Download The Renaissance:

Renaissance Art and
Architecture
Program of Studies
Outcomes
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Knowledge and Understanding
– 8.2.4 critically examine the factors that shaped the
worldview evolving in western Europe during the
Renaissance by exploring and reflecting upon the
following questions and issues:
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What was the Renaissance?
How did the Renaissance spark the growth and exchange of ideas
and knowledge across Europe (i.e., astronomy, mathematics,
Science, politics, religion, arts)?
How did the physical geography of Renaissance Europe impact trade
among, and competition between, European countries?
How did increased trade lead to the emergence of powerful citystates, (i.e., Florence, Venice, Genoa)?
In what ways did thinkers and philosophers influence society in the
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development of a humanist worldview during the Renaissance?
Background
1050–1350
 Population
growth
 Economic
development
 City-states
1200–late 1500s
 Artistic
achievements
Giovanni Bellini,
Sacra
Conversazione
3
Beginnings
 14th
Century
»Europe--medieval
»Italy--changing
4
Economic
prosperity
 Trade
 Commerce
 Industry
 Banking
5
Fluid society
 Position
from wealth
not birth
 Attracted outside
talent
6
Education
 Literate
 Well-educated
in
practical matters
 Schools arose to meet
needs
7
Renaissance Italy
8
Elements of Power
 What
would the world be like
without controlled power?
–Currency? Taxes??
–Military? Boundaries?
–Police? Religions?
–Examples from the modern
world???
 What
is Sovereignty???
9
Elements of the Rise of the
Italian City States
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Smaller with constant boundaries
Roman/ Greek Background (vision of public/citizen)
Development of the Renaissance Intellectual Hallmarks
– Secularization of Italy
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Donation of Constantine = Fraud
– Humanism, Individualism and Secularism
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Pope Alexander XI (Machiavellian Heroes)
– 8 children – Power hungry – Patron of the Arts
(Michelangelo/ Rafael)
– Cesare Borgia
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Mobster, Thug, Cruel, Arch Bishop, only released from
Priesthood to marry the sister of Ferdinand ( Spanish King)
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These guys almost had it….. Machiavelli approved…. Until Alex
Western Political Thought
Machiavelli
 Realism
– Human political nature
cannot changed – only
contained
– Realists see human nature
for what it is – selfish,
passionate, power-hungry
– It is human nature to seek
power
– Often associated with a
conservative world view
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Western Political Thought
Machiavelli’s Life and Times
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A “bad” reputation –
– “Old Nick”
– “Evil Machiavel”
– “Machiavellianism”
All of Machiavelli’s
works were banned by
Pope Paul IV in 1559.
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Western Political Thought
Machiavelli’s Life and
Times
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Born in Florence,
Italy (May 3, 1469)
– Humble family
– Self-educated
– “Classics”
Clerk (1494) and
then Secretary
(1498) of the
Second Chancery.
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Western Political Thought
Exile (1512-1527)
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Medici return to power in 1512
with the aid of Spain and Pope
Julius II
Machiavelli is accused of
conspiring to assassinate Giuliano
de’ Medici
Tortured and then exiled to his
villa in Sant’ Andrea
Machiavelli feared that his public
life was over…
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Western Political Thought
The Prince (1513)
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While in exile, Machiavelli
writes his best-known work,
The Prince…
– Dedicated to Lorenzo II de
Medici
– Focuses on the attributes of
good political leadership
– “World’s longest job
application”
– There is no indication that
the Medici ever read it.
