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The Renaissance
The Quick Version
What is the Renaissance?
• We have an idea of what the Renaissance is
(and it’s the one your book uses) but our
modern definition leads to questions
(especially for historians)
• How did the people involved feel about this
period?
– Yes we have to break this down into the wealthy
and really everyone else
– Periodization of history: Do people just wake up
and go huh, I think it’s a good day for a
Renaissance?
What Historians are Saying
• The term Renaissance was created historians about
300 years after the “Renaissance” happened
– This same thing happened with the term “Dark Ages”
– Jacob Burckhardt
• There were institutions that were vital for the
“Renaissance” that came out of the High Middle
Ages
– Most important, Humanism – the study of the Latin and
Greek classics and of the Church Fathers both for their
own sake and to promote ancient norms and values
What Historians are Saying Con’t
• Most of the people in Europe at this time
(especially in Italy) still called themselves
Roman which is why it’s a bit strange to say it
was a return to the Greek and Roman….
– Granted you had people who were “Franks” and
“Venetians” and “Sicilians” but those were
considered city identifiers, a lot of people
(especially the leadership) still called themselves
Romans
All that being said…
• There were still significant changes that came out
of the “Renaissance” which started in about
1400s
– This happened all over Europe but Italy becomes the
focal point for it
– Probably because they had been the center of the
Roman Empire for sooooo long…
– And this happened in specifically Northern and
Central Italy (at least that’s the modern
interpretation)
Why Italy?
• There are a few reasons why Italy became
such a focal point:
– Natural gateway: you have to go past Italy in order
to get to the rest of Europe (larger reason for this
is that its significantly easier and cheaper to
transport things over water)
– City-States: the trading power of Italy led to these
large city-states which are always good places for
intellectual pursuits (universities, libraries)
Why Italy con’t
– Merchants and the Medici: Merchants dominated
politics in these city-states because they became
extremely wealthy from the trade
• This allowed them to sponsor artists and writers because those
people do not work without having someone to pay their bills
(unless they are themselves wealthy)
• Most famous of these families was the Medici family out of
Florence
– They were a banking family that had branches throughout Italy and the
rest of Europe
– They were huge supporters of the Renaissance artists, including
Michelangelo and Donatello
More of Italy
– Heritage of Rome (and Greece): the ruins of Rome were
still very visible in these places
• The aqueducts were still being used by most of these places
• The roads that the Romans had constructed for trading were
still in use
• So it was easy to look at this and say yah we should be looking
to them
• Also Constantinople fell in 1453 which forced many scholars
out of the city and many brought the Greek and Roman
“classics” with them
– This gave the “Renaissance” scholars something to look at
Classical and Worldly Values
• Let me set something straight right away: many people like
to think that the Renaissance was in some way, nonreligious (Secular)
– It is important to keep in mind that these people were still
devout Catholics and intersected religion and politics all the
time
– Multiple Medici family members went from political holding to
the office of pope!
• Did usher in the wide-spread use of the concept of
Humanism – the study of the Latin and Greek classics and
of the Church Fathers for their own sake
– And you had to read these works in the original language or you
weren’t doing it right
– Today we call history, literature, the arts, the humanities or
liberal arts
Patrons of the Arts
• With all the wealth that is being built up in Italy, the
leaders of the city-states are looking for something to
do with it so they start supporting artists
– Some of this to is city-states competing with each other
• What better way to show off the wealth of your city (and your
family) than paying people tons of money to paint and design
buildings within your city?
