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Sculptures
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Architecture
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Literature
Paintings
Welcome to the Museum of the
Renaissance
Humanism
Humanism
A key intellectual movement of the Renaissance was
humanism. Humanism was based on the study of the
classics, the literature of ancient Greece and Rome.
Humanists studied grammar, rhetoric, poetry, moral
philosophy, and history.
Humanists wanted to use classical values to revitalize
their culture. Renaissance humanism focused European
culture on the individual, marking a major change from
the religion-centered view of the Middle Ages and leaning
to more of a secular view (indifference to or rejection of
religion or religious consideration). The goal of the
humanists was to educate the whole person, much as
modern educators seek to do.
Francesco Petrarch is often called the father of
Italian Renaissance humanism. He did more than any
other individual in the fourteenth century to foster its
development. Humanist educators believed education
could dramatically change individuals and the purpose of
education was to produce individuals who follow a path of
virtue and wisdom. They believed a humanist education
was a practical preparation for life.
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Note: Virtual museums were first introduced by educators at Keith Valley Middle
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Renaissance Paintings
Room 1
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Renaissance Sculptures
Room 2
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Renaissance Literature
Room 3
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Renaissance Architecture
Room 4
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School of Athens by Raphael
'The School of Athens' is a painting by the
Italian master Raphael. It was hugely
influential at the time and is remembered as
the perfection of artistic ideals from the time
period. The painting features several figures
from classical Greece, and is a statement
about the coexistence of pagan Greek
philosophy and modern Christian Italian
culture, as the basis for European civilization.
Raphael was one of the great masters of
the Italian Renaissance. He is famous for his
skill at artistic techniques like foreshortening
and perspective. Foreshortening means
adjusting a figure to give the impression that
certain parts of the body are closer to the
viewer.
http://goo.gl/Z2fm9M
^^click picture above^^
Watch the first 5 minutes of the video
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Exhibit
Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci
Mona Lisa, oil painting on a poplar wood panel
by the Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor,
architect, and engineer Leonardo da Vinci,
probably the world’s most-famous painting. The
sitter’s mysterious smile and her unproven
identity have made the painting a source of
ongoing investigation and fascination.
Click the picture to watch the video and to
answer the question.
http://goo.gl/eXM1xy
^^Click picture above^^
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Exhibit
Sistine Chapel
In 1505, Pope Julius II commissioned
Michelangelo to sculpt him a grand tomb with
40 life-size statues, and the artist began work.
over the course of the four-year project,
Michelangelo painted 12 figures—seven
prophets and five sibyls (female prophets of
myth) around the border of the ceiling, and
filled the central space with scenes from
Genesis. The most famous Sistine Chapel
ceiling painting is the emotion-infused The
Creation of Adam, in which God and Adam
outstretch their hands to one another.
Click the picture to take a virtual tour of the
chapel.
http://goo.gl/O7Sjp5
Linked citation goes here
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Exhibit
Wedding Portrait by Jan van Eyck
The Wedding Portrait is a portrait of Giovanni di
Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife, but is not intended as a
record of their wedding. His wife is not pregnant, as is
often thought, but holding up her full-skirted dress in
the contemporary fashion. The couple are shown in a
well-appointed interior.
The ornate Latin signature translates as 'Jan van
Eyck was here 1434'. The similarity to modern graffiti
is not accidental. Van Eyck often inscribed his
pictures in a witty way. The mirror reflects two figures
in the doorway. One may be the painter himself.
Arnolfini raises his right hand as he faces them,
perhaps as a greeting.
http://goo.gl/uQhkO
^^Click picture above^^
Watch the first 4 minutes
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Exhibit
La Pieta by Michelangelo
The Pietà was a popular subject among northern
European artists. It means Pity or Compassion, and
represents Mary sorrowfully contemplating the dead
body of her son which she holds on her lap.
Look closely and see how Michelangelo made marble
seem like flesh, and look at those complicated folds of
drapery. It is important here to remember how sculpture
is made. It was a messy, rather loud process (which is
one of the reasons that Leonardo claimed that painting
was superior to sculpture!). Just like painters often mixed
their own paint, Michelangelo forged many of his own
tools, and often participated in the quarrying of his
marble -- a dangerous job. (watch video below)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWUuGDovHEI.
When we look at the extraordinary representation of
the human body here we remember that Michelangelo,
like Leonardo before him, had dissected cadavers to
understand how the body worked
^^Click picture above^^
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David by Michelangelo
At only 26 years of age, Michelangelo’s
creation was sculpted. David stands nearly 17
feet tall. Remember that the biblical figure of
David was special to the citizens of Florence—
he symbolized the liberty and freedom of their
republican ideals, which were threatened at
various points in the fifteenth century by the
Medici family and others. Watch a video about
the importance of the figure of David for
Florence. (click the picture)
Linked citation goes here
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Exhibit
Moses by Michelangelo
Pope Julius II asked Michelangelo to pause his
work on the tomb to paint the ceiling of the Sistine
Chapel and he was never able to complete his plan
for the tomb. Michelangelo eventually completed a
much scaled-down version of the tomb, which was
installed in San Pietro in Vincoli
Moses is an imposing figure—he is nearly eight
feet high sitting down! He has enormous muscular
arms and an angry, intense look in his eyes. Under
his arms he carries the tablets of the law—the stones
inscribed with the Ten Commandments that he has
just received from God on Mt. Sinai.
