory. The pope ascended to the throne in a circumstance unlike that of any other king.
The papacy was in charge not only of the universal Catholic Church, whose members were
inextricably connected to politics throughout Europe, but also of the Papal States in Italy, which
were tumultuous. This often resulted in conflicts of interest, which the pope had to overcome
in order to satisfy the interests of as many of his constituents as possible. Furthermore, the pope
had to make these difficult decisions on a daily basis without the assistance of a royal family,
a powerful support structure that every other monarch in Europe relied on. Due to the lack of
official direct heirs, the pope often turned to Papal nephews, who, although pretending to be
the offspring of his brothers and sisters, were most often the pope's illegitimate children. The
importance of the nephew (nipote) as an aid and confidant grew dramatically during the
Renaissance, and the Papal nephew was frequently the beneficiary of the pope's goodwill,
receiving prominent positions and large salaries. Although nepotism was widespread among
Renaissance popes, it caused little harm to the majority of them. Others, such as Sixtus IV,
greatly undermined the Papacy's moral authority and turned many of his counsellors and
cardinals against him.

The relation formed with Florence by appointing Cosimo de Medici as Papal banker was
perhaps even more important than the return of the Papacy to Rome. If Florence benefited from
its role in managing Roman gold, Rome benefited even more from the influx of Florentine
ideas and, finally, immigrants. As a result, Rome absorbed the values of humanism and new
intellectualism flowing from the north through the communications pipeline formed for
financial purposes, riding the Revival wave that had grown high in Florence. Rome had
eventually become a peer of the northern city-states by the late fifteenth century, and its
influence showed no signs of waning.

15
 ROME: THE DEPTHS OF CORRUPTION AND THE RISE OF THE
GOLDEN AGE
Rodrigo Borgia, who was elected to the papacy in 1492 after the death of the generally
unremarkable Innocent VIII and adopted the name Pope Alexander VI, took the already corrupt
Papacy to possibly its lowest point. As a Cardinal, Borgia, a Spaniard, had been at the heart of
Vatican affairs for 30 years. When he became Pope, his family was soon surrounded by myth
and legend. Alexander VI had four children, three of whom were males and one of whom was
female. Alexander VI was perhaps more infamous than Sixtus IV for being a crooked pope
bent on his family's political and financial prosperity. It was no secret that Alexander VI's eldest
son Cesare was a serial killer who had assassinated several of his political enemies. Alexander
VI's daughter, Lucrezia Borgia, was married three times in the pope's attempts to form
advantageous alliances. The Papacy grew politically and economically powerful under
Alexander VI, but the methods by which it grew were challenged in Italy.

Pope Julius II succeeded Alexander VI after his death in 1503. Both Rome and the Papacy
witnessed a Golden Age under Julius II. Julius II continued the Papal States' consolidation of
power, facilitated Pope Nicholas V's commitment to studying and writing in Rome, and, most
notably, continued the physical reconstruction of Rome. The reconstruction of St. Peter's
Basilica, one of Christianity's most sacred structures, was the most noticeable project among
many. The building of a new St. Peter's, and indeed a new Rome, placed a financial burden on
the city. Ancient buildings were demolished to make space and provide construction materials
for the city's new structures.

During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, artists flocked to Rome to research the ruins and
contribute to the city's new structures, seeking to fill the void between the old and the new.
Many people brought architectural ideas from ancient Rome to the cities of the north, and cities
like Florence, Milan, and Venice soon started to display signs of Roman influence.

Pope Leo X, Lorenzo de Medici's second son, gave Rome its final drive toward Renaissance
glory. Following Julius II, he succeeded to the papal throne in 1513. He was a natural in social
settings, a professional negotiator, a competent administrator, and an articulate and generous
patron of the arts. He advocated scholarly learning and backed the theatre, which at the time
was perceived to be morally ambiguous. He was especially supportive of the visual arts,
particularly painting and sculpture. He is best known for his patronage of Raphael; whose
paintings were instrumental in the Vatican's redecorating. The ruins of Rome started to be more
successfully maintained under Leo X, and metaphorically, so did the Papacy's morality. Rome's
Golden Age came to an end when he died in 1521, and the Renaissance as a whole started to
fade.

Rodrigo Borgia, later Alexander VI, is the archetypal Renaissance pope. His pontificate is cited
by historians as an example of the Papacy's nepotism and corruption during the Renaissance.
Alexander's effect on Italy and the general understanding of the Papacy cannot be overstated.
Even in his own day, the Borgia family was known as cruel and manipulative monsters in Italy.
Many saws Rodrigo Borgia's ascension to the papal throne as a symbol of the Catholic Church's
imminent demise. However, both Italy and the Catholic Church survived Alexander VI's reign,
and may even learned some important lessons, since Julius II and Pope Leo X reversed the
Papacy's decline and ushered in Rome's Golden Age. During this time, both the city and its
rulers were revered and valued, reversing a pattern in which the Papacy's spiritual status
declined as the physical city soared to new heights.

16
The demolition and reconstruction of St. Peter's basilica, the oldest and most sacred building
in all of Christianity, which houses the tombs of St. Peter and several previous popes, was Pope
Julius II's main mission. Many challenged and resisted the initiative, but Julius II insisted that
the structure was in dire need of repair and that it should be replaced with something more
deserving of its purpose's glory. He followed with zeal once the planning and devastation
began, never second-guessing his decision. The demolition and reconstruction of St. Peter's
rapidly became a sign of Rome's descent and resurrection in Italy.