• The Medici’s were one of the most important patron families
– Sponsored famous artists and Lorenzo di Medici collected rare
manuscripts that would have otherwise been lost
• Church leaders did the same thing
– St. Peter’s Basilica was the largest church in the world
during the Renaissance and even today is the second
largest church in the world
– Sistine Chapel was at this time to by Michelangelo painted
between 1508-1512
The Ideal Man and Woman
• Ideal man:
– Strove to master almost every area of study
– Baldassare Castiglione – The Courtier (1528)
• The ideal man should sing, dance, play music, write poetry, be a
skilled rider, be able to wrestle, and be an accomplished
swordsman
• Ideal Woman:
– According to Castiglione, they should know the classics
and be charming but not expected to seek fame
– They were expected to inspire art but not create it
– Exceptions:
• Isabella d’Este
– Born into the ruling family of Ferrara
– Married the leader of Mantua where she patronized many Renaissance
artists and built a famous art collection
Revolutions in Art
• Realistic painting and sculpture
– Donatello
• Carved his statues in natural poses, that had expression and personality
• The David is his most famous piece, at least today because it was the first free-standing
statute since the Romans
– Leonardo
• Painter, sculptor, inventor, scientist
• Mona Lisa is one of his most famous works but he also painted the Last Supper
– Michelangelo
• Painter, sculptor, inventor, scientist
• Heavily influenced by classical art and created figures that are heroic and powerful
looking
• Sistine Chapel is one of his most famous works
– Raphael
• Madonna and Child was one of his favorite topics
• The School of Athens is one of his most famous
– Sofonisba Anguissola
• One of the few woman to gain prominance
• She is known for painting portraits of her sisters and King Philip II of Spain
– Artemisia Gentileschi
• Painted strong heroic women and worked with her father, who was also her teacher
Changes in Literature
• Writing in the vernacular – native language
– Petrarch:
• One of the most influential humanists
• “Father of the Renaissance”
• Wrote sonnets about a mysterious woman (this is taken from Catullus –
Roman poet who wrote about a Lesbia)
– Boccaccio:
• Wrote the Decameron which was a collection of off color-stories
• About a group of people who were living in a rural villa to avoid the plague
• Presents quite a lot of personality and flaws
– Machiavelli:
• Terribly annoying
• Wrote The Prince which was a way for him to gain favor with the Medici’s
after they had run him out of Florence (they took it over and kicked him out)
• “The ends justify the means”
• “Its better to be feared than loved”
– Vittoria Colonna
• She wrote to Michelangelo, exchanging sonnets
• Helped Castiglione publish his The Courtier
The Northern Renaissance
• This does not mean that the North was not already doing some of this
stuff! They were but the Italians did it on a bigger scale since they, you
know, had the money
• But they did get stuff from the Italians as well
• Spread of Artistic Ideas
– Dürer
• Famous for woodcuts and engravings
• Many portray religious subjects while still others are classical myths and realistic
landscapes
– Jan van Eyck
• Flemish
• One of the first to use the newly developed oil based paints with techniques that
painters today still use
• Paintings display unusually realistic details and reveal the personalities of his subjects
– Peter Bruegel
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Flemish
Skillful at portraying large groups of people
Used scenes from everyday life like weddings, dances, and harvests
Bright colors, vivid details, and balanced space
Northern Writers
• One of the most famous is Erasmus from the Holy
Roman Empire (Germany)
– He translated the New Testament from Greek and it
brought about so crazy changes because he found that
the modern Bibles had translated some pretty
important stuff wrong
– He taught at Cambridge where he wrote The Praise of
Folly, a satirical examination of society in general and
the various abuses of the Church
– Hugely important for the Reformation even though he
never rejected the Catholic Church
• Reason why the quote Martin Luther hatched the egg
Erasmus laid is being questioned.
Northern Writers
• Christine de Pizan
– First woman to ever earn a living as a writer
– Produced many books: short stories, biographies, novels, and manuals
on military techniques
– One of the first Europeans to question the different treatment of boys
and girls in The Book of the City of Ladies
• Thomas More
– Tried to model a better society using a term called “utopia” which by
the way is taken from Plato (a Greek thinker)
• Wanted policies governed by reason
– Canonized as a Catholic saint after he was killed by Henry VIII
• “The king’s good servant, but God’s first” then he was beheaded
• Shakespeare
– Loved using the classics in his plays (Henry VIII, Antony and Cleopatra,
Julius Caesar, Titus Andronicus)
– Many of his plays exam human flaws
– “She’s the man” is based on Twelfth Night
The Invention of the Printing Press
• Johann Gutenberg
– Never actually made any money off his printing press
because he decided to print a bible
– Even though the Bible was revolutionary he was put
massively indebted to his partner, Johann Fust, (who
was also his son-in-law) figure that one out
– His partner would sue him for his investment and
when Gutenberg could not pay, Fust took the rights
to the printing press
• However, this becomes amazingly important in
history, especially for the Reformation and
Scientific Revolution
Legacy of the Renaissance
• Changes in the Arts
– Drew on techniques and styles of classical Greece and Rome
– Paintings and sculptures portrayed individuals and nature in more
realistic and lifelike ways
– Focus on classical literature and its imitation
• Changes in Society
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Printing Press!
People began to question political structures and religious practices
Sets the stage for the Reformation
Changes the way people related to each other literarily with the
availability of vernacular works
• Its important to note here that this does not just end
– The Renaissance has huge impacts on the Reformation and the world
that will come after
– We still talk about the Humanities and the artists, if you go around the
corner in the stairwell near my room, you will see a legacy of the
Renaissance