THE RENAISSANCE
1300-1600
DA VINCI’S VITRUVIAN MAN
HOW DOES IT REPRESENT THE CULTURAL
CHANGES IN EUROPE?
THE RENAISSANCE BEGINS
•
Italy had 3
Advantages:
Thriving cities
Rich merchant
class (like the
Medici family in
Florence)
o Classical heritage
of Greece and
Rome
o
o
IN ITALY
NEW VALUES
Humanism- focus on human potential and
achievement instead of Christian
teachings
• Enjoyment of Life including good food,
nice clothes
• Patrons of the arts- the wealthy spend
money on the arts
•
WHAT IS A RENAISSANCE MAN?
A person who mastered many fields of
study
• The Courtier by Baldassare Castiglione
taught how to become a Renaissance
man
•
NEW TECHNIQUES IN ART
Realistic portraits and sculptures- very
human like
• Perspective- 3 dimensions
•
THE ARTISTS OF THE RENAISSANCE
Michelangelo- St. Peter’s Basilica, Sistine
Chapel, David
• Leonardo da Vinci- Mona Lisa, The Last
Supper
• Raphael- School of Athens
•
THE WRITERS OF THE RENAISSANCE
They use vernacular- native or local
language
• Petrarch- humanist and poet
• Boccacio- Decameron
• Machiavelli – The Prince
•
THE RENAISSANCE MOVES NORTH
Why?
• Italian artists flee Italy and move north
because Italy gets invaded
• Wealthy merchants in the north begin to
be patrons of the arts
How was it different?
• Northern artists focused on religion and
social reform
NORTHERN RENAISSANCE ARTISTS
Albrecht Durer- German artist- woodcuts
and engravings
• Hans Holbein- German artist- portrait
painter
• Jan van Eyck- Flemish painter who used
oil-based paints
•
NORTHERN RENAISSANCE WRITERS
Christian Humanists
• Desiderius Erasmus- The Praise of Folly
• Thomas More – Utopia
• Francios Rebelais- Gargantua and
Pantagruel
SHAKESPEARE AND THE ELIZABETHAN AGE
•
•
William Shakespeare- English playwright
Renaissance in England= Elizabethan Age
when Queen Elizabeth I patronized the
arts
THE PRINTING PRESS
Johann Gutenberg- German craftsman
who used Chinese block printing
technology to invent the printing press
• Gutenberg Bible- first full size book
printed using movable type
• Printing spreads learning by making
copies quickly and using the vernacular
•