The reconstruction of Rome came at a high cost, especially in terms of historical relics. Popes
and princes had viewed Rome as a large quarry from which to harvest treasure and building
materials since the fall of Rome. The greatest shrine to this destructive habit is the Coliseum.
Romans hacked away at the monumental building for decades, harvesting material for
foundations and marble inlay and destroying one of human history's greatest architectural
creations. Despite this, the Coliseum remains Rome's largest building. Many other structures
were badly damaged, if not entirely demolished, until the spirit of antiquarianism was
resurrected during Pope Leo X's reign, which preserved many of the ruins of ancient Rome.
Antiquarianism was not an intellectual exercise among Romans, as it was elsewhere, but rather
a reaffirmation of their lost glory status. Romans started to comprehend the particulars of their
true, rather than fictional, past.

Pope Leo X presided over the Renaissance, which saw the rise of humanism and antiquarianism
to their peak. He was probably the closest thing the Papacy saw during the Renaissance to the
enlightened princes of northern Italian states, which is not surprising considering his Medici
heritage. He was a gifted administrator as well as a thoughtful and generous arts patron. He
was assigned the daunting task of restoring St. Peter's basilica, which he took on with zeal in
the name of the Church. This greatest of Renaissance Popes, by the way, also made a move
that proved to be one of the Church's greatest blunders. In order to fund the huge building
project of St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Leo X approved the sale of indulgences. Indulgences is
simply sin pardons. Their selling was the result of a series of offences that led to the Protestant
Reformation, a revolution that ignited a major schism in Christianity that dominated history for
decades and whose repercussions have played and continue to play varied, complex, and
fundamental roles in the modern world.

17
 VENICE AND MILAN (1300-1499)

Venice, situated on the Adriatic Sea, conducted extensive trade with the Byzantine Empire and
the Moslem world. Venice was the most prosperous city in Europe in the late thirteenth century.
It had 36,000 sailors sailing 3,300 ships at its height of power and prosperity, dominating
Mediterranean trade. During this time, Venice's most influential families competed to create
the most opulent palaces and to fund the work of the finest and most talented artists. The city
was governed by the Great Council, which consisted of representatives of Venice's most
important families. All public officials were appointed by the Great Council, which also elected
a Senate of 200 to 300 members. The Senate then elected the Council of Ten, a clandestine
body with full control over the city's administration. The ceremonial head of the city, the 'doge,'
or duke, was chosen from among the great council members.

Within a form of constitutional monarchy, the Venetian doge ruled for life. The Doge of Venice
ruled in splendour, and laws were passed in his name, but the Great Council, especially the
Council of Ten, severely restricted his power. Francesco Fosari was made Doge in 1423. He
ruled with exaggerated grandeur and possessed much more influence than previous doges,
pursuing a strategy of western expansion with zeal. Many in the Great Council felt he had
usurped much too much authority. The Council of Ten falsely accused the doge's son, Jacopo,
of treason, and began a long period in which Jacopo was exiled, readmitted, tortured, and exiled
again, all while refusing to allow the doge to resign. Finally, when the Council of Ten was
assured that its message had been received, Fosari was forced to resign, confirming the Council
of Ten's authority over the king.

Throughout the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, the Ottoman Turks fought Venice
at sea, and the so-called Holy League against Venice attacked Venice on land, trying to knock
Venice off its arrogant pedestal. The region, on the other hand, was able to withstand the assault
by relying on its sea-trade ability.

The Po River valley was controlled by Milan, the northernmost of the main Italian city-states.
Because of the city's strategic position along trade routes and as a northern gateway to Italy, it
needed a strong military state. Milan became a strong monarchy under a succession of powerful
dukes due to the need for strong leadership. From 1317 to 1447, the Visconti family ruled as
dukes almost continuously, using military might to keep the turbulent region stable. They ruled
nearly all of northern Italy at the height of their control. After the death of the last Visconti in
1447, the Milanese attempted to create a republic. In 1450, Francesco Sforza, a professional
soldier, took control of the government after the republic failed to secure the city's military
interests. For several years, his family will govern Milan. Ludovico Sforza, the most famous
of his descendants, depicted the archetypal Italian Renaissance prince, surrounded himself with
mystery and corruption. Despite the fact that Ludovico was not the legitimate Duke of Milan
and was notorious for using coercion and manipulation to achieve his political goals, the city
of Milan prospered for a period when he was in power. Milan was extremely rich under
Ludovico, also known as 'Il Moro,' and its people enjoyed a luxurious and extravagant social
culture. The glamour and riches of Milan attracted artists like Leonardo da Vinci, who flocked
to the city in search of commissions.

18
Ludovico offered King Charles VIII of France free passage through Milan and into Naples in
the late 15th century, in an attempt to minimise the troublesome influence of his in-laws and
rivals, the royal family of Naples. The French invasion of 1494 failed, but in 1499, the new
king, Louis XII, led a new French expedition into Italy. The French turned on Ludovico and
seized Milan, then went on to other parts of Italy. Under French influence, the Milanese court's
glory vanished, and the artists who had flocked to the city were forced to relocate.

In their government and culture, the Venetians were adamant about hierarchy. The Venetian
Golden Book of the Aristocracy, published in 1315, mentioned the names of the city's most
important families, awarding them membership in the Great Council while disenfranchising
everyone else. Only a few times during the two centuries of the Renaissance did the list of
families alter, and only after much thought and deliberation. To put it another way, Venetian
culture was very stable. Even so, the lower classes in the affluent city had less to worry about
than they did in many other regions. The Venetian aristocracy differed from the rest of Europe
in that they were mostly hardworking businessmen with varying degrees of success, rather than
being overly rich. As a result, the Venetian hierarchy was less oppressive to the lower classes
than in other regions.

