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The Renaissance
Primavera by Botticelli
The Italian Renaissance
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Renaissance means
“rebirth” or revival of
the classical age of
Greece and Rome
Began in Italy
1300 - 1600
Art, literature,
learning
Spread throughout
Europe
Palazzo Della Signoria in Florence, Italy
Features of the Renaissance
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Rediscovery of Greco-Roman civilization
Emphasized reason, questioning,
experimentation and free inquiry (in contrast to
Middle Ages - faith, authority, tradition)
Glorified the individual & worldly pleasures
Viewed life as worthwhile for its own sake, not
just in preparation for the afterlife
Focus on secular (worldly) society, not just
religious affairs; urban (city)
Great works of art, literature, and science
Features of the Renaissance cont.
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Urban Movement
Recovery from the
disasters of the 14th
century
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Siena, Italy
Piazza del Campo
Black Death
Political disorder
100 Years’ War
New view of human
beings and individual
ability
Why Italy?
Center of Greco-Roman world – had
sculpture, buildings, roads, manuscripts
that excited curiosity about heritage
 Located on Mediterranean – absorbed
stimulating ideas from Byzantine & Muslim
worlds
 Benefited from revival of trade that
resulted from Crusades
 Wealthy, influential patrons of the arts
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The Italian States: Milan
14th century-Visconti
family – great wealth and
power over Lombardy
 Last Visconti dies in 1447
 Francesco Sforza
(condottiere-leader of a
band of mercenaries)
conquers Milan and
becomes duke
 Built a strong, centralized
state
 Efficient tax system
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Duomo in Milan, Italy
The Italian States: Venice
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San Marco in Venice, Italy
Grew wealthy from
trading
Small group of merchantaristocrats ran the
government on behalf of
their own interests
Trade empire brought
enormous revenues
Became an international
power
The Italian States: Florence
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The preeminent
Renaissance city
Medici family amassed a
fortune in wool trade
Cosimo and later Lorenzo
(the magnificent) de
Medici were outstanding
patrons of the arts
Powerful and influential
family
Duomo in Florence, Italy
Medieval vs. Renaissance
Medieval vs. Renaissance
The Artistic Renaissance in Italy
Branccaci Tributo fresco by Masaccio
Self Portrait by Leonardo da Vinci
Giotto’s Madonna
The Artistic Renaissance in Italy
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Frescoes - paintings done
on fresh, wet plaster with
water based paints
Mosaccio - Frescoes
Figures had the illusion of
being dimensional
Two major achievements
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Perspective
Movement and human
anatomy
Architects were inspired
by the buildings of
ancient Rome (San
Lorenzo) Brunelleschi
School of Athens by Raphael
Interior of
San Lorenzo by
Brunelleschi
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1: Zeno of Citium[9] 2: Epicurus 3: Federico II of Mantua? 4: Anicius
Manlius Severinus Boethius or Anaximander or Empedocles? 5: Averroes
6: Pythagoras 7: Alcibiades or Alexander the Great? 8: Antisthenes or
Xenophon? 9: Hypatia (Francesco Maria della Rovere or Raphael's mistress
Margherita) 10: Aeschines or Xenophon? 11: Parmenides? 12: Socrates
13: Heraclitus (Michelangelo) 14: Plato holding the Timaeus (Leonardo da
Vinci) 15: Aristotle holding the Ethics 16: Diogenes of Sinope? 17: Plotinus?
18: Euclid or Archimedes with students (Bramante)? 19: Strabo or
Zoroaster? (Baldassare Castiglione or Pietro Bembo) 20: Ptolemy?
R: Apelles (Raphael) 21: Protogenes (Il Sodoma, Perugino or Timoteo
Viti)[10]
The School of Athens
The Artistic Renaissance in Italy
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Mastery of techniques
for a realistic
portrayal of the world
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Glorified the individual;
human body
Giotto – religious
themes
 Donatello – sculptor;
copied ancient Greeks
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Ospedale degli Innocenti
Brunelleschi, Florence, Italy
Giotto’s Madonna
Donnatello’s Herod
Leonardo da Vinci
Italian Artists cont.
Leonardo da Vinci
 Ideal Renaissance
Man
 Paintings, sketches,
inventions
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Mona Lisa
The Last Supper
http://www.history.com/shows/life-afterpeople/videos/life-after-people-the-lastsupper
http://www.history.com/shows/armageddon
/videos/leonardos-deluge
DaVinci’s The Last Supper
Italian Artists cont.
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Titian – portraits;
the Assumption of
the Virgin
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Raphael – tranquil
beauty in religious
works – the Sistine
Madonna
Titian – Assumption of the Virgin
Raphael’s Sistine Madonna
Italian Artists cont.
Michelangelo – painter, sculptor, poet,
architect
 Sistine Chapel – ceiling, commissioned by
the Pope
 David
 The Pieta – next slide
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The Pieta - Michelangelo
Michelangeo’s David
Donatello’s David
The Last Judgement
By
Michelangelo
Sistine Chapel
Rome, Italy
The Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
Michelangelo
The Northern Artistic Renaissance
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Skilled in painting
details
Did not fully
understand
perspective
Jan Van EyckFlanders; oils
Albrecht Durer Germany – painter &
metal & wood
engraver
Jan Van Eyck
Giovanni Arnolfini
and his Bride
Albrecht Durer
Northern Artists cont.
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Rembrandt – Dutch,
lights and shadow,
life of common people
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The Night Watch, The
Anatomy Lesson
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Holbein – German –
lifelike portraits of
famous people
Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson
Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus
Breughel’s Children’s Games
Holbein’s Sir Thomas More
Durer’s Adoration of the Magi
Durer’s Self Portrait
Van Eyck’s Madonna….
