Download Italy: Birthplace of the Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement marked by the renewed
interest in classic Greek and Roman culture
People suffered through wars, destruction,
and the plague of the Middle Ages
Wanted to celebrate life and the human spirit
Questioned the way things were done by
authorities in art, literature, religion,
government, and science.
 Educated
people in Italy
wanted to bring back the
culture of classical Greece
and Rome
 Renaissance spread from
Florence, Italy, into the rest
of Europe
 Italy had advantages that
allowed the Renaissance to
take hold



Overseas trade
 migrations of people going on
crusades & returning
 led to large city-states in N.
Italy
Large towns
 natural meeting place to
exchange goods and
 intellectual revolution
Bubonic plague
 killed 60% of the population
 labors could demand better
wages and a better standard of
living


Wealthy merchant classes developed
in each city-state
 Smaller city states had a higher
number of wealthy merchants
 dominated politics
 Used intelligence to succeed so they
developed a belief in individual
achievement (nobles earned their
position in society)
Medici family
 powerful banking family in Florence
 connections to other city-states
 influenced art and politics
Lorenzo de Medici
Eleonora de Medici
Renaissance artists disliked medieval art and
literature
 Questioned tradition (why they had to paint and
write the same old way)
 Writers and artists experimented with new ideas
 Return to learning of Greeks and Romans

Inspired by Roman ruins
 Scholars found and studied ancient manuscripts
from monasteries
 Christian scholars from Eastern Roman Empire
fled to Italy to escape Muslim Turks & brought
more manuscripts

 Humanism
study of ancient manuscripts
 focused on human potential & achievement
 imitated classical culture and studies

 Secular
(worldly) pleasures
 enjoyed life’s material goods such as music,
art, fine food and clothing
copied from
classical
models
use of columns, etc.
Realism
Classical
style
Ren.
Art
Religion
Perspective
3D on flat surface
less
dominating
The
Individual
Beauty
nobles
use of details

Renaissance Men & Women
 Educated
 patron of arts
 spent money beautifying their community
 WHY???
 developed total human potential

Differences for Women
 Expected to know the classics & inspire art, but not
create it
 Better educated than prior times
 Lacked political power
Analyzing Primary Sources
Discuss p.39 in the text
 Painter
 Sculptor
 Inventor
 Engineer
 Scientist
 Painter
 Sculptor
 Architect
 Engineer
 Poet
Artist
 Sculptor in wood, marble,
and bronze
 Famous for small reliefs cut
into sculptures that made
them look more real

Painter and Architect
School of Athens
Perspective
•What
is the major
difference between the
figures in the background
and in the foreground?
•What
is the effect of this
difference?
Pope Julius II
Francesco Maria
della Rovere
Sofonisba Anguissola
Artemisia Gentileschi
The Chess Game
The Slaying of Holofernes
Vernacular
 use of native & everyday language instead of
Latin
 Why???
 Self-expression
 to portray individual character of subjects
 Advice to leaders
 Modern writers use these trends

 Father
of Renaissance
humanists
 Wrote sonnets

14 line poems
 Wrote
letters to
important men of the
time




Historian and political
thinker
Wrote The Prince
 guide book for rulers
 “A ruler must be strong as
a lion and shrewd as a
fox.”
Not concerned with morality
but politically effective
Trickery, deceit, and lies are
ok if it helps a ruler keep his
power
Pg 43
 Define terms
 Complete #3-8