The Venetian aristocracy was a firm believer in oligarchy, and those who tried to usurp
authority from the Great Council were regarded with suspicion. In fact, while the Council of
Ten was often used for unethical and self-serving reasons, it was also used to thwart the
aspirations of political climbers and power usurpers. The Council of Ten kept monarchy at bay
by retaining power. Despite the fact that hierarchy was necessary to the Venetian way of life,
the nobility firmly believed in equality and democracy within their ranks, and acted swiftly to
remove any member of their class who appeared to disagree. The assassination of Doge
Francesco Fosari ensured that the Doge of Venice would never try to usurp monarchical
authority again. In the case of Fosari, the Council of Ten acted decisively to restore oligarchy,
which lasted until the Renaissance's end.

Venice, as a city primarily concerned with trade and finance, never established as a producer
of creative and literary talent, choosing instead to import it. Venice's riches attracted artists,
and many of them immigrated to the city during the Renaissance, including the writer Pietro
Aretino and the painter Titian.

The most important value of the Milanese government was stability. Milan's life as a powerful
city-state was precarious and subject to challenge at all times due to its position along trading
routes and as the gateway to Northern Italy. If preserved authoritatively, Milan's existence as a
powerful city-state was precarious and subject to challenge at all times. Throughout the
fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, the Visconti family asserted Milan's strength by
defending the region and expanding into new regions, enabling the city to prosper economically
as a trading post. When the Milanese attempted a republican form of government for a short
period between 1447 and 1450, they discovered that it did not offer the stability that Milan's
military interests required, and many supported the takeover of the government by Francesco
Sforza, a soldier by trade. Francesco's heirs, on the other hand, were unable to keep the city-
state prosperous and safe.

19
Ludovico Sforza presided over a prosperous and influential Milan, which enticed him to engage
in unethical activities in order to increase his own wealth and influence. In one such agreement,
he allowed French forces to invade Italy via Milan, a move that his fellow Italian heads of state
would later regard as equal to surrendering the entire country. Not only did Ludovico's actions
result in the overpowering French forces occupying Milan, but the French invasion also began
a time in which Italy was never free of foreign forces. These forces would finally unite to
engineer the sack of Rome, which marked the culmination of the Italian Renaissance.

20
 ART IN THE EARLY RENAISSANCE (1330-1450)
Artists of the early Renaissance strove to represent lifelike human figures with accurate
proportions, authentic clothes, and gestures, in keeping with the spirit of humanism. In order
to better understand their subjects, artists invented new techniques to give paintings a more
three-dimensional, lifelike appearance. They also studied human and animal anatomy.

Giotto di Bondone was the first significant Renaissance painter. At the turn of the fourteenth
century, Giotto started painting, breaking away from the Gothic and Byzantine artistic styles.
He studied nature extensively in order to infuse his paintings with realism, which is most
apparent in his extremely realistic facial expressions. Giotto was appointed chief architect in
Florence in 1334, and he lived there until his death in 1337. Later painter Tommaso Guidi,
known as Masaccio (Messy Tom) because of his dishevelled look, improved on Giotto's
advances in the depiction of perspective. Masaccio is credited with mastering perspective and
is credited with becoming the first Renaissance artist to paint models in the nude, focusing on
light and shadow rather than straight lines to describe the form of his models. The Tribute
Money, a scene from the Bible, is Masaccio's most popular work. Sandro Botticelli emerges as
a dominant artist during the early Renaissance, building on the successes of his predecessors.
Botticelli's most famous work, The Birth of Venus, portrays the goddess emerging from the
sea on a conch shell. He was part of a circle of artists and scholars funded by the Medici in
Florence. Botticelli became a follower of Girolamo Savonarola in the late fifteenth century,
and many of his paintings with pagan themes were destroyed.

Merchants and city leaders who sponsored Renaissance artists were much more interested in
architecture than in painting. Architects and sculptors rose to fame and influence as the city-
states of Italy started to grow great wealth in the early fifteenth century. In 1401, a competition
was held in Florence to find an artist to design and sculpt a pair of bronze doors for the
Baptistry, a church dedicated to St. Paul the Baptist. The winner of the competition, Lorenzo
Ghiberti, worked on the doors for 28 years, and they are now considered one of the
Renaissance's greatest treasures, with scenes from the Bible adorning them. Ghiberti pioneered
three-dimensional sculpture techniques and had a profound impact on Renaissance Italian
sculpture.

Filippo Brunelleschi, the contest's loser, travelled to Rome to study Roman ruins and develop
mathematical formulas for use in architecture. In 1417, he competed again with Ghiberti for
the right to design the dome of Florence's cathedral. He came out on top in the race. The dome
he designed, which blends modern architectural trends with ancient Roman architecture, still
dominates the Florentine skyline and is considered one of the world's great architectural
masterpieces. Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi, best known as Donatello, was the recognised
master of early Renaissance sculpture. Donatello was a pupil of both Ghiberti and Brunelleschi
and went on to create many masterpieces for Cosimo de Medici in Florence. The David, which
portrays the Hebrew king in the classical style of a Greek god and was the first freestanding
nude figure sculpted since the Roman period, is his most important work. Donatello went on
to create the Renaissance's first bronze statue, portraying a lifelike soldier on horseback.