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Western Political Thought
Machiavelli’s Life and
Times
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June 21, 1527 –
Machiavelli dies and is
buried at Santa Croce
The Prince is
published
posthumously in 1532
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Western Political Thought
Understanding Machiavelli
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Renaissance politics –
“humanism”
– Abandoned medieval ideas in
favor of “individualism”
– Development of the idea that
relationships were based
contracts – not on inheritance
or divine right
– Faith in science became a
competitor with religion
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Western Political Thought
Understanding Machiavelli
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Renaissance politics
– The beginning of the emergence
of the nation-state in Europe
– For all of Machiavelli’s life, Italy
was divided and vulnerable to
invasion by other powers
(France, Spain, HRE)
– The Church still held considerable
power over both religion and
politics
18
Western Political Thought
Understanding
Machiavelli
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Virtú (virtue)
– Translated variously – ability, special
ability, ability to excel, energy,
strength,
Leave a legacy
– Does not mean “virtue” in the same
sense as it is used by Plato and
Aristotle
– Great men of virtú seize the
opportunity to be great leaders.
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Western Political Thought
Understanding
Machiavelli
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Machiavelli’s virtú stands in contrast to
other Medieval-Renaissance writers
– Baldassare Castiglione (The Book of the
Courtier, 1527)
– Christine de Pisan (The Treasure of the
City of Ladies, 1406)
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Statesmen should conduct themselves
as gentlemen and as Christians
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Western Political Thought
Examples of Virtú
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Cesare Borgia (The Prince, VII)
– I would not know of any better
precepts to give a new prince than
the example of his deeds
– Son of Pope Alexander VI (14921503)
– Lost Romagna following the death
of his father
– Machiavelli attributes his defeat to
fortune rather than his own errors
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Western Political Thought
Fortuna (The P rince , XXV)
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Every leader must deal
with fortune and
misfortune
Machiavelli compares it
to a wild river and a
woman
Leaders can limit the
effects of bad fortune by
preparing for it and by
acting boldly
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Western Political Thought
Understanding Machiavelli
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Religion (The Prince, XVIII)
– The prince should seem to be
compassionate, trustworthy, sympathetic,
honest, religious but be prepared to be the
opposite if necessary
– The most important quality that the prince
should have is the appearance of being a
religious person
– But religion should not be taken too
seriously by a leader
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Western Political Thought
Guide to The P rince
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The Prince describes many
things that Renaissance
leaders like the Medici were
already doing
He tells them very little that
they did not already know
Pope Leo X (Giovanni de’
Medici), 1475 - 1521
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Western Political Thought
Guide to The P rince
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The Machiavellian Ethic –
– Often summarized as “the end justifies
the means” – this is too simplistic
– Many of Machiavelli’s thoughts are
themselves not meant to be taken
literally
– Everything he says must be placed in its
Italian Renaissance context
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Western Political Thought
Guide to The P rince
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Public and Private Morality –
– The prince does not have to believe
in God, but he should at least
pretend to believe
– Any system of morality should be
flexible, but it should not be abused
– A prince should never assume that
prevailing moral standards cannot
be reconciled with political ends
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Western Political Thought
Guide to The P rince
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Force and Fraud –
– Physical force is secondary to
cunning and deceit
– These are better tools than force,
which should be a extraordinary
event
– On occasions where force is used it
should be rationalized in light of a
moral code
– Elimination of enemies should be
swift and complete
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Western Political Thought
Guide to The P rince
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Humanity and Benevolence –
– Acts of kindness can form a
substantial base for the prince’s
power
– But is it far better to be feared
than loved
– Influence and power are
basically the same thing
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Western Political Thought
Guide to The P rince
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Arms and Armies –
– A strong military is essential for carrying
out policy
– Machiavelli argued all his life for citizen
militias and makes the same case in The
Prince
– Mercenaries and auxiliaries are expensive
and not reliable
