The Renaissance
Birth of Venus – Botticelli, 1485
Aim: Why did the Renaissance begin in Italy?
(1)Explain how life was during the Greek and Roman
civilizations.
(2)Explain Humanism and Secularism.
(3)Who was Leonardo DaVinci and what did he
contribution to Art
Before the Middle Ages, before
the Plague, there was the glory
of the ancient Greeks and Romans.
After the damage
of the Bubonic
Plague,
Western
European
society
changed.
In Italy, people began to look to
the past, to the glories of early
civilizations.
The “Dark Ages”
Renaissance thinkers referred to the
Middle Ages as the “Dark Ages”.
They believed that the “light of learning”
had gone out in Europe at the fall of
Rome.
Renaissance thinkers wanted to
rediscover the ancient Greeks and
Romans.
What a piece
of work
is man!
In Italy, a new period of artistic
creativity and new interest in
the contributions of the Greeks and
Romans developed.
It was a
rebirth.
It was
the
Renaissance.
The word “Renaissance” means
rebirth.
And why did the
Renaissance begin
in Italy?
Italy had
a great location
for trade.
It was king of
the Mediterranean
Sea.
It controlled
European trade
with Asia.
Renaissance thinkers were interested
in discovering new ways of thinking
and seeing.
During the
Renaissance,
humanism
became popular.
It was the belief
in the importance
and uniqueness
of man.
Secularism
During the Renaissance, secularism
became popular.
Secularism is a non-religious viewpoint.
Secularists look to scientific thinking for
answers as opposed to religion.
Humanism
During the Renaissance, humanism
became popular.
Humanism is the belief that human
actions, ideas, and works are important.
Humanists rediscovered the ancient
Greeks and Romans.
The Renaissance
The Renaissance was a period of artistic
creativity.
Artists rediscovered the ancient
civilizations of the Greeks and Romans.
The word “Renaissance” means rebirth.
Humanism
• Celebrated the individual
• Stimulated the study of classical Greek
and Roman literature and culture
• Supported by wealthy patrons
Wealth from
trade allowed
artists to
find wealthy
patrons to
commission
and sponsor
their work.
The rebirth
and rediscovery
of learning
of the
Renaissance
soon spread
to other
parts of Europe.
Medici Family
Medici Family
They were a family of bankers that
became very wealthy and powerful.
Soon they were involved in politics and ran
the City of Florence.
They were patrons of the Arts and
commissioned many works of art.
LITERARY CONTRIBUTORS
Gutenberg Bible
Gutenburg
Printing
Press
Movable
Type
Sir Thomas Moore: Utopia
Erasmus: The Praise of Folly
Petrarch: Sonnets, humanist scholarship
Machiavelli’s The Prince
• An early modern treatise on
government
• Supports absolute power of the ruler
• Maintains that the end justifies the
means
• Advises that one should not only do
good if possible, but do evil when
necessary
Secularists look to scientific thinking
for answers.
Ideas of Machiavelli
“It is better to be feared than
loved…”
“The ends justifies the
means…”
The Prince
Author: Niccolo
Machiavelli
Culture: Italian
(another Florentine)
Time: 1513 CE
Genre: didactic prose
handbook
Name to Know:
Cesare Borgia
Background
Son of a lawyer.
Received an ordinary
literary education; read
Latin but no Greek.
Loved Roman history;
studied law.
Became a political writer &
theorist.
Worked as a clerk, then
secretary to the second
chancery of the
commune in Florence
(14 years).
Practical Experience
As secretary & Second
Chancellor of Florence,
in charge of internal and
war affairs, he had
knowledge of military &
diplomatic matters;
went on diplomatic
missions.
After arguing against
mercenaries and for a
national militia, he was
given the job of forming
one and leading it to
battle. Did so
successfully(1509).
Another Florentine Exile . . .
He lost his position and was exiled from Florence
when the republican regime went out of power;
forbidden to leave Florentine territory, he was
imprisoned and tortured, accused of conspiracy
by the new Medici regime.
After he was released, he retired with his wife and
children, wrote The Prince, among other things.
Later got into Medici good graces (1520s). Died
in 1527.
Reaction to Change
Machiavelli’s life changed drastically
when the Medici family took power in
Florence.
How does he react to this?
Compare with how Abelard and Dante
dealt with the unforeseen events in
their lives (castration, exile).