Unlike the anonymous artists who produced works in guilds during the Middle Ages, artists
during the Renaissance benefited from the patronage of wealthy merchants and rulers, and were
well-known in their own period. The great artists of the day were honoured with great renown
and influence, and they were feted everywhere they went. Many artists claimed that because of
their celebrity, they deserved special care and respect, which they often got.

21
The early Renaissance artists were both liberated and limited in their subject matter choices by
the patronage of the rich. Despite the changes brought on by humanism, the Italian people
remained, above all, intensely religious. The majority of works of art commissioned by wealthy
patrons were connected to the Catholic Church, to which the wealthy often contributed grand
cathedrals. The early Renaissance saw a number of altarpieces and religious murals, and artists
were mostly limited to the Bible when it came to selecting their subject matter. Nonetheless,
artists had a lot of freedom to experiment with new methods and materials, as demonstrated by
Giotto's and Ghiberti's pioneering work.

Botticelli's experience typified the struggle that all Renaissance artists felt between the
Church's conventional values and the radical (and simultaneously antiquarian) essence of
Renaissance art. Botticelli was enthralled by Neoplatonism's philosophy, which aimed to
reconcile Plato's teachings and practises with Christian teachings. The Birth of Venus,
according to art historians, is a strong example of applied Neoplatonism. "An allegory of the
human soul's innocence and reality, naked to the winds of passion and about to be clad in the
robe of reason," according to one definition. The artistic group, like Botticelli, often tried to
reconcile its values of learning, purpose, and self-expression with religious dogma. However,
as Botticelli's example indicates, alignment was not easy: the two ways of thinking were often
antithetical and irreconcilable. The persistent desire to adhere to Church teachings, as well as
the prevalence of religious themes in Renaissance art, shows the Church's continued
significance in Renaissance culture.

Despite the fact that the subject matter of Renaissance art is close to that of mediaeval art, there
is no question that Renaissance artists broke the static mould of mediaeval art. The continuous
development of techniques and materials, with each generation of artists building on the
achievements of the previous, is what makes Renaissance art so fascinating. Throughout most
of the Middle Ages, technique, style, and materials remained relatively unchanged, the
Renaissance was a time of rapid change and development. Giotto was the first Renaissance
artist to experiment with perspective techniques. His techniques and theories radically altered
the face of art, but no sooner had they been studied and absorbed by the creative world than
Masaccio and others expanded on them. Similarly, Ghiberti and Brunelleschi propelled each
other to new artistic heights through rivalry. Donatello trained under some of the previous
masters and fused their contributions to the art form with his own skills and ideas to produce
some of the most revered works of the period. One of the key characteristics of the Revival
was the rapid development and progression of artistic techniques and abilities.

22
 ART IN THE HIGH RENAISSANCE (1450-1550)

The artists of the High Renaissance, roughly described as the years 1450 to 1550, built on the
foundations laid by their forefathers. During the High Renaissance, the most well-known artists
of the Italian Renaissance rose to prominence. As these artists moved across Italy in search of
commissions for their masterpieces, affluent patrons continued to actively support them.

Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci, perhaps the most famous figure of the Renaissance, embodied the
Renaissance ideal. He was a gifted sculptor and painter. His enthusiasm for science was
unquenchable, and his contributions to the field were unparalleled. Lorenzo de Medici bought
a lyre made by Leonardo in the form of a horse's skull in 1482, planning to give it to Milan's
Ludovico Sforza. Leonardo insisted on personally delivering the present, and Sforza convinced
him to stay in Milan, where he painted his famous mural The Last Supper on a monastery wall.
Leonardo lived in Milan for seventeen years before fleeing to Florence when the French
invaded Milan in 1499. He became chief military engineer in Florence, a position he held until
1513, when he travelled to Rome in search of a papal commission. However, Pope Leo X
favoured the work of Raphael, so Leonardo went on to become court painter to Francis I of
France, where he lived until his death in 1519. Leonardo's most famous work, aside from The
Last Supper, is the Mona Lisa, the most famous portrait ever made. Many of da Vinci's most
brilliant ideas remained unrealized, and he kept track of his possible inventions and
observations of the world around him in notebooks that scholars have used to put together the
true scope of his genius.

Michelangelo Buonarroti

When Michelangelo Buonarroti was thirteen years old, he enrolled in Lorenzo de Medici's
sculptors' school in Florence, where he rapidly attracted Lorenzo's attention. As a member of
the Medici family, Michelangelo lived in the Medici palace for a period, absorbing the ideals
of humanism and Neoplatonism that flourished there. Later, Michelangelo travelled to Rome,
motivated by the idea that he had a divine calling, and carved the Pieta, a bust of the Virgin
Mary, which earned him instant fame. When he returned to Florence in 1501, he was
commissioned, like Donatello, to sculpt the Hebrew King David. Michelangelo’s David is, and
continues to be, an emblem of Florence's thriving artists. In 1508, Michelangelo began
construction on the Sistine Chapel's walls and roof, which he finished in 1508. He painted over
300 human figures by the end of the project, which was arduous and time-consuming. The
ceiling painting has become legendary, and it is recognised as one of the greatest artistic
accomplishments of all time.

Raphael

Raphael, whose real name was Raffaello Santi, was the most famous Renaissance painter. In
1508, Pope Julius II summoned him to Rome to help decorate the Vatican's papal apartments.
The School of Athens, which portrays an imaginary assembly of famous philosophers, is the
most well-known of his murals and frescoes. Raphael remained in Julius II's and Leo X's good
graces for the rest of his life, painting for papal commissions. He was generally regarded as the
greatest painter of his day, and he was so admired by his contemporaries that he was buried in
the Pantheon when he died at the young age of 37.

