1. The Renaissance

2. The Renaissance in Italy1
The Renaissance in Italy
Objectives:
Why were the Italian city-states a favorable setting for a cultural rebirth?
What was the Renaissance?
What themes and techniques did Renaissance artists and writers explore?

3. life in the City-States
Social structure was not based around manor life, but city-life and trade
Guilds- groups where members are involved in the same trade; Metalworkers, merchants, bakers, etc.
As guilds became more powerful, they wanted a greater say in politics and government, the Popolo, or organization of guilds fought for rights
Raised status of the “Common Man” to “Citizen”

4. Powerful Families of Italy
The House
of Sforza
The
House
of Borgia
of Medici
Ruling Family of:
Milan
Rome
Florence
Ruled Milan from
Allied with Borgia Family
Founder of dynasty, Muzio, came from peasant family.
Muzio and son Francisco, became successful mercenary soldiers and used his military position to become rulers in Milan
Prominent ecclesiastical and political family in the 15th and 16th centuries, producing two popes:  Pope Callixtus III during 1455–1458, and Rodrigo Borgia, as Pope Alexander VI, during 1492–1503.
suspected of many crimes, including  adultery, incest, nepotism, theft, bribery, and murder
Success in commerce and banking. ( )
Support of the arts and humanities made Florence into the cradle of the Renaissance.
Family produced four popes (Leo X, Clement VII, Pius IV and Leon XI), and their genes have been mixed into many of Europe’s royal families.

5. Commercial Success – The “Merchant Princes”
Money Translated into cultural and political power
These were individuals and families who had become wealthy through trade.
They had a respect for human achievement and a commitment to public good.
Medici Family at the center of Italian Renaissance
Cosimo de’ Medici consolidated power in A.D.
Grandson, Lorenzo de’ Medici became patron –
or financial supporter of the arts

6. Pre-Medici Florence - Economy
Banking was a major source of power and income, and the Florentine gold coin, the florin was so reliable that it was the standard coinage in Europe
Much of Florence's wealth was dependent on the manufacture and trade of cloth, primarily wool.
The Florin

7. Beginnings of Medici Power
Giovanni di Bicci de’Medici
First of the famous ruling Medici’s and considered founder of Medici family fortune
Giovanni is considered to be the first prominent patron of the arts
Giovanni was a leader not concerned with politics, but rather the family fortune and the arts
Giovanni died in 1429 and his son Cosimo became head of the Medici family

8. Rise of Cosimo de’Medici
Became head of powerful family bank, and amassed a fortune because he became banker to the pope, and his bank also spread to all the important financial markets throughout Europe.
Cosimo was very interested in a rebirth of classical ideas and even went so far as to recreate Plato’s ancient academy in Carregi.
Cosimo was also a very religious man and much of his patronage of the arts was rooted in his religious fervor.
Cosimo spent a considerable portion of his wealth on the arts
Amassed the largest library in Europe
Supported artists such as Ghiberti, Brunellechi, Donatello, Alberti, Fra Angelico, and Ucello
Florence became cultural center of Europe

10. The Medici Family
Cosimo-spent part of his wealth on charitable acts, lived simply, and cultivated literature and the arts. Amassed the largest library in Europe, brought in many Greek sources.
He was a patron of many artists including the great master Donatello.
Florence became the cultural center of Europe and the center of the new Humanism.
Lorenzo The Magnificent," as he was called by the people of Florence, was a statesman, ruler, and patron of the arts.
Lorenzo ruled Florence with his younger brother, Giuliano, from to 1478.
He contributed more than anyone to the Florentine art, supporting such Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.

11. Decline of the Patronage
Lorenzo died in 1492, at the moment that a new historical era was beginning (King Charles VIII was about to great chaos on the Italian peninsula)
His concern of politics and the arts however, led to mismanagement of the Medici bank and eventual collapse of their banks
Lorenzo was succeeded in Florence by the fervent leader, Savonarola who was a strong believer in aestheticism

12. The Pazzi Conspiracy
Francesco de' Pazzi put together a plan to assassinate Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici. Pope Sixtus was approached for his support. He made a very carefully worded statement in which he said he was unable to sanction killing. He made it clear that it would be of great benefit to the papacy to have the Medici removed from their position of power in Florence
An assassination attempt on the Medici brothers was made during Easter mass at the Cathedral of Florence on April 26, Giuliano de’ Medici was killed by Francesco Pazzi, but Lorenzo was able to defend himself and escaped only slightly wounded.
The people rose up to support the Medici, seized the Pazzi conspirators, executed them, and the bodies were put on display or dragged through the streets.
The Pazzi were banished from Florence, and their lands and property confiscated. Their name and their coat of arms were perpetually suppressed. The name was erased from public registers, and all buildings and streets carrying it were renamed

13. The Pazzi Conspiracy
1479 drawing by Leonardo da Vinci of hanged Pazzi conspirator Bernardo Bandini dei Baroncelli

14. Post-Medici – Girolamo Savonarola
Girolamo Savonarola was a preacher who settled in Florence in 1489.
He attacked the tyranny of the Medici family in his sermons, and when in 1494, Charles VIII of France invaded Italy, the Medici’s lost power, and Savonarola took control, putting Florence under extremely rigid control.
Savonarola’s influence did not go unnoticed by the higher church officials, however, and his excesses earned him the disdain of Pope Alexander VI.
He was eventually excommunicated on May 13, His charge was heresy and sedition at the command of Pope Alexander VI. [5]Savonarola was executed on May 23, 1498, hung on a cross and burned to death

15. The Bonfire of the Vanities
Bonfire occurred Feb. 7, 1497
Beginning about 1490, Savonarola began to preach with more insistence about the Apocalypse he believed would occur in the year
At the same time, she writes, the ruling family of Florence, the Medicis, were losing power and the respect of the people.
In 1494, “inflamed by Savonarola’s preaching,” mobs burned down the Medicis’ bank, the center of their power, after the family fled the city. Savonarola took power and started criticizing contemporary art.
The focus of this destruction was nominally on objects that might tempt one to sin, including vanity items such as mirrors, cosmetics, fine dresses, playing cards, even musical instruments, Humanist writings and paintings.

16. Hanging and burning of Girolamo Savonarola in Piazza della Signoria in Florence in 1498, attributed to Francesco di Lorenzo Rosselli, Museo di San Marco, Florence

17. Videos The Medicis- Godfathers of the Renaissance
=PL6oforB7ir5JnS2wIJlMYixC5rWlzqtET
School of Life
PBS- la.html