Michelangelo managed to create an intense,
energetic figure even though Moses is seated. While
the marble itself is still, it seems as though his beard
is moving and flowing and that his muscular arms and
torso are about to shift.
Click the picture to answer the questions
https://goo.gl/l98f9y
Linked citation goes here
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Exhibit
Gilded Door by Lorenzo Ghiberti
Michelangelo likened the gilded bronze
doors of Florence's Baptistery of San
Giovanni to the "Gates of Paradise”.
Sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti condensed
the Old Testament into ten panels to
produce one of the defining masterpieces
of the Italian Renaissance.
Click the link. Look through the photo
gallery (left side) and read more.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/artsculture/the-gates-of-paradise-174431341/
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Niccolo Machiavelli
Italian diplomat Niccolò Machiavelli is best known for writing The
Prince, a handbook for unscrupulous politicians that inspired the
term "Machiavellian" and established its author as the "father of
modern political theory." Born on May 3, 1469, in Florence, Italy,
Niccolò Machiavelli was a diplomat for 14 years in Italy's Florentine
Republic during the Medici family's exile. When the Medici family
returned to power in 1512, Machiavelli was dismissed and briefly
jailed. He then wrote The Prince, a handbook for politicians on the
use of ruthless, self-serving cunning, inspiring the term
"Machiavellian" and establishing Machiavelli as the "father of modern
political theory." He also wrote several poems and plays. He died on
June 21, 1527, in Florence, Italy.
QUOTES
Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between
them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.
If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his
vengeance need not be feared.
Men judge generally more by the eye than by the hand, for everyone can
see and few can feel. Everyone sees what you appear to be, few really
know what you are.
There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of
others.
Linked citation goes here
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Shakespeare
Click the picture to answer the following
questions.
Linked citation goes here
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Baldassare Castiglione
Courtier [kawr-tee-er, kohr-]
Noun.1.a person who is often in attendance at the court of a
king or other royal personage.
Baldassare Castiglione might himself have served as the
model for the ideal gentleman he portrays in his most
famous work, The Book of the Courtier. One of the most
highly respected diplomats of Renaissance Italy, he followed
his dictum that the courtier’s chief function is to render
service to his prince. He was also a minor poet and a friend
of many of the great artists, philosophers, and literary figures
of his time.
In The Book of the Courtier, Castiglione says the ideal
courtier should be noble, witty, pleasant, agile, a horseman
and a warrior (his principal profession), and devoted to his
prince. He should know Greek, Latin, French, and Spanish,
and he should be skilled—though not ostentatiously so—in
literature, music, painting, and dancing. The courtier's
behavior should be characterized by grace and nonchalance
(sprezzatura), and he should carefully avoid any affectation.
Linked citation goes here
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Exhibit
Geoffery Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer's long poem, The Canterbury Tales,
follows the journey of a group of pilgrims, 31 including
Chaucer himself, from the Tabard Inn in Southwark to St
Thomas à Becket's shrine at Canterbury Cathedral. The
host at the inn suggests each pilgrim tell two tales on the
way out and two on the way home to help while away their
time on the road. The best storyteller is to be rewarded
with a free supper on their return.
This literary device gives Chaucer the opportunity to paint
a series of vivid word portraits of a cross-section of his
society, from a knight and prioress, to a carpenter and
cook; a much-married wife of Bath, to a bawdy miller - an
occupation regarded in Chaucer's day as shifty and
dishonest.
Chaucer mixes satire and realism in lively
characterizations of his pilgrims. The tone of their tales
ranges from pious to comic, with humor veering between
erudite wit and good honest vulgarity. Taken together, the
tales offer a fascinating insight into English life during the
late 14th century.
Linked citation goes here
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Filippo Brunelleschi
Filippo Brunelleschi was one of the
leading architects and engineers of the
Italian Renaissance, and is best known for
his work on the Cathedral of Santa Maria
del Fiore (the Duomo) in Florence.
Born in 1377 in Florence, Italy, Filippo
Brunelleschi was an architect and
engineer, and one of the pioneers of early
Renaissance architecture in Italy. He was
the first modern engineer and an
innovative problem solver, building his
major work, the dome of the Cathedral of
Santa Maria del Fiore (the Duomo) in
Florence, with the aid of machines that he
invented specifically for the project
Click Picture above^^^^
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Gothic Architecture
Read only “The Seven Key Characteristics of
Gothic Architecture”
^^^Click the picture^^^
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Romanesque Architecture
Combining features of ancient Roman and
Byzantine buildings and other local
traditions, Romanesque architecture is
known by its massive quality, thick walls,
round arches, sturdy pillars, groin vaults,
large towers and decorative arcading.
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Romanesque vs. Gothic
Click the Image to answer the questions
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Artifact 17
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Artifact 18
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Artifact 19
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Artifact 20
Text goes here.
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Artifact 21
Text goes here.
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Johannes Gutenberg
Click the picture to answer the following
questions.
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Entrance
The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci
Text goes here.
Linked citation goes here
Fun Facts:
• The mural is massive! It is 15 feet tall by 29 feet wide
• DaVinci himself is at the table. (This can never be proven, but some art
historians believe that St James the Lesser (the second apostle from the left)
is a self-portrait).
• The painting was vandalized by Napoleon’s officers in 1796 when the room
in which the mural hung was used as a stable for French soldiers’ horses
• The painting was almost never finished.
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