23
Titian

Titian was born Tiziana Vecellio in the Italian Alps, and became the most famous Venetian
artist of the Renaissance. He moved to Venice to study art when he was young. Titian was
known for his use of bright colours and creative methods that gave those colours more subtlety
and complexity. He worked as a court painter in Ferrara, Mantua, and Urbino between 1518
and 1532. In 1532, he was appointed as the official painter to Holy Roman Emperor Charles
V, a position in which he specialised in portraiture.

If the artists of the early Renaissance invented and refined Renaissance art techniques and
styles, it was the artists of the High Renaissance who mastered them, producing the most
complex and beautiful works of the time. The artists of the High Renaissance, who gained
much greater prominence than their predecessors, were able to select and choose their
commissions, frequently going from city to city in search of appropriate projects. Meanwhile,
wealthy patrons fought tooth and nail to help these well-known artists and demand credit for
the masterpieces they made.

Leonardo da Vinci took full advantage of this freedom, travelling to a number of locations
throughout his career and inspiring awe in everyone he encountered. Leonardo da Vinci has
been celebrated as one of history's greatest geniuses, lauded for both his artistic abilities and
his brilliant mind. Da Vinci kept journals with him at all times, which he filled with notes,
drawings, and diagrams. His notebooks, which were recently published, include designs for the
scaling ladder, revolving bridge, submarine, armoured vehicle, and helicopter, none of which
were designed until decades or centuries later. Leonardo paid careful attention to the natural
world around him, trying to learn how things worked so that he could draw more accurately.
He deduced that the rings in a tree's cross-section signify age, established a hypothesis about
the earth's origin, and dissected and diagrammed the human body's organs. Perhaps more than
any other Renaissance figure, Leonardo exemplified the spirit of humanism by excelling in a
wide range of fields and striving to develop himself through knowledge. Indeed, the case of
Leonardo da Vinci bolsters the claim that humanist ideals such as learning, reason, and truth
have come to rival and, in some cases, exceed the prominence of Church doctrines.

During the High Renaissance, however, the Church exercised influence over the Italian
people's psyche, and more visibly, the arts. The artists of the High Renaissance had plenty of
work during the Roman Golden Age under Julius II and Leo X, and the Papacy had amassed
immense debts in part to fund the commissioning of great artists. Michaelangelo consistently
believed that he had a divine mandate to make art, preferring the Church to all other patrons,
and Raphael spent the majority of his life working within the papal apartments. Both of these
artists were influential in the restoration of Rome, with Michaelangelo in particular playing a
key role in the design and construction of the new St. Peter's basilica. As a result, the art of the
High Renaissance remained strongly religious in theme, even as Leonardo's extreme humanism
gained popularity, foreshadowing the coming centuries' schism between art and the Church, as
well as intellectualism and the Church.

24
 THE RISE OF PRINTING: LITERATURE IN THE RENAISSANCE
(1350-1550)

The Renaissance spirit was represented in both literature and art. Francesco Petrarch's (1304-
1374) poetry eloquently articulated the ideals of humanism at an early point in the Renaissance.
Many scholars claim that Petrarch's election as Poet Laureate marked the start of the
Renaissance. Giovanni Bocaccio was a man of almost Petrarch's size. Bocaccio was a
Florentine who is best known for his Decameron, a compilation of 100 stories set in Florence
during the Black Death in 1348. Boccaccio discusses the traditions and perspectives of different
social groups in these stories, which are primarily focused on real observation and research.

Literature flourished during the Renaissance, just as sculpture and architecture did. Similarly,
just as modern methods benefited art and architecture, technology benefited literature in a big
way. The Gutenberg Bible, the first book printed by a machine using moveable type, was
published in 1454 by Johann Gutenberg. The moveable-type printing press revolutionised book
publishing by rising printing volume while simultaneously reducing prices. The printing
method spread throughout Europe, and it was especially common in Italy, where Renaissance
humanist authors had long sought a way to more effectively convey their ideas to the general
public. During the Renaissance, authors produced more literature than ever before, and thanks
to lower prices and an increase in the number of texts available, these works were able to reach
an unparalleled audience. Literature is a part of the lives of the general public, not just the few
rich people who could afford books before the invention of the printing press.

Many Renaissance authors researched the works of the ancient Romans and Greeks and came
to new, modern conclusions as a result of their study. Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola was one
of these authors. Pico, as he was called, was admitted to Florence's Platonic Academy in 1484.
He studied the teachings of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam there and sought to reconcile them.
In 1486, he published a series of 900 theological treatises, several of which contradicted the
Roman Catholic Church's conclusions. The "Oration on the Integrity of Man," Pico's most
famous work, expresses his conviction, contrary to church dogma, that people have free will
and are capable of making decisions that affect their fates. Pico was branded a heretic by the
Church, and he was only spared from execution by Lorenzo de Medici's intervention.

Niccolò Machiavelli soared to even greater literary fame, with a reputation that outlasted Pico's.
Machiavelli was a Florentine statesman who rose to prominence under Savonarola's Florentine
Republic in 1498. Machiavelli retired from government (involuntarily) after the Medici
regained power in 1512, moved to his estate outside of Florence, and started writing.
Machiavelli published The Prince, the best-known piece of Renaissance literature, in 1513,
after being convinced that Italy could only prosper if it was united under a strong leader as a
result of his experiences in government. The Prince was intended as a guidebook for the
eventual leader of all of Italy and as a reference for rulers everywhere, probably as a way of
currying favour with the new Medici leader. Machiavelli claimed in its pages that a leader
should be hated rather than respected, and that a "prince" should do whatever it takes to
preserve his power and achieve his goals.

25
The Renaissance's emphasis on education and Europe's invention of printing complemented
each other. The invention and widespread use of the printing press stemmed from a desire for
more affordable, less costly books, which contributed to the widespread institutionalisation of
literature as a significant part of Renaissance life. The Chinese created a system of movable
type that a printer could use and reuse in the eleventh century. It's unclear if Gutenberg and his
colleagues were aware of the practise. In either case, the end result was the same: books were
no longer needed to be produced via the lengthy and arduous transcription process. Books could
be printed easily and in large quantities with the printing press. Printing presses were rapidly
established and widely used in Europe, reducing the cost of books and enabling more authors
to be published and read. The printing press was a significant move toward introducing the
Renaissance to the middle classes, which had traditionally only been open to the rich. As
literacy increased, the middle class became more active in the intellectual debate of the day,
and opportunities for middle-class contributions to the canon of literature developed, though
still minimal. The Decameron, in which Boccaccio examines the habits and morals of the
different classes of Florence, shows the ability of literature to transcend social classes.

Writers felt a great tension between secular humanism and Church doctrine, much as they did
in the world of literature, a tension that often developed to the point of confrontation. Pico was
not the only writer of the time to be branded a heretic, as many grappled with the fact that
science's discoveries and humanism's theological assumptions did not fit with the Church's
teachings. This undercurrent of dissent can be found throughout the Renaissance, but Pico's
"Oration on the Honor of Man" is perhaps the clearest and most blatant illustration. Pico
claimed that people had free will and the right to make choices, and that learning philosophy
helped people understand the facts and make better decisions. He also believed that everyone
has the right to interact directly with God, and that the priesthood had erroneously assumed
this power. During the Reformation, Pico's thoughts, along with those of others, became central
to Protestant thought.

Pico's experience exemplifies the Church's continued control over speech during the
Renaissance. It also shows a current of force that emerged to challenge this enduring power, in
the form of Lorenzo de Medici, whose intervention saved Pico from exile and probably death.
Lorenzo was a consummate diplomat and arts patron, a wealthy power player known as one of
the world's most powerful men. His presence on Pico's behalf reveals that, as a result of his
role in the Renaissance world, which was focused on the growth of commerce alongside the
rise of arts and literature, he was able to control the world's most strong and rigid institution,
the Catholic Church. This tells a lot about the Renaissance's evolving power dynamics.

Niccolò Machiavelli's writing was novel and divisive, even though it did not win him the title
of heretic. In order to be effective, a ruler must be powerful and awe-inspiring, as the Prince
clearly demonstrates. It argued for power consolidation by any means necessary. For decades,
European rulers have used The Prince as a reference, and it is generally credited with having
had more influence on modern politics than any other work. Machiavelli's fame and infamy
grew to such proportions after the publication of his book that his name became a term: cynical,
calculated antagonists of literature and drama became known as Machiavellian villains.

26
 WOMEN IN THE RENAISSANCE

Women in the Renaissance, as in the Middle Ages, were denied all political rights and were
considered legally dependent on their husbands. Women of all classes were required to fulfil
the duties of a housewife first and foremost. Peasant women worked alongside their husbands
in the fields and took care of the family. Wives of middle-class shopkeepers and merchants
often supported their husbands in operating their businesses. Despite the involvement of
servants, even the wealthiest women were regularly involved in household activities such as
sewing, cooking, and entertaining. Women who didn't marry were not able to live on their own.
Instead, they stayed with their male relatives or, more generally, entered a convent.

A few affluent women of the time were able to crack the mould of subjugation and gain, if not
freedom, at least fame. One of these women was Lucrezia Borgia, the daughter of Pope
Alexander VI. Alexander VI tried to use Lucrezia as a pawn in his political power game as
Pope. In 1493, when she was thirteen years old, he negotiated her marriage to Giovanni Sforza
of Milan in order to pursue his political ambitions. After spreading false allegations of Sforza's
impotence, he annulled the marriage four years later, when he no longer needed Milan's
political support to the same extent. After that, Alexander VI married Lucrezia to the King of
Naples' illegitimate son. According to legend, Cesare Borgia, Lucrezia's older brother,
murdered Lucrezia's child from this marriage. Lucrezia was divorced and remarried in 1502,
at the age of 22, to Alfonso d'Este, the Duke of Ferrara. She lived in Ferrara until her death in
1519, where she was a loving wife and mother, a political and social figure in Ferrara, and a
well-known patron of the arts.

Isabella d'Este, Lucrezia's sister-in-law, was one of the Renaissance's most influential and
knowledgeable women. She memorised the works of ancient authors and learned Greek and
Latin. She gave public performances regularly, showcasing her ability to sing, dance, and play
musical instruments. She married Francesco Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, in 1490, and the couple
had a prosperous and caring relationship. Isabella held immense control over the Mantua court,
and it was thanks to her that Mantua rose to prominence as a major centre of wit, beauty, and
creative genius. She governed Mantua herself after her husband, the duke, was captured in
battle. She also had an impact on the region's economic development, promoting the growth of
the textile and clothing industry, which became the backbone of Mantua's economy. Isabella
accumulated a large collection of paintings, sculptures, manuscripts, and musical instruments
as a patron of the arts and inspired Mantuans to do the same.

