The Renaissance
-Describe three of the great changes that occurred in Europe
during the Renaissance.
-Explain the influence Petrarch had on the Renaissance in
.Europe
-Identify the practices within the Roman Catholic Church that
led to the Reformation.
-Explain how people’s thinking changed during the Renaissance.
-Explain the effects that the Renaissance continues to have on
us today.
The Duomo of Florence
The Awakening
• Italy consisted of many city-states, but three
were very important.
– Florence
– Milan
– Venice
• These were the sites of trade and commerce
(the buying and selling of large quantity of
goods.
• Florence was the birthplace of the
Renaissance.
• The Renaissance was the intellectual and
economic movement that saw a revived
interest in the art, social, and scientific, and
political ideas of ancient Greece and Rome.
Italian City-States
Petrarch
• A poet and a scholar
• A powerful influence on
the early Renaissance
• He encouraged people to
seek out and study the
philosophy and literature
of the past.
• He encouraged people to
speak and write
thoughtfully.
• “The style is the man.”
• “Careless expression was
the sign of careless
thought.”
The Awakening
• As markets grew, merchants, bankers,
and trades people became more
prosperous.
• They wanted fine clothing and jewelry.
• The Renaissance spread to England,
France, Germany, the Netherlands, and
Spain.
Art in the Renaissance
Art in the Renaissance
• The Renaissance began in Italy for several
reasons.
– Ancient ruins could be seen all over the Italian
Peninsula.
– Trade made the Italian city-states wealthy.
– The wealthy people would hire artists to create
beautiful works of art.
• Unlike medieval European artists, Renaissance
painters and sculptors portrayed people and
nature realistically.
Renaissance Artists
• They were inspired by Greek and Roman
artists.
• They mastered the art of the perspective –
objects in paintings are closer or farther
from their viewer.
• They gave depth to pictures as well as
proportion to people, things, and buildings.
The Betrothal of the Arnolfini
Raphael’s School of Athens
Famous Renaissance Artists
• Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo
da Vinci were famous Renaissance
artists.
• Some people considered them to be
geniuses.
• Raphael was noted for his portraits of the
Mother of Jesus.
– He mastered perspective and architecture.
Michelangelo
• Not only a painter, but the
finest sculptor of the
Renaissance.
• He painted the Sistine
Chapel in fresco and
sculpted the Pieta.
• He carefully chose
marble blocks by visiting
the quarries where they
were mined.
• He would visit the mine
before the sun rose and
wait to see how the sun
shone through the marble
in order to recognize
flaws.
Pieta
The Sistine Chapel
Leonardo da Vinci
• A painter, sculptor, engineer,
and a scientist.
• His most famous paintings
were the Mona Lisa and The
Last Supper.
• He created statues of men
and horses.
• As a scientist, he
investigated optics (the study
of light and vision), and
dissected human bodies to
study anatomy.
Mona Lisa
The Last Supper
Leonardo Da Vinci
• Leonardo Da Vinci is believed to be the first
person to draw the human body accurately.
• He experimented with mechanics, the study of
forces on solids, liquids and gases.
• He build models of aircrafts, a parachute, tanks,
machine guns, and moveable bridges.
• He wrote books backwards so they had to be
held up to a mirror.
– He didn’t want everyone to read what he everything
he wrote.
Leonardo Da Vinci’s Flying
Machine
Revolution in Science
• Renaissance thinkers believe people
should use reasoned thought and the
scientific method to understand how the
world works.
• Two very influential scientists were
Copernicus and Galileo.
– Both were astronomers and both taught that
the Earth moves around the sun.
Copernicus
• Copernicus taught at
the University of
Cracow in Poland.
• His studies led him to
believe that the Earth
was not the center of
the universe.
• He wrote his ideas in
1510 but did not allow
them to be published
until 1540.
Galileo
• He lived in Italy and
taught at the University of
Pisa.
• He spoke out in favor of
Copernicus’ ideas and
was criticized by the
Catholic Church.
• He built an improved
telescope and became
the first person to point it
to the sky.
– He used it to study the sky.
Galileo
• Galileo’s studies challenged the Catholic
Church and they placed him on trial.
• He was put on house arrest for the rest of
his life.
• He still described the motion of pendulums
and the physics of motion.
Renaissance Inventions
• Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press
that used movable type, or small reusable
metal pieces for each letter or number.
• In 1455 he introduced a Bible printed on his
printing press.
• Up until this time, books had to be written by
hand.
• The printing press produced books far more
quickly and allowed books to become more
affordable for the middle class.
The Printing Press
• Invented by Johannes
Gutenberg.
• Produced books far more
quickly than they could by
hand.
• The demand for books
grew and the book trade
flourished.
• Books were made more
affordable for the
educated middle class.
• People became more
literate and the economy
strengthened.
Other Inventions
• Leonardo Da Vinci experimented with
mechanics, but many of his inventions were too
advanced for his time.
• The watch was created in the early 1500’s.
• A mainspring was created so clocks didn’t have
to be operated by fallen weights and remain
stationary.
• A compound microscope was later improved
upon and a single lens microscope was created
in 1670 that could magnify and object 270 times
its real size.
• The air thermometer was invented in 1592.
The Need for Church Reform
Problems with the Church
- The Church became wealthy
and with wealth came
corruption.
- The Church sold
indulgences, or pardons
from punishment for sins.
- Originally, indulgences could
be received by doing charity
or fasting, but now people
could buy them.
- Indulgences were given to
crusaders who fought in the
war.
Martin Luther
• He believed Christians
should not be judged by the
good works they perform, but
by their belief in God.
• He challenged the Church by
posting 95 theses and
attacked the sale of
indulgences.
• He believed people should
read and interpret the Bible
themselves. The church said
only the pope or other church
officials should do this.
• Martin Luther called for a
debate.
Reactions to Martin Luther
• The church excommunicated, or expelled,
Martin Luther from the Church.
• Martin Luther was asked to take back his
statements but he said he could not.
• People who followed his beliefs became
Lutherans.
• Other groups started to break away from the
Church.
• The Reformation began in which people
wanted to reform or change the church.
– This began a movement known as Protestantism.
The Catholic Church Responds
• The Catholic Church calls the Council of Trent.
• These efforts were known as The CounterReformation.
• Roman Catholics still accepted that only the
Church could explain the Bible.
• The believed the pope was the highest authority
in church.
• The church began a ban on the selling of
indulgences.
• The Catholic Church was again split between
Catholics and Protestants.