Download File - AP European history with Mrs. Ramirez

Good Afternoon Class
Discuss with the person next to you the Crash
Course video: Is the Renaissance a Thing?
The Renaissance:
An Introduction
Why did the Renaissance start in Italy?
• Europeans still looked to
Rome for cultural and
intellectual guidance
• Italy was a center of trade.
Italian merchants
prospered even during the
Middle Ages; these
merchants valued
education and flaunted
wealth through art
• The Church’s wealth and
power was based in Italy
Florence
• Renaissance centered on
the Italian city-state of
Florence
• Home to the powerful
Medici family
– wealthy bankers (banking
had become too profitable
and important to the
economy to leave in the
hands of Europe’s Jews)
– spent vast amounts of
money on art
What was the Renaissance?
• Three Parts: Secularism
1. A shift in thought:
• Secularism: A focus is on
the secular(non-religious)
(or “worldly”), rather
than the religious
• Focus of life changed
from “How do I get into
Heaven?” to “How do I
enjoy success here and
now?”
What was the Renaissance?
2. Humanism: or the idea that
rational thought is superior to
unquestioning faith
– A renewed interest in
education with a Heavy focus
on the humanities (history,
philosophy, & literature)
– Revival of the classical
learning of the Greeks &
Romans (classicism)
– Civic Humanism: application
of humanism to civil service
(Machiavelli)
– Christian Humanism:
Application of humanism to
one’s own religious traditions
(Erasmus)
What was the Renaissance?
3. Individualism: new emphasis
on individual achievement.
Individual out to be free to think,
speak and act for himself and an
openness to experimentation
– a willingness to explore the
world (Columbus)
– a willingness to engage in
scientific inquiry (Galileo,
Copernicus)
– a willingness to try new
techniques in art
(Michelangelo)
– a willingness to challenge
religious doctrine (Luther)
What was the Renaissance
4. Scientific Naturalism:
close observation of the
natural world
geometry
space
anatomy
Greek & Roman Ideas That Humanists
Focused On:
• 1. Individual worth:
humans can improve
themselves through study
& effort
• 2. One should show a
strong commitment to
public service
• 3. Humans can impact
history, not just God
Pico Della Mirandola
• Giovanni Pico della Mirandola was one of the
foremost intellects of the Italian Renaissance.
Pico boasted that he had studied all schools of
philosophy, which he tried to demonstrate by
drawing up nine hundred theses for public
disputation at the age of twenty-four. As a
preface to his theses, he wrote his famous
Oration on the Dignity of Man, in which he
proclaimed the unlimited potentiality of
human beings.
Pico della Mirandola “On the
Dignity of Man”
• 1. HIPP THE DOCUMENT
• 2. Answer the following:
– 1. Why, in Pico’s view, does man have great dignity
and capacity?
– 2. What does Pico see as the purpose of human
life?
– 3. Renaissance humanism has sometimes been
viewed as opposed to religion, and especially to
the teachings of the Catholic Church at the time.
Roles
•
•
•
•
Leader: 4
Presenter: 2
Recorder: 1
Presenter: 3
Reminder
• Quiz on pages 358-373 on FRIDAY
Humanism in the Arts
• Humanist artists:
– studied Greek and Roman
artistic forms
– often portrayed religious
figures in a more realistic (or
human) way
– painted portraits of the “rich
and famous” people of the
time
– mastered the trick of
perspective, or the ability to
give a painting dimensional
depth
– Rejected medieval Gothic
architecture in favor of classical
Greek forms (columns, arches,
& domes)
Patronage in the Arts
• Art is a luxury good, and as
such, is expensive
• Most Renaissance artists
depended on wealthy
patrons (or “sponsors”),
such as the Medici family or
the pope, who kept them
employed
• In the end, while many
artists had humanist ideals,
they also had to keep their
patrons happy and produce
art that would sell!
The Four “Masters” of the
Italian Renaissance
Donatello
• 1386 – 1466
• Name: Donato di
Niccolo di Betto Barti
• Master sculptor
• Created the first life-size
statue of a rider on
horseback since Roman
times
• Masterworks include his
version of “David”
Leonardo da Vinci
• 1452 – 1519
• Only 15 paintings survive,
but 2 of them are the
most famous of all time –
the “Mona Lisa” & “The
Last Supper”
• Master engineer &
inventor
• Dissected human corpses
to learn anatomy
Mona Lisa
The Last Supper
Michelangelo
• 1475 – 1564
• Name: Michelangelo di
Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
• Master sculptor – the
“Pieta” & “David”
• Painted the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel - mural
depicting the Biblical stories
of Genesis
• Architect – designed the
dome of St. Peter’s
cathedral in Rome
The Sistine Chapel
The Sistine Chapel
David
The Pieta
Raphael
• 1483 – 1520
• Name: Raffaello Sanzio
• Studied works of Leonardo
and Michelangelo
• Painted many “Madonnas”
of Mary and the baby Jesus
• Most famous work, “The
School of Athens,” depicts
an imaginary meeting of
history’s greatest thinkers
and artists and is a
masterpiece of perspective
The School of Athens
Italian Literature
• Baldassare Castiglione →
– Author of The Book of the
Courtier, which told how
to be a proper gentleman
at the royal court
• Petrarch
– Poet, essayist, philosopher;
famous for publishing his
own letters to friends on
various topics; called the
“Father of Humanism”
Niccolo Machiavelli
• Author of The Prince
• Told how to gain and
maintain power through
ruthlessness
• Taught that rulers should
do whatever was
necessary to achieve their
objectives: “the ends
justifies the means”
• His writings still affect
how governments and
political campaigns are
run even today
The Renaissance Spreads
• Renaissance ideas
(especially humanism)
carried into the
Netherlands by the
Roman Catholic priest
Erasmus
• Later spread to England,
France, Spain, &
Germany
Northern Renaissance Art
• Many new painters
flourished, including
van Eyck, Bruegel, &
Rubens
• Used newly invented oil
paints which were
brighter, allowed
greater detail to be
painted, and stood up
better over time
Erasmus
• Wrote a new translation of
the Bible in Greek (violating
Church law) and began to
call on the Church to
translate it into common
languages so that more
people could read it
• Erasmus also openly
criticized the hypocrisies of
the Church in his book In
The Praise of Folly
Northern Renaissance Authors
• ← Thomas More – wrote
Utopia, which described an
ideal society
• Francois Rabelais – wrote
Gargantua and Pantagruel,
a comic social satire
• William Shakespeare –
author of 37 plays including
tragedies, comedies, and
histories (Romeo & Juliet,
Hamlet, McBeth)
• Cervantes – wrote Don
Quixote, which mocked
feudalism & the nobility
The Printing Press
• 1456: Johann Gutenberg
printed the first book in the
west, using technology
imported from East Asia
• Within 20 years, moveable
type had been invented,
making printing even easier
• By 1500, 20 million books
had been printed in Europe
– made books much cheaper
– more access to books = more
people learning to read
– new discoveries and ideas can
spread more quickly