How would Marie de France judge their
reactions to unexpected change, the
test of unforeseen events ?
His Importance
An historian summed Machiavelli up thus:
‘Diplomat, historian, dramatist, philosopher;
the most cynical thinker of his time, and
yet a patriot fired with a noble ideal; a man
who failed in everything he undertook, but
left upon history a deeper mark than
almost any other figure of the
Renaissance.’ [Durant]
Machiavelli was an independent and
fearless thinker about ethics and
politics:
- interested in states, not individuals
[individuals are simply members of
states]
- wants to know why states rise & fall
- wants to know how to delay state decay
The Prince
A manual teaching how to get and keep
political power. The author assumes a
pedagogical persona, seeks to persuade
readers.
The work is powerful for:
subject matter
rhetorical & technical brilliance
Among the most frequently reprinted books in
any language.
Dedicated first to Giuliano de’ Medici, then to
Lorenzo, his nephew.
The presentation of an ideal character is a
Renaissance tendency.
Author’s premise: human nature is evil;
human nature remains constant over
time.
Author’s goal: to liberate Italy from both
internal warring and foreign oppression.
The Prince, Almost
Machiavelli admired
Cesare Borgia, son
of Pope Alexander
VI, makes him an
embodied will to
power, a model for
supermen, beyond
good and evil.
Borgia’s Accomplishments
- Destroyed his disloyal generals, having first
made their supporters his own.
- Put Remirro de Orco in charge of Romagna. He
pacified the province and united it (the bad guy);
Borgia then instituted civil courts (good guy).
- Had Remirro killed and displayed in public
square. “The ferocity of this spectacle left those
people at the same time gratified and awestruck.”
Art and Patronage
Italians were willing to spend a lot of
money on art.
– Art communicated social, political, and
spiritual values.
– Italian banking & international trade interests
had the money.
Public art in Florence was organized and
supported by guilds.
Therefore, the consumption of art was used as a
form of competition for social & political status!
1. Realism & Expression
 Expulsion from
the Garden
 Masaccio
 1427
 First nudes since
classical times.
2. Perspective
The Trinity
Perspective!
Perspective!
Perspective!
Perspective!
Perspective!
Perspective!
Masaccio
1427
Perspective!
First use
of linear
perspective!
What you are,
I once was;
what I am,
you will
become.
Perspective
Perspective!
Betrothal
of the Virgin
Raphael
1504
3. Classicism
Greco-Roman
influence.
Secularism.
Humanism.
Individualism  free
standing figures.
Symmetry/Balance
The “Classical Pose”
Medici “Venus” (1c)
4. Emphasis on Individualism
 Batista Sforza & Federico de Montefeltre: The
Duke & Dutchess of Urbino
 Piero della Francesca, 1465-1466.
Isabella d’Este – da Vinci, 1499
1474-1539
“First Lady of
the Italian
Renaissance.”
Great patroness
of the arts.
Known during her
time as “First
Lady of the
World!”
5. Geometrical Arrangement of
Figures
 The Dreyfus
Madonna
with the
Pomegranate
 Leonardo da
Vinci
 1469
 The figure as
architecture!
6. Light & Shadowing/Softening Edges
Sfumato
Chiaroscuro
7. Artists as Personalities/Celebrities
Lives of the Most
Excellent
Painters,
Sculptors, and
Architects
Giorgio Vasari
1550
Renaissance Florence
Florentine lion:
symbol of St.
Mark
1252 – first gold
florins minted
The Wool Factory
by Mirabello Cavalori, 1570
Lorenzo
the Magnificent
1478 - 1521
Cosimo de Medici
1517 - 1574
Florence Under the Medici
Medici Chapel
The Medici Palace
 Filippo Brunelleschi
1377 - 1436
 Architect
 Cuppolo of St. Maria
del Fiore
Filippo Brunelleschi
Commissioned to
build the cathedral
dome.
– Used unique
architectural
concepts.
 He studied the
ancient
Pantheon in Rome.
 Used ribs for
support.
Brunelleschi’s “Secret”
Brunelleschi’s Dome
Comparing Domes
Other Famous Domes
Il Duomo
(Florence)
St. Peter’s
(Rome)
St. Paul’s
(London)
US capital
(Washington)
The Ideal City
Piero della Francesca, 1470
A Contest to Decorate the Cathedral: Sacrifice of
Isaac Panels
Brunelleschi
Ghiberti
Ghiberti – Gates of Paradise
Baptistry Door, Florence – 1425 - 1452
The Winner!
