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The Renaissance in Europe
1350-1600
Chapter 15
Page 287 in the textbook
Introduction
• The Renaissance was a a time of creativity,
interest in learning, and a desire to explore
the human experience.
• Sparked by renewed interest in the culture of
ancient Rome, the Renaissance began in the
independent and prosperous cities of Italy.
• At the heart of the Renaissance was a set of
ideas known as humanism.
Lesson 1: The Italian States
Bellringer
• The city of Florence was known for its wealth,
its beauty, and creative geniuses that worked
there.
Discuss with your partner:
• What cities today are known as centers of arts
and literature?
• Why do many artists and writers move to
cities?
• Guiding Question: Why did
the Renaissance begin in Italy?
1. Renewed interest in Ancient Rome
• The Renaissance was marked by a new
interest in the culture of ancient Rome.
• Because Italy had been the center of the
Roman Empire, it was the logical place for the
rebirth to begin.
• Architectural remains, statues, coins, and
inscriptions, were all visible reminders of
Roman achievement.
2. Cities
• Italy’s cities survived the Middle Ages
• In the north, city-states like Florence, Milan,
Venice and Genoa grew into centers of trade and
manufacturing.
• Rome and Naples, along with a number of
smaller city states, also contributed to the
cultural revival.
• Thriving cities meant opportunities for
education, scientific pursuits, and even…arts and
leisure.
City States of Renaissance Italy
Florence, perhaps more than any other city,
came to symbolize the energy and brilliance of
the Italian Renaissance.
Florence
• Like the ancient city of Athens, Florence
produced a dazzling number of gifted poets,
artists, architects, scholars, and scientists in a
short span of time.
Venice
• Venice is a city in northeastern Italy sited on a
group of 118 small islands separated by canals
and linked by bridges
Satellite image of Venice, circa 2009.
Venice
Gondoliers, the Rialto bridge
and the Grand Canal
Venice was a very important center
of commerce (especially silk, grain,
and spice) and art in the 13th
century up to the end of the 17th
century.
Merchants of Venice
St Mark's Basilica
3. Patronage
• A wealthy and powerful merchant class in
these city-states further promoted cultural
rebirth.
• A merchant is a businessperson who trades in
commodities produced by others, in order to
earn a profit.
• What kinds of commodities do you think
merchants were dealing in the Renaissance?
The Merchant
Hans Holbein the younger
(German)
Date: 1532
Merchants
• Many Renaissance merchants were very wealthy.
• They held political power as well.
• Their attitudes and interests helped shape the
Renaissance.
• They stressed education and individual
achievement.
• They also spent lavishly to support the arts.
• This is what we refer to as patronage
Bellringer
1. Why did the Renaissance begin in Italy?
2. What role did merchants play in the
Renaissance?
*Discuss with a partner, prepare to present your
response to the class.
The Medicis
• In the 1400’s, the Medici family of Florence
organized a successful banking business.
• Before long, the family expanded into wool
manufacturing, mining, and other ventures.
• The Medicis ranked among the wealthiest
merchants and bankers in Europe.
The Medicis
• Cosimo de Medici gained control over the
Florentine government in 1434, and the family
continuted as uncrowned rulers of the city for
many years.
Cosimo de
Medici
The coat of arms of the
Medici family
Lorenzo de Medici
•Cosimo’s grandson Lorenzo de
Medici, known as “the magnificent”,
represented the Renaissance ideal.
•Generous patron of the arts
• Under Lorenzo, poets and philosophers
frequently visited the Medici Palace.
• Artists learned their craft by sketching ancient
Roman statues displayed in the Medici
gardens.
Medici Palace
•The palace was designed by Michelozzo di Bartolomeo for Cosimo
de Medici, and was built between 1445 and 1460. It was well known
for its stone masonry.
•What stands out to you about the architectural design of this
building?
•What do you think is contained inside?
The fifteen-year-old boy of noble birth, Galeazzo Maria Sforza,
was entertained in Florence in April 1459, and left a letter
describing the Medici Palace
• “…Decorated on every side with gold and fine
marbles, with carvings and sculptures in relief, with
pictures and inlays done in perspective by the most
accomplished and perfect of masters even in the
very benches and floors of the house; tapestries and
household ornaments of gold and silk, silverware
and bookcases that are endless... then a garden
done in the finest of polished marbles, with diverse
plants, which seems a thing not natural but
painted."
