The Renaissance
Agenda
• Bell Ringer: What is the impact of the Black Death on
Europe?
• Lecture, The Renaissance
• Image Analysis, famous Renaissance Painters
• Machiavelli Analysis
• Was the Renaissance relevant? Video
• Impact of Technology Discussion
• HW: Begin next set of focus questions. Read the
sections on the Renaissance in Chapter 13, All of
Chapter 15.
Renaissance
• A “rebirth” of art and learning.
• Black Death ruins economic
growth.
• Medici family controls Florence
through wealth.
– Part of the merchant class.
• Renaissance focuses on
learning Greek and Roman
traditions. (Powerful Empires)
• Focuses on human potential
and achievement.
• Focuses on Greco-Roman
values instead of Christian
teachings.
• “Humanities”
Humanism
• Focuses on human
potential and achievement.
• Focuses on Greco-Roman
values instead of Christian
teachings.
• “Humanities”
• Petrarch
– Created a library of Roman
and Greek Manuscripts.
– He aided in getting Greek
and Roman names out to
the public.
Machiavelli and the Renaissance
• Wrote “The Prince” in
1513.
• The handbook on how
to control a country.
• Two perspectives,
– a way to give rulers an
upper hand.
– A way to provide
peasants with a guide
to ruling families.
Northern Renaissance Writings
• Erasmus is known for
creating a New
Testament and placing it
in the vernacular.
– The Praise of Folly
• Sir Thomas More
– Wrote Utopia
– An ideal society where men
and women live in harmony.
• Shakespeare
– Begins writing in the 1580s,
also wrote in vernacular.
Gutenberg and the Printing Press
• 1456, Gutenberg
invents the printing
press.
• Created the complete
edition of the bible, and
it went on to sell 20
million copies.
• Many learn to read.
• Expanded
intellectualism.
Artists of the Renaissance
• Michelangelo
– Statue of David
(Stone)
– Painting the Ceiling of
the Sistine Chapel
Artists of the Renaissance
• Leonardo Da Vinci
– Born 1452, a genius.
– Paintings were realistic, a
departure from Medieval
works.
– Mona Lisa, The Last
Supper
Artists of the Renaissance
• Donatello
– Credited with “David” (but a
bronze one completed 40
years before
Michelangelo’s.
Artists of the Renaissance
• Raphael
– Paintings represented an
“ideal beauty”, Madonnas
– School of Athens