Download The Spirit of the Renaissance

The Spirit of the Renaissance
What do you see?
Describe the different objects in the room.
What do you think this man does for a living?
In what ways does this room show influences of ancient Greek and Roman culture?
Vittorio Carpaccio, 1503
In this picture we see a painting of a humanist in
his study, probably the Cardinal Bessarion, a man
who was dedicated to both scholarship and public
service and was considered by people of the
Renaissance to be a model humanist.
After the crusades
(1095-1291), Greeks
began visiting Italy to
maintain connections that
had been made, and
often, to escape
expansion of the Muslim
world into the Hellenic
world.
This cultural exchange
brought about a
reintroduction of
classical Christian and
pre-Christian thought to
Italy.
Italian scholars eagerly learned
Greek and Latin so they could study
the ancient writings.
Early Renaissance scholars
discovered writings by an ancient
Roman scholar, Quintilian (35-96
A.D.).
Quintilian argued:
• The goal of education was to
create a well-rounded, moral
citizen
• Educated citizens should make
society a just and better place
• Individuals have unlimited
potential
Quintillian’s view of a moral education
emphasized the potential of an individual. This
became the dominant educational philosophy of
the Renaissance.
Humanism: A belief that there is good in
everyone, and that all people can achieve great
things.
Notes on the Spirit of the Renaissance:
Why did people become interested in Ancient
Culture?
• The knowledge of ancient Greece and Rome
was rediscovered by scholars.
• The Crusades made Europeans eager to
learn more about the world around them.
• Scholars thought ancient Greek and Roman
writings would help solve problems.
(53 words)
Humanist – a new type of scholar whose
rediscovery and study of the literature, art, and
civilization of ancient Greece and Rome sparked a
system of thought that centers on humans and
their values, abilities, and worth.
Medieval scholars studied
commentaries on ancient
writings without ever
reading the ancient works
themselves.
Humanists of the Renaissance wanted to study the
ancient writings themselves, to discover the real
meanings of the writers.
Humanists believed this would make them wellrounded individuals, better able to participate in
government and society.
Francesco Petrarch was the
first great Renaissance
humanist. He was born in
Florence in 1304. He learned
to read Greek and Latin and his
great love was the discovery of
ancient texts. His favorite
writings were by the Roman
statesman Cicero and the early
Christian writer St. Augustine.
He wrote lengthy letters to
these ancient thinkers in which
he presented his own modern
views about their ancient ideas.
Notes: The Spirit of the Renaissance:
A Belief in Human Potential
 It was believed that each person could achieve great
things.
 It was claimed that people educated in the classics
could create a better world
 Human achievement on earth, rather than the
attainment of heaven, was emphasized.
A new Type of Scholar called a Humanist was created:
 Humanists devoted themselves to studying ancient
writings
 They tried to learn about many subjects, such as
Latin, Greek, history, mathematics, rather than focus
on just one subject.
 Petrarch, a Florentine, was the first great humanist.
(ugh. 98 words!)
But the fascination
with Roman and Greek
cultures went beyond
the writings. Artists
studied Roman and
Greek art for
inspiration. Donatello, a
sculptor, created
statues that copied the
Roman ideal of the
human body.
Augustus of Prima Porta,
statue of the emperor
Augustus, 1st century
St. George
c. 1416-17
David
c. 1444-46
Architecture, too,
was inspired by the
Greeks and the
Romans.
This is an interior shot
of the Pantheon in
Rome. It was built
between 118 -128 A.D.
Each of the niches held
a statue of a Roman
God or Goddess.
The Parthenon in Athens, Greece. Built between
477 – 438 B.C.
St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome. Building started in 1546,
and was finished in 1590. Do some of these elements look
familiar?
Prior to the building of
St. Peter’s, the Basilica di
Santa Maria del Fiore in
Florence was built.
Brunelleschi’s dome was
started in 1420 and was
completed in 1436. This
was the first 'octagonal'
dome in history to be
built without a temporary
wooden supporting frame,
and was one of the most
impressive projects of
the Renaissance.
The building of such a masonry dome posed many
technical problems. Brunelleschi looked to the great
dome of the Pantheon in Rome for solutions. The dome of
the Pantheon is a single shell of concrete, the formula for
which had long since been forgotten. A wooden form had
held the Pantheon dome aloft while its concrete set, but
because of the height and breadth of the Florentine
dome, there was not enough timber in Tuscany to build
the scaffolding and forms. Brunelleschi used a double
shell, made of sandstone and marble. Brunelleschi built
the dome out of bricks, due to its lighter weight
compared to stone, and with nothing under it during
construction.
Brunelleschi's solutions were ingenious. The
spreading problem was solved by a set of four
internal horizontal stone and iron chains, serving
as barrel hoops, embedded within the inner
dome: one each at the top and bottom, with the
remaining two evenly spaced between them. A
fifth chain, made of wood, was placed between
the first and second of the stone chains. Since
the dome was octagonal rather than round, a
simple chain, squeezing the dome like a barrel
hoop, would have put all its pressure on the eight
corners of the dome. The chains needed to be
rigid octagons, stiff enough to hold their shape,
so as not to deform the dome as they held it
together.
Notes:
The Spirit of the Renaissance included:
A Fascination with Classical Cultures
 Artists used ancients art as models
 Donatello created statues that copied the
Roman ideal of the human body
 Brunelleschi designed buildings with classic
motifs
 Revolutionary innovations were made
(44 words)
Renaissance Man
During the Renaissance, humanists, artists, and
upper-class citizens developed their talents to
the fullest as they strove to reach the ideal of a
well-rounded person: educated, witty,
artistically creative, and skilled in many fields.
They believed in the worth and importance of
the individual in the world in which they lived,
rather than the medieval focus on the afterlife.
The epitome (best
example) of a
Renaissance Man was
Leonardo da Vinci (born
April 15, 1452, died May
2, 1519). He was a
painter, inventor,
scientist, observer, and
engineer
In 1466, at the age of fourteen, Leonardo
was apprenticed to Verrocchio, whose
workshop was "one of the finest in
Florence“. By 1472, at the age of twenty,
Leonardo qualified as a master in the Guild
of St Luke, the guild of artists and doctors
of medicine.
Baptism of
Christ,
1472 – 1475
Verrocchio &
Leonardo
Studies of the
action of running
water.
Studies of a
horse
Anatomical
Studies of the
arm
In 1502, Leonardo
produced a drawing
of a single span 720
foot bridge. This
bridge was
intended to span in
inlet at the mouth
of the Bosporus
known as the
Golden Horn. It
was believed at the
time that such a
bridge was
impossible.
In 2006, after a smaller bridge based on da
Vinci’s design was built in Norway in 2001, the
Turkish government decided to construct da
Vinci’s bridge across the Golden Horn.
Leonardo’s Tank: Design flaw:
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/doing-davinci-missing-tank-door.html
Could it actually work?
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/doing-davinci-tank-test.html