Section 1
Italy: Birthplace of the Renaissance
Read Chapter 17 Section 1
**There will be a reading comprehension quiz
tomorrow in class.**
An Age of Questions
 During the late Middle Ages,
Europeans suffered from war
and plague
 People began to question the
Church and the structure of
medieval society
 People wanted to celebrate life
and the human spirit
 People looked at classical past
for ideas
Crash Course on the
Renaissance
The Birthplace of the Renaissance
 Renaissance (1300-1600)
 Explosion of creativity in Europe
Art, writing, and thought
 “rebirth” – a rebirth of art and learning
 Educated people hoped to bring back to life the cultures of Ancient
Greece and Rome
 The Renaissance began in Italy

and spread north
 Hit England and France
later because they were
suffering from the
Hundred Years’ War
Italy’s Advantages
 Italy had 3 advantages that fostered the Renaissance:
 cities and urban centers
 wealthy merchant class
 classical heritage
Cities and Urban Centers
 Overseas trade started
during the Crusades and led
to the growth of large cities
in Italy
 As a result, Italy was urban
while the rest of Europe was
still mostly rural.
 The plague allowed people
to pursue new interests,
such as art
 The plague also caused a
shortage of workers and
allowed the survivors to
expand their businesses
Wealthy Merchant Class
 In Italian cities, merchants were the wealthiest and
most powerful class, dominating politics
 Becoming wealthy was based on achievements, not
heritage
 Ex. Florence’s Medici
Family
 Traders and bankers
 Ruled Florence for
years as dictators
but gave the
appearance of an
elected government
 Supported the arts
Classical Heritage
 The Renaissance brought a
desire to return to the
teachings of ancient Greece
and Rome
 Many scholars studied Latin
and studied Latin
manuscripts that were
preserved in monasteries.
Classical and Worldly Values
 The study of classical works led to new ideas and
values in Europe
 Humanism
 An intellectual
movement that focused
on human potential and
achievements
 Study of humanities =
history, literature, and
philosophy
Classical and Worldly Values
 Enjoyment of life
 One can enjoy life without
offending God
 The wealthy lived more
luxuriously
 Most people remained Catholic
but the spirit of Renaissance
society was secular, or worldly,
rather than spiritual, and
concerned with the here and now
 Patrons of the Arts
 People looked to beautify Rome
 Patrons of the arts financially
supported artists
Classical and Worldly Values
 The Renaissance Man
 The ideal individual strove to master
almost every area of study
 A man who excelled in many fields was
praised as a “universal man” or a
“Renaissance man”
 Baldassare Castiglione wrote The
Courtier, that taught how to become
an Renaissance man.




Charming and witty
Well educated on classics
Dance, sing, play music, and write poetry
Skilled rider, wrestler, and swordsman
Classical and Worldly Values
 Renaissance Women
 Also addressed in The Courtier
 Expected to know the classics
and be charming, yet not
expected to seek fame
 Inspire art but rarely create it
 Much better educated than
women of the Middle Ages, but
had little influence in politics
Read “Analyzing Primary Documents” on page 473.
Answer Document-Based Questions 1 and 2
In your notebook, copy down all terms and definitions
in Sections 1 and 2.
Page 477
Answer #s 2-6
The Renaissance
Revolutionized Art
 As the Renaissance advanced,
artistic styles changed.
 Renaissance artists portrayed
religious subjects, but they used a
realistic style.
 More realistic sculptures with
natural postures and expressions

Ex. Donatello’s David
 Roman painters used the
technique of perspective, which
shows three dimensions on a flat
surface
 Emphasis on individual led to
portraits of prominent citizens
Perspective
Marriage of the
Virgin
(1504) Raphael
Perspective
School of Athens (1508) Raphael
Leonardo da Vinci
 A true “Renaissance man”
 Painter, sculptor,
inventor, and scientist
 Interested in how things
worked