27
 THE WANING OF THE RENNAISSANCE (1499-1550)

As French powers preyed on the Italian states in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries,
Rome became the focal point of Italy's collective security, with the pope as its architect. The
northern states were under siege after Milan fell, but they could hold out as long as Rome
remained powerful. Pope Leo X did an excellent job in this capacity. He was a gifted
administrator who successfully preserved order in the central Italian state of Rome. His
successor, Pope Clement VII, was a political disappointment despite being a respectable and
spiritual pope. To make matters worse, international conditions became increasingly
complicated and dangerous during his rule. For the first time in decades, Europe had a great
emperor when Clement VI ascended to the Papal throne in 1523. The Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was the successor to Spain, Burgundy, the Netherlands, Austria, and Naples, as well
as an imperial claimant to Milan. Meanwhile, Francois I, the King of France, insisted on ruling
Milan and Naples directly. Henry VIII of England left Italy alone, content to sit back and watch
as these forces annihilated the nation. The Medici were losing control of the city of Florence.

Armies from Spain and France clashed on Italian territory, arguing territorial claims and
insisting that the Pope declare on one side or the other. Pope Clement VII revealed his inability
to make firm decisions, changing his mind on occasion in less than an hour's notice. "I will
come into Italy and avenge myself on the fool of a pope," Charles V raged after one especially
reckless and ill-advised update.

During the winter of 1526–1527, a 'imperial' force of 22,000 Spaniards, Italians, and Germans
gathered in Lombardy. The army was not really under the command of a single chief, but after
defeating the French in a major set war, they requested payment, which they obtained in part
from Spain and in part from the broken Milanese who had been subjected to Imperial-Spanish
rule. Most of the money requested was not paid. The army marched south, angered and hungry.
Meanwhile, Spain was negotiating with the Pope over the payment of a ransom requested by
the Imperial army. Clement VII, a bad negotiator and decision-maker, refused to pay the
ransom, and the negotiations failed. The army arrived at the walls of Rome on May 5, 1527,
hungry and unpaid. Due to the Romans' superiority in artillery, the Pope refused a final appeal
for the ransom, assuming that the tiny Roman professional force of 5,000, supported by
volunteers, could fend off the starving army. The citizens of Rome were called to arms at
midnight, and the mercenary army launched its assault. The mercenaries had taken possession
of the city by one p.m., thirteen hours later.

The settlement of Bologna in 1530 gave Spain control of the majority of Italy. Venice,
Florence, and the Papal States maintained their freedom, but in order to survive, they were
forced to compromise with the Spanish to their great annoyance. The Italian economy crashed
as a result of high taxes and tight controls, and intellectual and artistic production declined.
Under the strain of the Protestant Reformation, which started in 1517, the Church's influence
began to wane. When Henry VIII broke with Rome in 1532 over his wish for a divorce from
Catherine of Aragon, his influence suffered even more. In Italy, the Church responded strongly,
censoring writing and art and reaffirming Catholic doctrines more profoundly than they had
been during the Renaissance. The Revival spirit was eventually drained and replaced with a
more sombre outlook. Though much of the transition brought on by the Italian Renaissance
was permanent and spread across Europe (the Northern Renaissance), the pace of change in
Italy had slowed to a halt by 1550.

28
"If one considers the lives of previous popes, one could honestly claim that, for more than a
hundred years, no better man than Clement VII sat upon the throne," wrote fellow Florentine
Francesco Vettori of Pope Clement VII. Pope Clement VII was the latest in a long line of
pontiffs who had degraded the Papacy by corruption and coercion. He embodied everything a
Church leader should be: conscientious, obedient, discreet, devout, and morally upright.
However, in his capacity as a politician, these qualities were of little benefit to him. At any
time, such a monarch would have been risky at the core of Italian affairs, but the circumstances
in which Clement VII found himself upon rising to the throne highlighted his shortcomings as
a negotiator and decision-maker.

For years, the Papacy was home to not only the Church's chief, but also astute, if not always
legal, politicians. Despite the fact that Pope Sixtus IV and Pope Alexander VI had lived lives
of greed and excess unbefitting of leaders in positions of moral obligation, they, and Rome,
had prospered. Leo X had been a professional negotiator and administrator, showing that such
talents could occur without the moral transgressions of his forefathers. The Renaissance Papacy
was marked by popes who were more concerned with their position as a political leader than
with their role as a spiritual figure. This is the true irony of the fall of Rome, and by extension,
of Italy, in 1527: at a time when a pope who could be an international statesman was most
required, it had Clement VII, whose qualities were better suited to the neglected position of
spiritual leader, and his political power and experience were restricted to Italy alone.

The sack of Rome was an accident, with no political leader or general ordering it. The imperial
armies, which were technically under the command of the French renegade Duke of Bourbon,
were actually under no direct command. Rather, the army acted on its own, wandering the
Italian countryside and, hungry and unpaid, setting their sights on the conquest of Rome out of
vengeance and rage, rather than as a military extension of a political objective. Nonetheless,
the sack of the city took the wind out of the Italian city-state’s sails, and they were soon reduced
to colonial rule. The city's economy and spirit were crushed by the new situation. Furthermore,
Italy's strategic position in the Mediterranean lost some of its significance; following the
discovery of America in 1492, the importance of trade routes across Italy gradually declined,
making the Italian city-states poor and particularly vulnerable to the Spanish economic
restrictions. By 1550, the once-prosperous trading cities of Florence, Venice, and others had
been stripped of their riches due to a combination of a lack of trade and Spanish taxes and
restrictions.