Palace
Interiors
What was the Renaissance?
1. A New World View
• Unlike medieval scholars who focused on life
after death, Renaissance thinkers explored the
richness of the “here and now”.
• They were humanists.
• New emphasis on individual achievement.
• The Renaissance ideal was the person with
talent in many fields.
Humanism
• Humanists studied grammar, rhetoric, poetry,
science, philosophy, architecture and a variety of
other fields.
• Leonardo Da Vinci was seen by those around him
as a model of the humanist ideal.
2. Humanism
• Humanists believed that it was love of
learning that made men and women truly
human. One phrased it this way:
• “To each species of creature has been allotted
a particular and instructive gift. Galloping
comes naturally to horses, flying to birds. To
man only is given the desire to learn…..For
learning and virtue are particular to man.”
Review Questions From This Week
• What were the conditions that were present
in Italy in the late 14c and early 15c that
encouraged the beginning of the Renaissance?
• Why was Florence at the heart of the Italian
Renaissance?
• What role did the Medici family play in
Renaissance Florence?
• What were the characteristics of humanism?
How was it different from medieval thought?
3. A Spirit of Adventure
• The Renaissance supported a spirit of adventure
and a curiosity that led people to explore new
worlds.
• Christopher Columbus, Italian navigator who
sailed to the Americas in 1492, represented that
spirit.
• So did Nicolaus Copernicus, a Polish scientist who
revolutionized the way that people viewed the
universe.
• Writers such as William Shakespeare were eager
to experiment with new forms, and were also
products of that adventurous spirit.
Medieval World Maps
Renaissance Era World Map
4. A Golden Age in the Arts
• Renaissance ideas were most gloriously
expressed in its paintings, sculpture, and
architecture.
• Wealthy patrons played a major role in this
artistic growth.
• Popes, Princes, and wealthy merchants
supported the work of hundreds of artists.
New Techniques
• Roman sculpture had been very realistic, but
painting still lacked depth.
• Renaissance artists learned the rules of
perspective.
Perspective
• By making distant objects smaller than those
close to the viewer, artists could paint scenes
that appeared three-dimensional.
This technique is called foreshortening.
Medieval Art
• Medieval art lacked the depth and realism that Renaissance was
about to achieve.
Early attempt at Perspective (fail!)
• This 15th century French painting is clearly a general
attempt at foreshortening, but it was unsuccessful.
Perspective
• To add three-dimensional depth and space to
their work, Renaissance artists rediscovered
and greatly expanded on three important
ideas:
1. linear perspective
2. horizon line
3. vanishing point
Linear Perspective
• Creating a painting with linear perspective is like
looking through a window and painting exactly what
you see on the window pane.
• Instead of every object in the picture being the same
size, objects that were further away would be
smaller, while those closer to you would be larger.
Horizon Line
• The horizon line is a theoretical line that represents
the eye level of the observer.
• The horizon line is the same as the horizon (the edge
of the land against the sky) only on a large flat plane
like the ocean.
• Most of the time geographic features (hills) and
other objects (trees and buildings) make the horizon
above the horizon line.
Vanishing Point
• The vanishing point is the point at which parallel
lines appear to converge far in the distance, often on
the horizon line.
• This is the effect you can see when standing on
railroad tracks and looking at the tracks recede into
the distance.
Bellringer
• What new techniques were developed in
Renaissance painting?
• What effect did these techniques have on
Renaissance art?
Examples of Renaissance Perspective
• Masolino, ‘St. Peter Healing a Cripple and the Raising
of Tabitha’ (1425).
‘The Disputation of St Stephen’ by Carpaccio (1514)
‘The School of Athens’ by Raphael (1518)
Three Geniuses of Renaissance Art
• Renaissance Florence was home to many outstanding
painters and sculptors.
• The three most celebrated Florentine masters were
Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael.
Leonardo
•
•
•
•
Born in 1452, Florence
Exploring mind and endless curiosity
Genius for invention
Made endless sketches from nature and from
his mind
• Dissected corpses to learn how bones and
muscles work
Leonardo
• Leonardo saw himself as an artist, but his
talents ranged over many areas.
