The Renaissance in Italy
Setting the Stage:
• BRING ON THE CHANGE:
• Middle Ages failed the people:
– Wars ravaged nations
– Plague was disastrous and killed many
• The Church was questioned
• In N Italy—writers and artists expressed the
topics in paintings and stories with new style
The Renaissance
• Meaning:
– Rebirth
– “revival of art and learning”
• Started in Northern Italy
– Thriving cities
– Wealthy merchant class
– Classical heritage (Greece and Rome)
• Strived to revive the culture of classical Greece
and Rome, but instead created new culture
Medici Family and the Arts
• Patrons for art and architecture
• Funded huge amounts of Florentine art and architecture
Basilica of St
Lawrence
Changing Values
• Humanism—
– Study of classical texts led to this
– Focus of human potential, importance of
individuality and achievements
– The HUMANITIES:
• History, literature, philosophy
Changing Values
• Arts—
– Patrons: the wealthy, church leaders, other
important figures
• Life became more secular
Secular—worldly,
rather than spiritual
Changing Values
• