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The Renaissance
(in Europe)
Monalisa by DaVinci
Galileo Galilei by Leone Lioni
What do these portraits have in common?
David by Michelangelo
Leonardo da Vinci
The Creation of Adam by
Michelangelo
THE RENAISSANCE - Introduction
• The word is French for 'rebirth‘
• Time in Europe in which people began a
movement to advance the arts, sciences and
philosophy.
• Best known for its artistic developments.
• Implies a rediscovery of rational civilization
• Its influence affected
literature, philosophy, art, politics, science,
religion, and other aspects of intellectual inquiry
ORIGINS
• Lasted from the 14th to the 17th century.
• Ends the Medieval Era and starts the Modern
Age.
• Began in Italy and later spread to the rest of
Europe.
• Big cities in Italy (like Florence, its initial
home) attracted scholars* and artists.
* a learned person (especially in the humanities); someone who by long study has gained
mastery in one or more disciplines
CAUSES
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New Secular Hunger for Discovering Texts
Reintroduction of Classical Works
The Printing Press
The Political Situation: The Need for Display
and Administration
• New Wealth and the Black Death
• Development of Renaissance Humanism
• Peace and War
New Secular Hunger for Discovering Texts
The courts and monasteries of Europe had long been
repositories of old manuscripts and texts, but a change in how
scholars viewed them stimulated the massive reappraisal of
classical works in the Renaissance. Fourteenth century writer
Petrarch typified this – he may even have triggered it – by
writing about his own lust for discovering texts which had
previously been ignored and were just gathering dust. Now
secular readers developed a taste, even a hunger, for seeking
out, reading and spreading old works, chief of all classical
writings, on a more widespread level than centuries previous.
New libraries developed to facilitate access to old books.
Reintroduction of Classical Works
While there were classical texts in western Europe at the start
of the Renaissance, many had been lost and existed only in
the east, in both Christian Constantinople and Muslim states.
During the Renaissance many key texts were reintroduced
into Europe, whether by merchants taking advantage of the
new hunger for old texts, or by scholars who had been invited
over to teach. For instance, in 1396 a Chair for teaching Greek
was created in Florence. The chosen teacher, Chrysoloras,
brought with him a copy of Ptolemy’s Geography from the
east. In addition, a huge number of Greek texts and scholars
arrived in Europe with the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
The Printing Press
A hunger for forgotten texts may have developed in Europe,
but it was the new printing press that allowed these works to
be mass produced, feeding a much wider audience than the
old hand written methods could ever have hoped to reach.
This in turn allowed the Renaissance to develop more fully. In
addition, the press removed scribal errors, allowing humanists
and scholars to know they were comparing the nuances of the
same text, and not someone’s mistake. This allowed for the
further evolution of textual criticism which underpinned
Renaissance thinking.
The Political Situation: The Need
for Display and Administration
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The Renaissance changes in the style of art, as well as the outlook of artists,
needed wealthy patrons to support it.
Political changes in the ruling class of Italy shortly before this period had led to the
rulers of most of the major city states being “new men” without much of a political
history.
They attempted to legitimise themselves with conspicuous display, with
ostentation, including all forms of art and creativity.
This meant that artists keen to use their new found Renaissance ideas were ably
supported and able to produce masterpieces.
The demand from new (and old) elites wasn’t just artistic, they also relied upon
ideas developed from the Renaissance for their political models.
Machiavelli’s infamous guide to rulers – The Prince – is a work of Renaissance
political theory.
In addition, the newly developing bureaucracies of Italy, and the rest of Europe,
caused a demand for Humanists.
New Wealth and the Black Death
• In the middle of the fourteenth century the Black Death swept across
Europe, killing perhaps a third of the population.
• Some of the survivors found themselves better off financially and socially,
with the same wealth spread among fewer people
• This ‘new’ wealth was often was spent on display items to reinforce
prestige.
• This also allowed people to patronise Renaissance artists.
• In addition, the merchant classes of a region like Italy also saw a great
increase in their wealth from their role in trade.
• This trade income was further developed, some might say revolutionized,
by Renaissance developments in commerce, giving the merchants further
wealth to patronise with.
Development of Renaissance Humanism
Renaissance Humanism was a new manner of
thinking and approaching the world, based around a
new form of curriculum for those learning. It has
been called the earliest expression of the
Renaissance, and is described as both a product of
the movement and a cause. Humanist thinkers
challenged the mindset of both the previously
dominant school of scholarly thought, Scholasticism,
as well as the church, allowing the new mindsets
which underpinned the Renaissance to develop
instead.
Peace and War
Perhaps unusually, periods of both peace and war have been
credited with allowing the Renaissance to spread and become
a European, then global, phenomenon. For instance, the end
of the Hundred Years War between England and factions in
France has been credited with allowing Renaissance ideas to
penetrate these nations, as thoughts and expenses turned
away from conflict. In contrast, the involvement of France in
wars within Italy has been credited with aiding the spread of
the Renaissance to that nation, as armies and commanders
encountered Renaissance ideas in Italy and brought them
back home.