1. The Renaissance

2. What is the Renaissance?
1300 – 1600
“rebirth”
Great intellectual and artistic creativity during the Renaissance
Began in northern Italy while France and England were fighting the Hundred Years War
Marked by a revival or rebirth of interest in classical Greek and Roman art, literature, and learning

3. Conditions that gave rise to the Renaissance
Northern Italy was a highly urban region – Venice, Genoa and Florence were major centers for trade. Venice and Genoa were seaports
Northern Italy was a merchant’s region – they dominated politics, society and business. Success depended on wit not inherited social rank – idea of individual achievement.
Popes no longer had control of Italian city-states due to the Great Schism
Merchants competed with each other for business, and as patrons or sponsors for the arts – glory in helping artists create works of genius.

4. New Values
Celebration of the individual was a theme of the Renaissance
In the middle ages artists worked for the glory of God, in the Renaissance artists wanted to be known as individuals
Renaissance scholars loved the writings of Greece and Rome – they were called humanists
There was an enjoyment of worldly pleasures – a person might love and enjoy life without offending God.

5. Renaissance Continued
“The Renaissance Man” – Those who excelled in many fields (art, architecture, science – like Leonardo Da Vinci
The Courtier – Book written that described the Renaissance ideal for men
Upper class women were as well educated as men during the Renaissance, HOWEVER most women had less political, economic and social influence than women of the Middle Ages
Florence was the leading city during the Renaissance – textiles and banking
The Medici family ruled Florence during the Renaissance

6. The Artists
Giotto
Early 1300’s, mastered the technique known as fresco painting (painting with pigments on wet plaster)
Style was different than the Middle Ages – figures looked real and lifelike, created illusion of depth in his paintings
This is Giotto’s Ognissanti Madonna

7. Donatello Rejected the style of Medieval stonecutters.
Wanted his figures to appear real and alive
1st European since ancient times to create a large free standing human figure in the nude.
Mazzoco – Emblem of Florence

8. Michelangelo - David
“David” white marble statue of the biblical figure.
16ft. Tall
Expresses Renaissance belief in human dignity and greatness, one of the most famous works of art of the Renaissance.

9. Michelangelo – The Sistine Chapel
Asked to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican in 1508
The popes were rebuilding Rome which had declined while the Popes lived in Avignon
He painted over 5,800 ft. of ceiling over 3 years – on his back
It contains 9 paintings illustrating the Creation, the birth of Adam, and the story of Noah

12. Raphael
La Belle Jardinière

13. Boticelli – Birth of Venus

14. Leonardo Da Vinci Had a fascination with the human personality
He was a painter, inventor, and scientist among other things.
Essence of the ideal of the “Renaissance Man”

15. Mona Lisa

16. The Last Supper

17. The Northern European Artists of the Renaissance
Many northern European artists who had visited Italy brought back the ideas of classical culture, curiosity in the world and human potential to their countries.
Helped spread the Renaissance and Renaissance ideals throughout Europe.
Includes painters, sculptors,writers, etc.

18. Durer
Produced woodcuts and engravings that became very popular in in Germany
Emphasis on realism
Style spread to other German artists

19. Hans Holbein the Younger Specialized in painting portraits that looked like photographs
Henry VIII

20. Bruegel the Elder
Flemish painter captured scenes from everyday life such as weddings, dances, harvest, and the changing seasons. Rich colors and vivid details
The Peasant Dance

21. Writers and Philosophers
Dante 1265 – 1321
Poet, Born in Florence
Used real people in his poem – used dead friends and enemies in his poems and told of their lives.
Poems comment on the political events of the time
Interest in human personality is key.
His Divine Comedy is sometimes called the “bridge” between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

22. Petrarch Born 1304 Wrote poems and letters in Italian and Latin
Imitated the classical style of Cicero
Strove for simplicity and purity in his writings.

23. Machiavelli
Wrote during a time period of war in Italy, Italian city-states were forced to ally themselves with foreign powers (like Spain)
The Prince – Wrote this book while angry about the invasion of foreigners – book is about gaining and keeping power
Thought most people were selfish, fickle and corrupt
Concerned with what was politically effective – NOT morally correct. Maintain political power any way possible. The end justifies the mean.

24. By the 1600’s new ideas and artistic styles appeared which brought an end to the Renaissance.
The ideals of the Renaissance continued to influence Europe and the ideal of individualism from the Renaissance will play a major role in the rise of democratic ideas.