NOTES FOR TOPIC 1 Renaissance (French word used in English) Literal meaning of the word = rebirth (“renascence”) classical antiquity = the culture and civilization of ancient Greece and Rome rinascita dell’antichità = Italian for “rebirth of antiquity”

Early Renaissance attitudes toward the past and the present Poggio Bracciolini’s lament about the demise of ancient Rome (ca. 1430): “Surely this city is to be mourned over, which once produced so many illustrious men..., which was the... parent of so many and such great virtues, the mother of so many good arts, the city from which flowed military discipline, purity of morals and life, the decrees of law, the models of all the virtues, and the knowledge of right living.” Matteo Palmieri’s optimistic view of the present (ca. 1440): “Now may every thoughtful mind thank God for having been... born in this new age, so full of hope and promise, which already rejoices in a greater array of noble and gifted men than the world has seen in the last thousand years.” Ciriaco of Ancona’s notion (ca. 1450) that it was the responsibility of the present “to restore the dead..., to revive the glorious things that were alive to those living in antiquity but had become buried and defunct..., to bring them from the dark tomb to light, to live once more....”

Classical AntiquityThe Renaissance 600 B.C.-400 A.D.Begins c (1000 years) Middle Age(s) (1000 years) Medio Evo “medieval” Note: the letter “c.” before a date (sometimes written “ca.”) is an abbrev- iation for the Latin word circa, meaning “about” or “approximately.”

Doryphoros (Spear Bearer) Hermes (Mercury) (classical “nudes” standing in the contrapposto pose) Roman copies of lost ancient Greek statues

Doryphoros (Spear Bearer) Note also the importance of proportions: the relation of one part of the figure to another, or to the whole, in terms of size. Classical proportions are generally based on the height of the head. The whole body is between 7 and 8 heads high (with major horizontal divisions at the nipples, the navel, the bottom of the “epigastric arch,” etc.).

Hermes Aphrodite (Venus)

Doryphoros Draped Woman (original ancient Greek statue)

Draped Woman Early medieval Crucifixion (8th century A.D.)

Draped Woman Gothic statues of Saints from Chartres Cathedral (12th century)

Gothic statues of Saints from Chartres Cathedral (12th century)

DetailGothic statues of Saints

Early medieval CrucifixionDetail of Gothic Saints

St. Mark by Donatello (Early Renaissance, ) Draped Woman

David by Donatello (Early Renaissance, 1440s?) Hermes