Renaissance
• Means
REBIRTH
• Rebirth of art
and learning
• Began in
northern Italy
Economic Foundations
• Increased demand for
Middle Eastern products
• Encouraged the use of
credit and banking
• Letters of credit
expanded supply of
money and sped up
trade.
• New accounting and
bookkeeping practices
used Arabic numerals
Italy
• Italian city-states became
rich from trade:
– Florence
– Venice
– Genoa
• They were trading centers
for the distribution of goods
to northern Europe.
• Independent city-states
governed as republics by
wealthy merchants.
Niccolo Machiavelli
• Wrote The Prince
– guidelines for the
how to get power by
absolute rule.
• Believed the ends
justified the means
• One should do good
if possible, but do
evil when
necessary.
Art and Literature
• Medieval art and
literature focused on
the Church and
salvation.
• Renaissance art and
literature focused on
individuals and
worldly matters,
along with
Christianity.
Artists and Writers
• Artists
–Leonardo da
Vinci
–Michelangelo
• Writers
–Petrarch
Leonardo da Vinci
• Painted the
Mona Lisa and
The Last Supper
• Handsome,
athletic, singer,
artist, scientist,
inventor
Notebooks
Michelangelo
• Painted the
ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel
and sculpted
David
• Sculptor,
painter,
architect, poet
The Sistine Chapel
Ceiling
Creation of Eve
Separation of Light and Darkness
Creation of Adam
The Last Judgment
Pieta
David
Moses
1513-1515
Raphael
Painter
1483-1520
The School of Athens
Pythagoras
Plato and Aristotle
Socrates
Raphael (back)
Euclid
Zoroaster & Ptolemy
Petrarch
• Wrote Sonnets
• He wrote with a
Humanistic
approach
• Considered the
“Father of
Humanism”
Humanism
The Vitruvian Man
• Celebrated the
individual
• Stimulated the study
of Greek and Roman
literature and culture
• Humanists were
supported by
PATRONS who were
very wealthy
Northern Renaissance
• With the rise of
trade, travel and
literacy, the Italian
Renaissance spread
to northern Europe.
• The art and literature
changed as people
of different cultures
adopted
Renaissance ideas.
Northern Renaissance Writers
• Erasmus—The
Praise of Folly
(1511)
• Critical of corrupt
church practices
• Catalyst for
Protestant
Reformation
Northern Renaissance Writers
• Sir Thomas More
—Utopia (1516)
• Depicts world with
perfect social,
legal and political
system
• Leading humanist
scholar
The Printing
Press
• Major invention of the Renaissance
• Printing press created by Johannes Gutenberg
– Was the first way to print large amounts of text at
once, instead of by hand or by blocks
– 1st book printed was the “Gutenberg Bible”
• Influence of the printing press was…
–
–
–
–
Made books faster and more accessible to people
Made books much cheaper than before
Increased the literacy rate of people in Europe
Allowed more people the ability to be educated