• His interests extended to botany, anatomy,
optics, music, architecture, and engineering.
• He made sketches for flying machines and
undersea boats centuries before the first
airplane or submarine was actually built.
Leonardo’s Sketches
The Genius of Leonardo
Primary Source
“Leonardo practiced not one art but all of those that
are dependent upon design, and he had great
talent for geometry besides being very musical,
playing the lute with great ability and being
excellent in the art of improvisation….In
entertaining, Leonardo was so pleasant that he
won everyone’s heart. Although he may well be
said to have owned nothing and to have worked
little, he always kept a servant as well as horses.”
-Georgio Vasari, Lives of the Most Eminent Italian Painters, Sculptors, and Architects.
Question: Why is Leonardo considered to be a prime
example of a Renaissance Humanist?
Leonardo
• Today, people admire Leonardo’s paintings for
their freshness and realism.
• Most popular is the Mona Lisa, a portrait of a
woman whose mysterious smile has baffled
viewers for centuries.
• The Last Supper, showing Christ and his
apostles on the night before the crucifixion, is
both a moving religious painting and a
masterpiece of perspective.
Mona Lisa
The Last Supper
Michelangelo
(1475-1564)
• Michelangelo was also a many-sided genius –
sculptor, engineer, painter, architect, and poet.
• As a young man, he shaped marble into
masterpieces
• The Pieta, which captures the sorrow of Mary
cradling the dead Christ on her knees
• Statue of David, the biblical shepherd who
killed the giant Goliath, recalls the harmony
and grace of the ancient Greek tradition.
Michelangelo Marbles
Pieta
David
Sistine Ceiling
• One of Michelangelo’s
greatest projects was
painting a huge mural to
decorate the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel in Rome.
• An enormous task
depicting the biblical
history of the world, from
the Creation to the Flood.
Primary Source
• In a poem, Michelangelo later described his
experience painting the ceiling:
“My Stomach is thrust toward my chin
My beard curls up toward the sky
My head leans right over onto my back
The Brush endlessly dripping onto my face”
-Michelangelo, Poems.
Sistine Ceiling
For four years, the
artist lay on his
back on a wooden
platform
suspended just a
few inches below
the chapel ceiling.
Rafael
(1483 – 1520)
• A few years younger than Leonardo and
Michelangelo, Rafael studied the works of those
great masters
• His paintings blend Christian and classical styles.
• In The School of Athens, Rafael pictures an
imaginary gathering of great thinkers and
scientists, such as Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates.
• With typical Renaissance self-confidence, Rafael
included the faces of Michelangelo, Leonardo,
and – himself.
Raphael
The Marriage of the Virgin
(1504)
Excellent example of linear
perspective!
Jan Van Eyck
Arnolfini Wedding Portrait
(1434)
The spotless mirror on the back wall alludes to purity, and the reflection of two
other individuals in the room (including the painter) infers that witnesses are
present
The inscription on the back wall translates “Jan Van Eyck was here, 1434”
suggests that the artist was a witness to the wedding
Italian Renaissance Writers
• Poets, artists, and scholars mingled with
politicians at the courts of Renaissance rulers.
•Some writers wrote in vernacular, the local
spoken language.
• Replaced classical Latin as the predominant
written language.
•What effect do you think vernacular literature
had on Renaissance society?
Machiavelli
(1469-1527)
• Published in 1513, The Prince offered a guide
to rulers on how to gain and maintain power.
•Urged rulers to do whatever methods were
necessary to achieve their goals.
• On the issue of honesty in government, for
example, he taught that getting results was
more important than keeping promises.
Machiavelli Quotes
“The end justifies the means”
“It is much safer to be feared than
loved”
Primary Source
“How praiseworthy it is for a prince to keep
his word and live with integrity rather than
craftiness, everyone understands;
yet….those princes have accomplished most
who paid little heed to keeping their
promises, but to who knew how craftily to
manipulate the minds of men.”
Machiavelli – The Prince
Discussion
•Machiavelli’s work continues to spark debate
because it raises important ethical questions about
the nature of government and the use of power.
•Discussion Question:
•Do you agree with Machiavelli that a productive
government is more important than an honest
government?