Download 1 Italy Birthplace of the Renaissance

Italy: Birthplace of the
Renaissance
Standard(s) and EQs
SSWH9 The student will analyze change and continuity in
the Renaissance and Reformation.
EQ: What factors led to Italy being the birthplace of the
Renaissance?
Agenda
• Activator: Analyzing Primary Sources –
Renaissance Man/Renaissance Woman
• Renaissance Notes
• Readings on Machiavelli and the
Renaissance Man
Italy: Birthplace of the
Renaissance
• The word Renaissance means
“rebirth.”
• Occurred between 1300 and
1600.
• Began in Northern Italy (a
natural gateway between east
and west) and spread to the rest
of Europe.
• Revival of the classical traditions
of the Greeks and Romans.
Why did the Renaissance begin
in Italy?
• Italy had a tremendous amount of overseas
trade.
• Thriving cities (urban areas where ideas can be
freely shared).
• There was a wealthy merchant class as a result
of new banking and manufacturing.
• Access to the classical heritage of Greece and
Rome
Characteristics of the Renaissance
• The Renaissance was an age of
recovery from disasters of the 14th
century.
(Black Death)
• Challenged medieval intellectual
values and styles.
• As a result of this new view of
human beings, people began to place
an emphasis on individual ability.
• Cultural reawakening.
• Society focused on the secular or
worldly rather than the spiritual.
The Italian States
• The major Italian city-states were Milan, Venice, and
Florence.
• Italian traders conducted business with merchants from the
Islamic world to as far away as England and the
Netherlands.
• Milan was the richest of the trading cities.
• All three major city-states were run by powerful
merchant/aristocrat families.
The Medici Family
• Banking family who
ruled the city-state of
Florence.
• Cosimo de Medici won
control of the gov’t by
giving large loans to the
ruling council.
• Lorenzo the Magnificent
ruled following his
fathers death as a
dictator but kept up the
appearance of an elected
gov’t.
Humanism
• An intellectual movement based upon the study of the classics of
Greece and Rome.
• Focused on humankind as the center of intellectual and artistic
endeavor. Emphasized human potential and achievements
• Humanists studied the liberal arts -- grammar, rhetoric, poetry and
philosophy.
• Encouraged citizens to take an active role in their government.
• Had a profound effect on education.
Renaissance writers introduced the idea that educated people
were expected strive to master almost every area of study.
A man who excelled in many fields was praised as a
“universal man.” Later ages called such people
“Renaissance men.”
Standard(s)
SSWH9 The student will analyze change and continuity in the
Renaissance and Reformation.
Why Florence?
Who were Machiavelli, Leonardo Da Vinci and
Michelangelo?
What is humanism?
EQ: In what ways did art change during the Renaissance?
Vocabulary: perspective, vernacular, secular, patron, Leonardo
da Vinci, Raphael Sanzio, Michelangelo Buonarroti,
Machiavelli, utopia
Warm Up: Interact with History p. 470
Literature
• Many authors choose to abandon
the use of Latin in literature and
focused on the local vernacular to
write their works.
• In the 14th century Dante and
Geoffrey Chaucer helped make
vernacular language more
popular.
• The Divine Comedy
• Guide was Roman classical poet
Virgil
• Greco-Roman themes & writing
in the vernacular
• Francesco Petrarch
• “Father of Humanism”
• Explored the glories and personal
achievements of man
• Emphasized secular not religious
subjects
• Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales
Education in the Renaissance
• The Renaissance saw the
development of printing in
Europe.
• Johannes Gutenberg’s
printing press played a major
role in the advancement of
education during the Era.
• The printing of books
encouraged scholarly
research and the desire to gain
knowledge.
Art and Architecture
• Stressed more secular subjects in
literature & art
• More realistic portrayals of people &
nature
• Painting turned to realism from
medieval formalism and stiffness
• Led by painter Giotto
• New Techniques
• Perspective
• New colors
• Oil paints (more luster to
paintings)
• Return to Greco-Roman
styles
• Leonardo da Vinci
• Personified the ideal
“Renaisance Man”
• Not only a jack-of-all-trades,
but also a master of many
• Military engineer, anatomist,
botanist
• Self-taught
• Raphael
• Famous for his many
paintings of the Madonna
• Fresco The School of Athens
• Depicts Plato and Aristotle
surrounded by philosophy
and science
• Michelangelo
• 4 different popes commissioned works by him
• Sistine Chapel commissioned by Pope Julius II
• 10,000 square feet, 343 figures (1/2 of which
are 10 feet in height)
• Took 4 years to complete
• David
• 18 feet tall
• Perfect example of the Renaissance artists
devotion to harmony, symmetry, and
proportion
Architecture
• Gothic Style gave way to Greco-Roman
style incorporating domes & columns
• Brunelleschi
• Florence Cathedral considered pinnacle
of Renaissance architecture
• Modified a design to support the
expansive weight of the dome
Patronage
• Patrons
• Wealthy and educated merchants
• Commissioned art & sponsored cultural
activities
• Cosimo de Medici and his son Lorenzo
• Greatest of all patrons
• Church also source of commissions
• Papacy launched a building program
culminating in St. Peter’s Basilica
Renaissance and Politics
• Niccolo Machiavelli
• Served as a diplomat for Florence.
• Wrote The Prince on political power.
• Emphasized realistic discussions of how to seize and
maintain power
• The end justifies the means
• Being feared is more important than being loved if a
leader has to choose between the two.
• Many writers of the time stressed ethics and
Christian moral principles.
• Machiavelli was the first to abandon morality as the
basis of political activity.
• Politically effective rather than morally right.