– Anticipates the concept of a draft or
conscription (levee en mass) for national
defense
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Intellectual Developments
• Humanism
• Revival of antiquity
• Importance of the individual
• Celebration of humanity
• Secular/worldly focus
Titian,
Assumption of
the Virgin
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Italian Renaissance Writers
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Dante Alighieri
• 1265–1321
• The Divine Comedy
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Petrarch
• 1304–1374
• Humanist
• Scholar, poet
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Giovanni Boccaccio
• 1313–1375
• Poet, humanist
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Baldassare Castiglione
• 1478–1529
• Libro del Cortegiano
(The Courtier)
35
Florence
36
Renaissance Art:
Techniques and Themes
• Increasing focus on
secular rather than
religious subjects
• Realistic-looking
figures and scenes
• Perspective/depth
• Sense of movement,
activity
• Symmetry/
proportionality
37
Comparing Medieval Art and
Renaissance Art
Middle Ages
Renaissance
38
Giotto de Bondone,
The Mourning of Christ
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Masaccio, Tribute Money
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Expulsion from the Garden of Eve (1426 – 1427)
by Masaccio
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Sandro Botticelli,
Madonna of the Magnificat
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Raphael, Pope Leo X With Two Cardinals
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Raphael, The School of Athens
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Plato
(Leonardo)
Raphael
Heraclitus
(Michelangelo)
Euclid
(Bramante)
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Leonardo da Vinci
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Leonardo, The Last Supper
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Leonardo, Mona Lisa
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Leonardo’s Notebooks
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Michelangelo and
the Sistine Chapel
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Renaissance Sculpture
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•
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Classical influences
Realistic-looking faces
Symmetry/proportionality
Sense of movement/activity
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Humanism and Individuality
61
Ghiberti’s Doors
62
Ghiberti’s Doors
63
Donatello’s David
64
Michelangelo’s David
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Renaissance Architecture
• Classical influences
• Mathematical harmony
• The circle
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The Church and
Renaissance Architecture
68
The Cathedral of Florence
Filippo Brunelleschi
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Brunelleschi’s Dome
70
St. Peter’s Basilica
71
Inside St. Peter’s
72
Inside St. Peter’s
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Inside St. Peter’s
74
Bramante’s Tempietto
75
The Northern Renaissance
76
Albrecht Dürer
•
•
1471–1528
Introduced Italian
Renaissance style of
art to Germany
Dürer, self-portrait
77
Hans Holbein the
Younger
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•
•
1497–1543
German painter
Became court painter to King
Henry VII of England
Holbein, self-portrait
A Holbein portrait of
King Henry VIII
78
Jan van Eyck
1390–
1441
 Painted in
oils
 Detail,
realism
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Van Eyck, Man in a Red
Turban (possibly a selfportrait)
79
Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife
1434 By Jan Van Eyck
80
The English Renaissance
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Chaucer’s The
Canterbury
Tales
More’s Utopia
Spenser’s The
Faerie Queen
Playwrights:
Jonson,
Marlowe,
Shakespeare
81
Rise of the State in the
Renaissance
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100s Year War - Weakened/decentralized power
15th century European Powers like Italy, France,
Spain and England began to increase the power
of the state by controlling a military (less
mercenaries), reducing violence, controlling the
nobles, and establishing order.
Tough Cynical Machiavellian style rulers.
– Insist upon loyalty
– Ruthless
– Suppress all opposition
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France
Charles VII (1422-1461) ( Joan of Arc)
 Louis XI (Spider King)
 Centralized power in France
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– Controls French Army
– Expels the English!
– Asserts authority over the church
– Taxes to create large revenue for the King to
rule
83
England
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Internal fighting (War of the Roses) and the
Black Death had caused much disruption in
progress
Develops a little differently with the power of
Parliament ( were nobles exert their power)
– King need permission for funds so Parliament stays
powerful = steps toward later democracy
– Magna Carta 1215
– Star Chamber
84
Spain
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Conglomerate of Independent States
– Confederation
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Diversity
– Moors, Jews, Visigoths and a common culture
Reconquista (Centuries)
 Ferdinand and Isabella conciliate power
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– Council = middle class
– Taxes to raise and army
– Military defeat of the Arabs and Muslims
expulsion
85
The Impact of the Renaissance
Dürer, Mother and Child
86