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HCHS
World History
Chapter 1; Section 1
WH.1.2.1(A) – List cultural works from the world cultural groups
WH.1.2.2(A) – Connections between artistic expression, language, and cultural development.
WH.5.11.1(A) – Identify trends and movements in world history.
Focus Question for Chapter 1
How did the Renaissance shape European art, thought, and religion?
Renaissance thought was affected by a new worldview that embraced curiosity, exploration, and
the importance of humanity.
Renaissance people remained religious, but they no longer accepted religious authority
unquestioningly.
Instead, they used their expanding knowledge in other fields to shape their own religious thinking.
Vasari’s book was so important because it gave firsthand information about Renaissance artists
from a knowledgeable source.
Section 1 Focus Question – What were the ideals of the Renaissance, and how did Italian artists
and writers reflect these ideals?
They used realistic techniques.
Their work reflected the Renaissance ideals of humanism, an appreciation of the classics, and
curiosity.
A new age had dawned in Western Europe, given expression by remarkable artists and thinkers.
Europeans called this age the Renaissance, meaning “rebirth.”
It began in the 1300’s and reached its peak around 1500/
The Renaissance marked the transition from medieval times to the early modern world.
The Renaissance was a time of creativity and great change in many areas – political, social,
economic, and cultural.
It marked a slow shift from an agricultural to an urban society, in which trade assumed greater
importance.
Society placed a new emphasis on individual achievement.
The Renaissance supported a spirit of adventure.
At the heart of the Italian Renaissance was an intellectual movement known as humanism.
Humanists studied the classical culture of Greece and Rome, but used that study to increase their
understanding of their own times.
Humanists believed that education should stimulate the individual’s creative powers.
They emphasized the humanities – subjects such as grammar, rhetoric, poetry, and history.
Francesco Petrarch, a Florentine who lived in the 1300’s, was an early Renaissance humanist,
poet, and scholar.
What were the main characteristics of the Renaissance?
A. a new worldview based on human experience
B. an emphasis on education and humanism
C. a spirit of adventure and curiosity.
The Renaissance began in Italy.
Over the next hundred years it spread to the rest of Europe.
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Since Italy had been the center of the Roman Empire, it was a logical place for his reawakening to
emerge.
Rome was also the seat of the Roman Catholic Church.
Italy’s location encouraged trade with well-developed markets on the eastern Mediterranean and
in northern Africa, as well as in northern Europe.
Extensive banking, manufacturing, and merchant networks developed to support trade.
Trade remained strong in Italy.
Trade provided the wealth that fueled Italy’s Renaissance.
Trade routes also carried new ideas, important in shaping the Renaissance.
Italy was divided into many small city-states. Each city-state was controlled by a powerful family
and dominated by a wealthy and powerful merchant class.
Their interest in art and emphasis on personal achievement helped to shape the Italian
Renaissance.
The Medici family of Florence ranked among the richest merchants and bankers in Europe.
Lorenzo, known as “the Magnificent,” represented the Renaissance ideal.
A clever politician, he held Florence together during difficult times in the late 1400’s.
Lorenzo was a generous patron, or financial supporter, of the arts.
Florence came to symbolize the energy and brilliance of the Italian Renaissance.
Why was Italy a favorable setting for the Renaissance?
It was a crossroads of trade and had been the center of the classical world.
Why is the term cradle used to describe the growth of the Renaissance in Italy?
Trade routes and extensive banking, manufacturing, and merchant networks.
How did the city-state structure encourage the Renaissance?
A. city-states were competitive, encouraging innovative ideas
B. wealthy rulers of city-states were patrons to artists
C. cities had greater concentrations of artists, artisans, and scholars
D. trade was well established in the city-states
The Renaissance attained its most glorious expression in its paintings, sculpture, and architecture.
Renaissance art reflected the ideas of humanism.
Renaissance artists portrayed religious themes.
Renaissance painters used shading to make objects look real and new oil paints to reflect.
Painters and sculptors studied human anatomy.
Architecture was transformed in Renaissance Italy.
Architect Leon Abberti described architecture as a “social art,” meant to blend beauty with utility
and improvement of society.
The rules of perspective allowed Renaissance artists to create realistic art.
By making distant objects smaller than those close to the viewer, artists could paint scenes that
appeared three-dimensional.
Leonardo d Vinci dissected corpses to learn how bones and muscles work.
The Mona Lisa is a portrait of a woman whose mysterious smile has baffled viewers for centuries.
The Last Supper, showing JESUS and His apostles on the night before the crucifixion, is a
masterpiece of perspective.
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Artist, Michelangelo Buonarroti’s greatest project was painting a series of huge murals to
decorate the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.
His most famous architectural design was for the dome of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome.
It serves as the model for the United States Capitol.
Raphael is best known for his tender portrayals of the Madonna, the mother of JESUS.
How were Renaissance ideals reflected in the arts?
Artists emphasized classical subjects and the human form, and they employed new techniques for
showing subjects more realistically.
The most widely read of the handbooks of the Renaissance was The Book of the Courtier.
Baldassare Castiglione describes the manners, skills, learning, and virtues that a member of the
court should have.
Niccolo Mahiavelli wrote a guide for rulers on how to gain and maintain power.
Unlike Plato, Machiavelli did not discuss leadership in terms of high ideals.
Instead, his book, The Prince, looked at real rulers in an age of ruthless power politics.
Machiavelli stressed that the end justifies the means.
He urged rulers to use whatever methods were necessary to achieve their goals.
Although the subject of The Prince is political leaders, Machiavelli spends a good deal of time
talking about people in general.
Machiavelli describes people in general as greedy, fickle, and liars.
In his experience as a diplomat he may have observed diplomats who used any means necessary
to get what they wanted and this may have shaped his opinion.
The term “Machiavellian” came to refer to the use of deceit in politics.
How did Renaissance writings express realism?
Writers focused on the human experience in the world around them.
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