1. The Beginnings of the Renaissance

2. Contrasts between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
philosophy
Middle Ages
renaissance
Chivalry
Ethical system for upper class based on honor and respect (lower class not considered worthy of following the code of chivalry)
Christian belief system
Love God, love all, humble yourself, give to the church, etc.
Humanism
Potential of humans needs to be explored and discovered
Humans are capable of doing anything; we just have to discover how
Extreme humanism: This world’s endeavors are all that there is and it is up to Man to discern morality and humanity’s destiny.

3. Contrasts between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
Social order
Middle Ages
renaissance
Feudalism
Where are you in the pie slices?
Church leaders seeking earthly power
Rediscovery of democratic ideas
Nobility more determined by the monetary wealth of a family, rather than just heredity and land ownership
Discovery of the wider world
People could start over in the new world
Capitalism
Anyone can achieve monetary gain though free trade

4. Social Structures

5. Culture changed Crusaders brought back ideas
Crusaders brought back artifacts
Crusaders brought back scholars
Political institutions shifted (power)
Trade increased (money)
Intellectual efforts increased (ideas)

6. Patronage
With changes in the political situation, ruling powers emerged all over Europe
Small feudal areas consolidated and became larger kingdoms with more powerful, richer rulers.
What to do with all the money?
Support the arts!
Power + money + ideas = patronage

7. Influences on the early Renaissance
War
New ideas
Growing middle class
Increased trade
Relative stability
Increased status of the artist

8. Discoveries and changes in the early Renaissance
Technology
perspective: 1300’s
printing press: 1446
Ideas: return to emphasis on Classical
knowledge and literature.
Discovery
Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Balboa

9. The Sciences

10. Father of modern astronomy, physics and science

11. Galileo Developed the telescope
Argued that the sun was the center of the universe
Encouraged by the Medici family
Tutored the Medici children
Named the moons of Jupiter after them
Housed by the family when the Inquisition was after him

12. The ARTS

13. The Medici Family They lived in Florence
They were money lenders (bankers)
They were filthy rich
They developed a school for artists, encouraged musicians and philosophers.
The arts flourished

14. Lorenzo di Medici

15. Artists and thinkers they funded
Masaccio
Ghiberti
Donatello
Fra Angelico
Galileo
Michelangelo
Peter Paul Rubens

16. Donatello’s David - first free standing nude since the Romans - return to contraposto

17. Masaccio - Trinity > scientific perspective more realistic

18. The World “Wakes Up” Rebirth of Classical thought
(Classical Greece, Roman politics, search for realistic beauty in art, etc.)
Study of God the Supreme Being replaced by study of human being (reverse of Plato and Aristotle)
Art was the means to explore all facets of life on earth

19. Benozzo Gozzoli Journey of the Magi

20. Major Breakthroughs
Oil on stretched canvas—provided artists with a greater range of rich colors with smooth shading and value changes to represent textures and simulate three-dimensional form.
Use of perspective—illusion of depth; lines in a picture converge on a vanishing point

21. Major Breakthroughs cont’d
Use of Chiaroscuro—the use of light and shadow in a painting; lighter parts emerge from darker areas, producing the effect of sculptural relief
Pyramid configuration—three dimmensional ordering of objects in which foreground, middleground are considered; ALSO, the triangular 2-D arrangement of objects (Mona Lisa)

22. Masaccio ( )
Expulsion from the Garden of Eden
Human figure painted as a real human being, not a linear column
Mastery of perspective
Constant source of light casting shadows

23. “The Tribute Money” (Shows a mastery of perspective)
Further study:

24. Sandro Botticelli (c. 1485-86)
“Birth of Venus” (Greek/Roman goddess)

25. Decorative linear style
More like Byzantine art
Nudes were a good example of renaissance styles

26. The Italians tried so passionately to recapture the former glory of Rome, that the classical myths became popular among educated laymen. To these men, the mythology of the admired Greeks and Romans represented something more than gay and pretty fairy-tales. They were so convinced of the superior wisdom of the ancients that they believed these classical legends must contain some profound and mysterious truth.

29. Piero Della Francesca (1420?-92)
The Baptism (1442)
Francesca was a skilled landscape artist
He used sacred geometry in composing his paintings
His works were frescoes and oil

30. Resur- rection (1463)

31. The Ideal City
Perfect perspective
Humanistic ideal?

32. Ghiberti: The Doors of Paradise

33. Baptistry Doors

34. Ghiberti (1381-1455) contained 10 squares, or reliefs,
took 21 years to create
Michelangelo called them worthy to be the Doors of Paradise

36. When he finished Ghiberti was asked to do another set of doors
When he finished Ghiberti was asked to do another set of doors. They took 29 years to create.
They depict the events leading to and the life of Christ.

38. Fra Angelico "it is impossible to bestow too much praise on this holy father, who was so humble and modest in all that he did and said and whose pictures were painted with such facility and piety."

39. Filippo Brunelleschi Sculptor and architect (1377 – 1446)

40. Florence Duomo
The cathedral was so enormous that the usual methods of fixed scaffolding from the ground could not be used.
It seemed quite impossible to roof over a space of 45.5 meters in diameter without some sort of reinforcement.

41. The challenge was resolved by Bruneleschi who was an expert in the rules of perspective and mathematics, as well as being a real enthusiast for the construction techniques used by the ancient Romans. He got his final inspiration from an attentive study of the cupola of the Pantheon, which had also been carried out without scaffolding and with a double wall.
Construction of the dome took from 1420 to 1446

42. Florence Duomo