Raphael’s Self Portrait
Renaissance Literature
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Humanism - Intellectual and literary movement
based upon the classics.
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Focused on human potential and individuality of their
subjects; concerned with everyday problems
Reflected values of an urban, secular society
Wrote in vernacular – local language
Petrarch – father of humanism; wrote sonnets
(14 line poems); in Latin
 Boccaccio – The Decameron – stories about
people trying to escape the plague
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Renaissance
 Machiavelli
 Politics
– The Prince
and power
 Leaders sometimes have to mislead the
people for the good of the state
 The end justifies the means
Christian Humanists
Wanted to reform society, Church, etc.
 Erasmus – The Praise of Folly – poked fun
at greedy merchants, the Church, etc.
 Sir Thomas More – Utopia – a perfect
society
 William Shakespeare
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 Human
experience – drama, comedy
 Macbeth, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othelllo,
King Lear, The Taming of the Shrew
The Printing Press
Johan Gutenberg - Germany
 Block printing from China too slow
 Movable type printing press
 Gutenberg Bible
 Revolutionized printing
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 Spread
of ideas, more books, cheaper books
 Growth of literacy, reading, education
 Spread ideas of humanism and reformation
The Reformation
Reformation
Typical medieval question: What must I
do to be saved?
 Martin Luther and others (Wycliffe, Hus)
have a different answer to this question
than what the Catholic Church believed.
 Eventually creates a complete break with
the Catholic Church and destroys religious
unity in the Western Christian World.
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Background
Christian Humanism (or humanism) had
already begun changes
 People could REASON and improve
themselves
 Desiderius Erasmus - should live good
daily lives rather than focus on being
saved
 Praise of Folly – criticized church abuses,
wanted reform not to destroy church
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Problems
Popes involved in politics; less spiritual
 Spent $ on art, architecture (St. Peter’s
Basilica)
 Held multiple positions in church
(pluralism), absenteeism, simony,
neglected religious jobs.
 *Indulgences – could “pay” for
forgiveness
 *Relics – bones, objects, etc. of saints
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Martin Luther
Entered monastery; studies Bible
 CC (Catholic Church) said both faith and
good deeds are needed for salvation
 Not saved by good works but through
FAITH in God, made possible through
sacrifices of Jesus.
 Salvation by faith alone – chief teachings
of Protestant Reformation; Bible is chief
guide
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Martin
Luther
95
Theses
John Calvin
Luther cont.
Posted “95 Theses” to Church door at
Wittenberg (Germany)
 Attacked indulgences, rituals, relics, etc.
 Excommunicated in 1521
 Summoned to the Diet of Worms – asked
whether he truly believes his writings
 Luther does not recant
 Sentenced to be burned at stake
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Luther cont
Hidden by supporters, returns 4 years
later
 Set up new services to replace Catholic
mass, marries, continues to teach his
ideas
 1555 – Peace of Augsburg – the division
of the Church is now complete
 Could choose Lutheran or Catholic (but
not really tolerant of each other)
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New Protestant Groups
Switzerland – Ulrich Zwingli
 Zwinglianism – extreme changes; religious
images abolished, paintings removed, no
mass, (instead scripture readings, prayer,
sermons), no monasteries, pilgrimages,
pope’s authority rejected
 Conflict – Zwingli killed, burned
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New Protestant Groups cont.
John Calvin – Calvinism (also Switzerland)
 Very similar to Luther but absolute
sovereignty of God
 Predestination – already determined if you
were to be saved or damned
 To be sure, lived good, pious (religious)
life
 Spread quickly
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England
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Split occurs for political not religious reasons
King Henry VIII (Tudor Family) wanted
annulment from wife #1 (Catherine of Aragon);
daughter Mary; no male heir
Wants to marry Anne Boleyn
Grants annulment but Parliament breaks with
Church
Act of Supremacy – King is head of church –
seized lands and sold!
Marries #2 Anne Boleyn, has girl (Elizabeth)
Henry VIII cont.
Anne Boleyn beheaded (adultery)
 #3 – Jane Seymour – finally a male heir
(Edward VI); she dies in childbirth
 #4 – Anne of Cleves – arranged marriage
based on portrait. When he saw her, he
divorced her 
 #5 – Catherine Howard – beheaded
 #6 – Catherine Parr – she outlives him
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England cont.
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Edward VI (his only son); sickly, becomes king
at age 9
Allows clergy to marry
Mary (from 1st marriage) staunchly Catholic
“Bloody Mary” – married to Phillip II Spain
(Europe’s “most Catholic King”)
Burned 300 Protestant churches
Had reverse effect – England becomes more
Protestant
King Henry VIII
Of England
Portrait by Hans
Holbein
“Bloody Mary” –
Daughter of
Henry VIII and
Catherine of
Aragon
Phillip II
Of Spain
Edward VI – son
Of Henry VIII &
Jane Seymour
Queen Elizabeth
England – child of
Henry VIII and Ann
Boleyn
Other Protestants
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Anabaptists
 Christians
are a voluntary community of
believers
 Therefore adults should be baptized not
children
 All members are equal
 Complete separation of Church and state
(radical)
 Thou shall not kill – literally
 Extremists- hated by Catholics & Lutheran
Impact of Reformation
Clergy can marry so family becomes highly
important
 Indulgences, relics & saints, pilgrimages,
monasteries, celibacy change
 Catholic Church loses some power
 What is the Catholic Church to do????
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Catholic (Counter) Reformation
To regain authority of Catholic Church
 Jesuits – (Ignatius Loyola) – absolute
devotion to the Church; missionaries to
spread faith
 Reformed papacy – corruption, finances,
involvement in politics, etc.
 Council of Trent – Reaffirmed traditional
Catholic teachings
 Strong and ready to do battle for souls!
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