How muscles moved
 The Mona Lisa and The
Last Supper studied the
human body
Mona Lisa
(1503-1506)
Leonardo da
Vinci
The Last Supper, (1494-1498)
Leonardo da Vinci
The da Vinci Notebooks
Write a 2 page compare and contrast essay:
1. Research a “Renaissance man” from the 1300-1500s.
(Cannot be Leonardo da Vinci or Michelangelo)
2. Think of and research a contemporary “Renaissance man” from 2015.
(ex. Bill Gates, Oprah, Donald Trump, etc.)
3. After researching both people, write a compare and contrast essay:
•
Tell me why each of these people can be considered
“Renaissance men./women”. What have they done to earn this
title?
•
What attributes did a person need to have in the 1300-1500s to
be considered a “Renaissance man”?
•
What attributes does a person need to have today in order to
be considered a “Renaissance man/woman”?
Renaissance Writers Change
Literature
 Some writers continued to
write in the vernacular, or
the everyday language of an
area
 Wrote for self-expression
 Niccolo Machiavelli wrote
“The Prince” as an
examination of the
imperfection of human beings
 “The Prince” examines how a
ruler can gain power and keep
it in spite of his enemies
Section 2
The Northern Renaissance
Read Chapter 17 Section 2
**There will be a reading comprehension quiz
tomorrow in class.**
The Northern Renaissance
 By late 1400s Renaissance ideas
has spread to Northern
Europe, especially England,
France, Germany, and Flanders
(now part of France and the
Netherlands)
 After the Hundred Years’ War
cities in England and France
grew rapidly.
 Merchants became wealthy
and sponsored artists.
 Due to northern traditions that
were different from those in
Italy, the Northern Renaissance
developed its own character.
Artistic Ideas Spread
 As Italian artists traveled north
and as Northern European
artists studied in Italy, the
styles and techniques of the
Italian Renaissance spread.
 German artists Albrecht
Durer
 Studied in Italy
 Religious subjects, classical
myths, landscapes
 Emphasis on realism
The Great Piece
of Turf
(1503)
Albrecht Durer
Virgin and Child
Before Archway
(1495)
Albrecht Durer
Artistic Ideas
Spread
 Flemish Renaissance
painter – Jan van Eyck
 Used new medium of oil-
based paints to develop
techniques that painters
still use
 Realistic details and
personality of subjects
The Virgin of
Chancellor
Rolin
(1435)
Jan van Eyck
Arnolfini
Wedding
Portrait
(1434)
Jan van Eyck
Northern Writers Try to Reform
Society
 Northern humanists used Renaissance ideas to examine
the traditional teachings of the Church.
 Critical of the failure
of the Christian
Church to get people
to live a Christian life
 Started a movement
called Christian
humanism

Goal was to reform
society and educate
Northern Writers Try to Reform
Society
 Desiderius Erasmus and
Thomas More– Christian
humanists
 Erasmus – The Praise of Folly –
poked fun a greedy merchants,
quarrelsome scholar and
pompous priests
 More- Utopia – a better model
of society where greed,
corruption, and war have been
weeded out

Utopia – “no place”; and ideal
place
1. Read “Analyzing Art” on page 481
Answer “Skill Builder” Question
2. Answer “Man Ideas” #3 on page 485
3. Read “City Life in Renaissance Europe” on page 486-487
Answer “Connect to Today” Questions #1 and 2
The Elizabethan Age
 The Renaissance spread to
England in the mid 1500s
 The period was known as the
Elizabethan Age
 Queen Elizabeth I reigned
from 1558-1603
 “Renaissance woman”: spoke 4
languages, ruled as Queen of
England, poet, wrote music,
and was a patron of the arts
The Elizabethan Age
 The most famous writer of the
Elizabethan Age was William
Shakespeare
 Wrote poems and plays that were




performed at the Globe Theater in
London
Drew on the classics for inspiration
and plots
Showed deep understanding of
human beings and examined human
flaws
Tragedies: Macbeth, Hamlet, Romeo
and Juliet
Comedies: A Midsummer’s Night
Dream, The Taming of the Shrew
Printing Spreads Renaissance Ideas
 Johann Gutenberg
reinvented the Chinese
moveable type in 1440
 printing press – a machine
that presses paper against a
tray full of inked moveable
type
 Made the process of
printing books quicker and
cheaper
 Gutenberg printed a
complete Bible, The
Gutenberg Bible in 1455
Printing Spreads Renaissance Ideas
 The printing press had a
significant impact on
European society
 Able to print many more
books in a short amount of
time
 Made books cheaper so the
average person could buy
them
 New ideas spread more
quickly

Religious books as well as
many other subjects of the
Renaissance
Printing Spreads Renaissance Ideas
 The printing press had a significant impact on
European society (continued)
 Encouraged people to read

Literacy rates rose
 Authors continued to
write in the vernacular
so that the average
person could read


Printed the Bible in the
vernacular so people
could better
understand scripture
This leads to reform in
the Church