Download File - Lorraine A. Rollo, Ph.D.

Lorraine A. Rollo, Ph.D.
Chapter Outline
Chapter 12: Renaissance Ideals & Realities, c. 1350-1550
Overview
1. The Renaissance was a new movement that was critical of contemporary society
and inspired by classical antiquity.
2. Changes in ideas about education and life in general transformed Italian culture c.
1350-1550, and later European culture as well.
3. The emergence of the Renaissance movement in Italy is linked to war, political
rivalries and commercial expansion.
I. Medieval or Renaissance
1. Renaissance means rebirth; Renaissance rebirth pertains to the rediscovery of
some Roman authors & the recovery of literature from classical Greece. People
absorbed more classical culture at this time. Renaissance thinkers used the classics
in new ways, and Renaissance culture was more overtly materialist and
commercialized than medieval culture.
2. Renaissance thinkers were diverse and did not constitute a “school” of thought.
3. Renaissance Humanism: an educational program that stressed language,
literature, rhetoric, history & ethics over medieval scholastic training in logic and
metaphysics.
4. Classical Latin language & literature was at the core of humanistic education.
5. Humanism aimed to develop virtuous citizens & public officials. Since women
were excluded from political life, there education was deemed less important.
II. The Renaissance In Italy
1. Reasons why the Renaissance occurred in Italy include: the aristocratic urban
society in northern Italy, the inspiration of classical antiquity amid political turmoil,
& wealth that patronized innovation and achievement.
III. Literary & Intellectual Activity
1. Petrarch (1304-1374) is considered the “father of Renaissance Humanism.”
2. Civic Humanism stressed eloquence, classical knowledge & living a life useful to
family, society & the state. Civic humanists include Bruni (c. 1370-1444), & Alberti
(1404-1472), On the Family.
3. Valla (1407-1457) pioneered textual scholarship, and proved that the Donation of
Constantine was a medieval forgery. He introduced the idea of anachronism and
published Notes on the New Testament.
4. Neo-Platonism became popular during the Italian Renaissance; notable NeoPlatonists include Ficino (1433-1499) & Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (14631494), “Oration on the Dignity of Man.”
5. Machiavelli (1469-1527), philosophical and political pragmatist, published
Discourses on Livy & The Prince.
6. Castiglione (1478-1529) wrote an etiquette guide: The Book of the Courtier.
IV. Renaissance Arts
1. The most enduring achievements were in art, especially painting. Innovations in
painting include: mastery of linear perspective, effective use of light & shade
(chiaroscuro), careful study/depiction of nature, and excellence using oil paint.
2. The Majority of greats painters were Florentines.
 Masaccio: The Trinity with the Virgin & Expulsion of Adam & Eve From the
Garden
 Botticelli: Allegory of Spring, Birth of Venus, Madonna of the Magnificat
 Leonardo: Virgin of the Rocks, Last Supper, Mona Lisa
3. Venetian School of the High Renaissance c. 1490 included Titian (c. 1490-1576),
Doge Francesco Venier. Traits of the Venetian School: sensuality, idyllic landscapes,
color, elegance & eastern ambiance.
4. The High Renaissance reached its peak in Rome 1500-1550. Famous painters
include Raphael from Urbino: Disputà, & School of Athens, and Michelangelo from
Florence.
5. Michelangelo is famous for paintings in the papal Sistine Chapel (ceiling/ Last
Judgment altar wall).
6. Famous Renaissance sculptures include Donatello, David, & Michelangelo, David,
Moses, Descent from the Cross & Pietà.
7. Renaissance architecture combined medieval Romanesque & classical styles. Two
examples are St. Peter’s Basilica & Villa Rotunda by Palladio (1508-1580).
8. Reasons for the decline of the Italian Renaissance include war, economic decline
and the Counter-Reformation (Roman Catholic response to Protestantism).
V. The Renaissance North of the Alps
1. The Italian Renaissance became influential in northern Europe c. 1500. Reasons
for the delay include the prevalence of scholasticism in northern universities, and
the less political role of art.
2. The Northern Renaissance was more Christian and less secular than the Italian
movement. Christian Humanism was the most prominent northern Renaissance
movement, and Christian Humanism stressed practical guidance from the Bible &
religious precepts.
3. Erasmus, “Prince of the Christian Humanists” published The Praise of Folly 1509,
Colloquies 1518, and a Greek & Latin edition of the New Testament.
4. English Christian Humanist Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) published Utopia
1516.
5. Christian Humanists revolutionized the study of early Christianity & directly
influenced Protestant reformers.
6. Christian Humanism lost momentum after the Protestant movement began in
1517.
7. Famous names in Northern Renaissance literature include English poet Spencer,
Farerie Queene, & prose satirist Rabelais, Gargantua & Pantagruel.
8. Northern Renaissance architecture combined French Gothic with classical style.
Examples include Chambord & the Louvre.
9. The most famous northern Renaissance artist was Dürer: St. Jerome in His Study,
self-portraits, and Erasmus.
10. Holbein the Younger is famous for his oil paintings of Erasmus & Thomas More.
11. Renaissance innovations in music include new expressiveness, new instruments
& new forms (madrigal, motet, opera). Famous Renaissance musicians include
Roland de Lassus (1532-1594), Giovanni da Palestrina (c. 1525-1594) and William.
Byrd (1543-1623).
VI. Conclusion
1. The Renaissance began in northern Italy, in the aftermath of the devastating
consequences of the Black Death, Church crises, and amid ongoing political rivalries.
Intellectuals, artists and statesmen found inspiration in classical antiquity, a time
when Italian culture was preeminent among western civilizations.
2. The Renaissance movement emerged in Italy in a secular & wealthy urban
environment; eventually Renaissance ideas about education, textual criticism and
art spread north of the Alps.
3. Both northern & Italian Renaissance intellectuals were Christians; they often
criticized medieval Scholasticism as too arid and impractical. However, the
Renaissance movement in the north was less worldly and more Christian-oriented
than the movement in Italy.
4. Renaissance readers had access to more classical texts, which enriched their
knowledge, but women generally did not have access to a humanist education.
5. Patronage increased the value of art, artists, and scholars, and often Renaissance
individuals and their accomplishments helped legitimize the powerful.
6. Insistence on the “pure” Latin of classical times undermined the power of Latin as
a living language.
7. Renaissance artists and scholars greatly admired the natural world, and often
embraced and exalted individuality, novelty and excellence. The Renaissance
movement resurrected and popularized once more the Homeric ideal of heroic
individualism.