Download The Renaissance 1350-1550

The Renaissance
1350-1550
What was the Renaissance?
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Re-Naissance = REBIRTH!
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A time of creativity and great change in many areas –
political, social, economic, and cultural.
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“Rebirth of what?”
Intellect, Reasoning, Culture
Creative thinking and new technology let people
comprehend and describe their world more accurately.
Transition from Middle Ages to the early modern
world.
Characteristics of the Renaissance
Renewed interest in “classics”
1.
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2.
Greece / Rome!
New attitudes towards culture and learning
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What were Medieval Scholars focused on?
→ GLORIFYING GOD!
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What did Renaissance Scholars focus on?
→ The “Human” Experience
Why = Decline in church power from the Late Middle Ages!
3.
Humanism = New respect for individual accomplishments
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“Humanities” = grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history
“Renaissance Man”
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Somebody who had multiple talents.
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Italy: Cradle of the Renaissance
Renaissance began in Italy.
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Why?
Near Ancient Rome.
Near Catholic Church
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France and England were at war with one
another.
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Patron of the arts.
Hundred Years War
Location encouraged trade.
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With trade came new ideas
Wealthy merchants would become patrons.
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Medicis in Florence
Italy was divided into small, yet powerful
kingdoms.
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Rivals with each-other.
Renaissance Italy
Milan
Venice
Florence
A New Social Structure
Once the Black Death was over, things picked up where the High Middle Ages
had left off. Trade flourished and feudalism continued to decline.
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Nobility still held important political posts and served the kings and queens
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However, Feudalism continued to decline
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Merchants/bankers quickly began replacing them as “upper class”
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Wealth more important than land.
Supported the arts!
New Renaissance Society Social Structure (three levels)
1.
Patricians
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2.
Merchants, industry, banking, etc.
Dominated communities
Burghers
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3.
Artisans, guild members
Simple Laborers & Unemployed
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30 – 40% of the population
Art during the Renaissance
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Artists now wanted viewers to see reality in their works
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Humanism!
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Mastered “perspective” and realistic style
Art from Before the Middle Ages
Why doesn’t
this picture
look realistic?
Looks flat
Sizes of
objects are
incorrect
No perspective
Art from the Middle Ages
Why doesn’t
this picture
look realistic?
Looks flat
No
perspective
Masaccio
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One of the first artists to use the new realistic style
A few words about art…
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Also made other developments in anatomy,
sculpture, and the portrayal of the individual
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Important Individuals
Leonardo Da Vinci
Michelangelo
Raphael
Donatello
Albrecht Durer
– More on them later!
Architecture
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A new “social art.”
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Meant to blend beauty with utility and improve society.
Moved from Gothic (Medieval) Style back to style of the
Greeks and Romans (columns, arches, domes).
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Humanism!
Important Individuals
Brunelleschi
– More on him later!
Writing During the Renaissance
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Writings begin to stress education, classical learning,
and the everyday lives of individuals (humanism!).
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Writers also began to write in the vernacular.
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Local languages (like English, Italian, French…)
Important Individuals
Dante
Chaucer
Sir Thomas More
Shakespeare
How does the Renaissance Spread?
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Johann Gutenberg
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1455, Mainz, Germany
Invents Printing Press
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Before = few thousand books in Europe
After 1500 = 20 million books in
Europe
Spreads ideas of the Renaissance
beyond Italy!
Politics during the Renaissance
Niccolo Machiavelli – The Ultimate Realist
“One is obligated to look to the results of an
action, and not to the means by which it is
achieved.”
The end justifies the means