The Counter-Reformation effort undertaken by the Church in response to the Protestant

movement launched by a German monk, Martin Luther, in 1517, was perhaps the greatest
finishing blow dealt to the Renaissance. A conservative Church reaction followed the Counter-
Reformation. To shield itself from further criticism, the Church increased censorship,
suffocating any literary and artistic ambitions that existed after the middle of the fifteenth
century. The opposition to these measures was intermittent and small. The triumph of
authoritarianism brought a bleak pessimism to the once-joyous Italian states. To represent
Spanish superiority, even the way people dressed changed. In comparison to the vibrant colours
of the Renaissance, the black cap, doublet, hose, and shoes that were popular in Italy in the
mid-sixteenth century seemed to be mourning garb for the glory and liberty of the Italian
Renaissance, which had disappeared.

29
 ARCHITECTURE VALUE

The theories and practises of Italian Renaissance architects were based on classical Roman
examples. The Renaissance revival of classical Rome had a major influence on both
architecture and literature. An architect's education required a pilgrimage to Rome to study the
ancient buildings and ruins, especially the Colosseum and Pantheon. The vocabulary of
Renaissance buildings includes classical orders and architectural elements such as columns,
pilasters, pediments, entablatures, arches, and domes. The Renaissance concept of beauty in
architecture was also inspired by Vitruvius' writings. Renaissance architecture is characterised
by harmonious structure, mathematical proportion, and a unit of measurement based on the
human scale, much as it was in the classical world.

Architects who were educated as humanists during the Renaissance helped elevate the status
of their profession from professional labourer to artist. They tried to construct systems that
appealed to both emotion and rationality. Filippo Brunelleschi, Leon Battista Alberti, and
Andrea Palladio were three of the most prominent Renaissance architects.

Brunelleschi

Filippo Brunelleschi (1377–1446) is generally regarded as the father of the Renaissance

architectural movement. Brunelleschi started his career as a goldsmith in his hometown of
Florence, but soon shifted his attention to architecture, moving to Rome to study ancient
structures. The engineering of the dome of Florence Cathedral is one of his greatest
achievements (Santa Maria del Fiore, also known as the Duomo). He was also the first since
antiquity to regularly and correctly use the classical orders Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.

While Brunelleschi's structures appear simple, they are based on a proportional system. As in
the Ospedale degli Innocenti, Brunelleschi always started with a unit of measurement whose
repetition throughout the building created a sense of harmony (Florence, 1419). The height and
distance between the columns, as well as the depth of each bay, are all calculated by a modular
cube.

Ospedale degli Innocenti, Florence. Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence

30
Alberti

From the 1450s onwards, Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472) worked as an architect, mainly in
Florence, Rimini, and Mantua. Alberti was an accomplished architect, as well as a humanist,
musician, and art theorist, as a trained humanist and true Renaissance man. Della Pittura (On
Painting), De Sculptura (On Sculpture), and De re Aedificatoria are among Alberti's many
treatises on art (On Architecture). The first treatise, Della Pittura, was a basic handbook for
artists, describing the concepts of linear perspective, which Brunelleschi may have pioneered.
Alberti expressed Brunelleschi's admiration for Roman architecture and was influenced by the
work of Vitruvius, the only living Roman architectural theorist.

Alberti aspired to use architecture to re-create the glory of antiquity. The Tempio Malatestiano
(Rimini, 1450) and the Church of Santa Maria Novella (Florence, 1470) both have facades
influenced by Roman temples. The Church of Sant'Andrea reveals his profound knowledge of
classical architecture concepts (Mantua, 1470). The columns aren't used for decoration here;
instead, they act as load-bearing supports. For Alberti, architecture was more than just a way
to construct structures; it was also a way to establish significance.

Malatestiano Temple, Rimini Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, Florence

Basilica di Sant'Andrea, Mantua

31
Palladio

Andrea Palladio (1508–1580) was the Venetian Republic's chief architect and author of the
influential treatise I quattro libri dell'architettura (Four Books on Architecture, 1570;
41.100.126.19). Palladio specialised in domestic architecture in the sixteenth century due to a
new demand for villas, though he also designed two magnificent and impressive churches in
Venice, San Giorgio Maggiore (1565) and Il Redentore (1566). (1576). Palladio's villas are
often centrally planned, based on Roman country villa models. The Villa Emo (Treviso, 1559),
on the other hand, was a working estate, while the Villa Rotonda (Vicenza, 1566–69) was an
aristocratic retreat. Both proposals are based on classical symmetry, axiality, and clarity
principles. Palladian designs were simple to recreate in rural England and, later, on southern
plantations in the American colonies, due to their simplicity.

Villa Emo, Fanzolo San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice

Villa Rotonda del Palladio,Vicenza

Church of the Santissimo Redentore,Venice

32
 CONCLUSION

The renaissance's new ideas culminated in the rise of a new renaissance artistic style in Italy.
Renaissance thinkers sparked a revival of interest in ancient Greece and Rome, known as
humanism, and renaissance artists attempted to mimic the style of these civilizations. Artists
attempted to accurately represent individuals' personalities and power since Renaissance
Italians believed deeply in individuality and human strength. The renaissance's secular spirit
culminated in a greater focus on earthly life, so artists attempted to mimic nature in their work.
Thus, the renaissance's evolving European ideas had a major influence on Italy's artistic styles.

33
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