The Liberation of
Sculpture
 David by Donatello
 1430
 First free-form bronze
since Roman times!
David
Verrocchio
1473 - 1475
 Vitruvian Man
 Leonardo da
Vinci
 1492
The
L’uomo
universale
The Renaissance “Man”
 Broad knowledge about many things in
different fields.
 Deep knowledge/skill in one area.
 Able to link information from different
areas/disciplines and create new
knowledge.
 The Greek ideal of the “well-rounded
man” was at the heart of Renaissance
education.
1. Self-Portrait -- da Vinci, 1512
 Artist
 Sculptor
 Architect
 Scientist
 Engineer
 Inventor
1452 - 1519
Leonardo, the Artist:
From hisNotebooks of over 5000 pages (1508-1519)
Mona Lisa – da Vinci, 1503-4
ParodyThe Best Form of Flattery?
A Macaroni Mona
A Picasso Mona
An Andy Warhol Mona
A “Mona”ca Lewinsky
Mona Lisa OR da Vinci??
The Last Supper - da Vinci, 1498
& Geometry
Refractory
Convent of Santa
Maria delle
Grazie
Milan
vertical
The Last Supper - da Vinci, 1498
horizontal
Perspective!
Deterioration
 Detail of
Jesus
 The Last
Supper
 Leonardo da
Vinci
 1498
A Da Vinci “Code”:
St. John or Mary Magdalene?
Leonardo, the Sculptor
 An
Equestrian
Statue
 1516-1518
Leonardo, the Architect:
Pages from his Notebook
Study of a
central church.
1488
Leonardo, the Architect:
Pages from his Notebook
Plan of the city of Imola, 1502.
Leonardo, the Scientist (Biology):
Pages from his Notebook
An example of
the humanist
desire to unlock
the secrets of
nature.
Leonardo, the Scientist (Anatomy):
Pages from his Notebook
Leonardo, the Inventor:
Pages from his Notebook
Man Can Fly?
Leonardo, the Engineer:
A study of siege defenses.
Pages from
his Notebook
Studies of water-lifting
devices.
Leonardo da Vinci….
O investigator, do not flatter
yourself that you know the
things nature performs for
herself, but rejoice in knowing
that purpose of those things
designed by your own mind.
2. Michelangelo Buonorrati
 1475 – 1564
 He represented
the body in
three
dimensions of
sculpture.
 David
 Michelangelo
Buonarotti
 1504
 Marble
 15c
What
a
difference
a
century
makes!
16c 
The Popes as Patrons of the Arts
The Pieta
Michelangelo
Buonarroti
1499
marble
The Sistine Chapel
Michelangelo
Buonarroti
1508 - 1512
The Sistine Chapel’s Ceiling
Michelangelo Buonarroti
1508 - 1512
The Sistine Chapel Details
The
Creation
of the
Heavens
The Sistine Chapel Details
Creation of Man
The Sistine Chapel Details
The Fall
from
Grace
The Sistine Chapel Details
The Last Judgment
The School of Athens – Raphael, 1510 -11
 One point perspective.
 All of the important Greek philosophers
and thinkers are included  all of the
great personalities of the Seven Liberal
Arts!
 A great variety of poses.
 Located in the papal apartments library.
 Raphael worked on this commission
simultaneously as Michelangelo was doing
the Sistine Chapel.
 No Christian themes here.
The School of Athens – Raphael, 1510 -11
Da Vinci
Raphael
Michelangelo
The School of Athens – Raphael, details
Plato:
looks to the
heavens [or
the IDEAL
realm].
Aristotle:
looks to this
earth [the
here and
now].
Averroes
Hypatia
Pythagoras
Zoroaster
Ptolemy
Euclid
A Portrait of Savonarola
 By Fra Bartolomeo, 1498.
 Dominican friar who decried
money and power.
 Anti-humanist  he saw
humanism as too secular,
hedonistic, and corrupting.
 The “Bonfire of the
Vanities,” 1497.
/
Burned books, artwork,
jewelry, and other luxury
goods in public.
/
Even Botticelli put some of
his paintings on the fire!!
The Execution of Savonarola, 1452