Renaissance
Art
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Characteristics of the Renaissance
• Humanism – focus on worth of man,
especially rationality, not just because it is
part of the church
• Individualism – man has right to, and ought to
be self reliant
• Questioning Attitude / Critical thinking
• Interest in Secular, or non-religious, worldly
matters
• Rise of the middle class
• Great achievements in the arts
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Medieval Art
• Artists depicted
subjects in an
unrealistic twodimensional style to
indicate the importance
of the soul over the
body (religious theme).
• Some of the great art
work was in the stain
glass windows, but
again, two-dimensional.
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Renaissance Art
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Characteristics of Renaissance Art
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Three Dimensional (3-D)
Realistic & Lifelike
Linear Perspective: Vanishing point
Influenced by Greco-Roman culture; its forms and its
themes (i.e. beauty of the human body)
New mediums: Oil on canvas
And old: Frescos
Sculpture in the Round / in Relief
The importance of religion in art
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Leonardo Da Vinci
• The Last Supper
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Leonardo Da Vinci
• Mona Lisa
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Michelangelo
• Moses
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Michelangelo
• The Last Judgment
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Raphael
• Madonnas
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Albretch Durer
• Adoration of the Magi
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Renaissance Architecture
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St. Peter’s Cathedral in the Vatican
• Michelangelo
(also painted the ceiling
of the Sistine Chapel
and Moses)
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Dome of the Cathedral of Florence
• Brunelleschi
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The Renaissance Moves North
• Because of the plague, it was not until 1450 that
northern Europe enjoyed the economic growth that
helped support the Renaissance in Italy.
• Northern artists and writers imitated Italian styles
while adding new methods and ideas of their own.
• As a result of the printing press, books became
more available and people became more literate.
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Renaissance Writers
• Began to use the vernacular instead
of classical Latin.
–(vernacular = the native language)
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Humanism
• Humanism is the idea that is focused on human
achievements and potential rather than religious
themes.
• Focused on the man and his world.
(The importance of man)
• Concentrated on everyday human problems and
relationships.
• Humanists focus on reality and the world around
them (How man relates, pleasure, passion) rather
than morality.)
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Humanism
• The secular nature of humanism, as well as it’s
questioning attitude, often brought it into
conflict with the traditional teachings of the
Catholic Church and Medieval thinking.
• It revolves around the study of the Liberal
Arts: Grammar and Rhetoric, Poetry, History,
and Ethics.
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Petrarch
• Considered the Father of Humanism.
• Believed that God had given man his intellect
and potential to be used to the fullest.
• Wrote poetry in Italian and enumerable works
in Latin on different subjects, but is best
known for his Letters, which fill two volumes.
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William Shakespeare
Hamlet
Taming of the Shrew
A Midsummer’s Night
Dream
Romeo & Juliet
The Histories
The Comedies
The Tragedies
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Shakespeare
• The best known Renaissance writer was
William Shakespeare.
• Between 1590 and 1613 he wrote 37
plays that are still performed around
the world.
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Dante
• The Divine Comedy
• Story written in the
vernacular (Italian)
which tells the story of
a man’s journey
through heaven and
hell.
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Geoffrey Chaucer
Whan that Aprille,
with hise shoures soote,
The droghte of March
hath perced to the roote
• The Canterbury Tales
• Series of stories
depicting the lives of
whole social spectrum
on a pilgrimage to the
shrine of Beckett at the
Canterbury Cathedral in
England
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Machiavelli
• The Prince
– First work of
political science,
instruction
manual for the
Prince to do what
is necessary to
stay in power and
stability.
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Machiavelli
• Machiavelli was a political philosopher.
• The Prince advised kings how to rule.
• In Machiavelli way of thinking, there are no
means in which the end does not justify. (The
end justifies the means.)
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Thomas More
• Utopia, a work of
fiction, tells the story of
a land that is almost
perfect in every way
and serves as an
example of what the
world should be. More
is known as the “Man
for all Seasons” because
of his versatility.
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The Printing Revolution
• In 1456, Johann Gutenberg printed the Bible using
movable metal type on a machine called a printing
press.
• Printed books became cheap and easier to produce
than hand copies.
• Now, readers gained access to broad range of
knowledge. (Medicine to Religion)
• The printing press would greatly contribute to the
Protestant Reformation.
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The Effects of the Renaissance
• The Renaissance belief in the dignity of
the individual played a key role in the
gradual rise of democratic ideas.
• Led to the Scientific Revolution
• Led to the Age of Exploration