Out of the doom and gloom of the Dark Ages…

Society is “reborn!”

The Renaissance

You are about to enter a world where science, exploration, literature, and art thrived …

And life was centered on The Individual

Feathers shall raise men even as they do birds, toward heaven: that is by letters written with their quills --Leonardo da Vinci

Educated men and women hoped to bring back the life and culture of Greece and Rome But, of course, bringing back a golden age is never possible. What they created was something totally new…

And it all begins in…yep, you guessed it…Northern Italy

The Renaissance begins… The Renaissance began in the city-states of Northern Italy, especially Florence, Venice, Genoa, and Milan.

The Renaissance begins… Wealthy merchants, like the Medici family in Florence, dominated politics and society as well as business Cosmio de Medici to the left

The Renaissance begins… Most of these merchants came from poor families. They rose to power thanks to their own hard work and intelligence. They believed they were great because of their merit as individuals Just as these merchants competed with one another in business, they also competed as patrons, or sponsors, of the ARTS.

The Renaissance Man and Woman Born!

The (Ideal) Renaissance Man A man should be Well educated in the classics of Greece and Rome Charming, polite, and witty Dance, write poetry, sing and play music Physically graceful and strong, a skilled rider, wrestler, and swordsman

The (Ideal) Renaissance Woman But women were also expected to inspire poetry and art. They were expected to be the object of great art, not the artist themselves A woman should Be as well educated as men Know the classics Paint Write Make music

The Early Renaissance

The Early Renaissance is marked by significant achievements in art, literature, and the celebration of the INDIVIDUAL. Giotto was the artist Dante was the writer Both were individuals

Giotto

Giotto Giotto di Bondone is credited with making a break with the flat, lifeless style of the Medieval artists He painted bodies that looked real and lifelike, with bodies and faces that were rounded.

Before Giotto Before Giotto After Giotto

Dante

Dante Fell in love at the age of 10. She was 8. She (Beatrice) became his muse. They became the model for men and women of the time Dante’s most famous work, The Divine Comedy, is a poem in three parts. The Inferno Purgatorio Paridisio

Dante…….. His masterpiece showed both the religious ideas of the Middle Ages and the worldly concerns of the Renaissance. It was a philosophical bridge between Europe’s past and future.

Dante…… Wrote in vernacular: everyday language of his homeland. Gave the Italian language prestige. Creator of modern Italian.

“Man can do anything, if he will”

The Quattrocento

As the golden age of the Quattrocento came to be, the merchants of Italy took pleasure in beautifying the city they ruled.

Artists like Masaccio, sculptors like Donatello, and authors like Machiavelli took what the earlier Renaissance men had done and moved forward

Donatello

Donatello

Masaccio

Masaccio

Machiavelli

Machiavelli In The Prince, Machiavelli comes up with the philosophy that in politics, the ends justify the means. “…for the lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to fight wolves.”

The High Renaissance

The High Renaissance Here we find the painter Raphael, the painter and sculptor Michelangelo, and the epitome of the Renaissance Man…Leonardo da Vinci Renaissance art, literature, and science was lifted to unsurpassed brilliance.

Michelangelo

Michelangelo Michelangelo became a painter at 13. At 23, he carved the “Pieta.” It was immediately hailed as a masterpiece In 1504, he completed another masterpiece, the statue of the Biblical warrior and king…David

It was in 1508 when Michelangelo began his “greatest” work…the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

Some of the most famous… The Creation of Man

Raphael

Raphael paints a Renaissance “Hall of Fame”

And finally… Leonardo da Vinci

Inventor

Scientist

Artist

Renaissance Man

The Renaissance doesn’t just stay in Italy The Renaissance doesn’t just stay in Italy. It influences all of Europe through thinkers like Columbus, Shakespeare, Galileo, and Guttenberg as well as hundreds of artists.

And stands as a shining moment in history where the individual could take center stage.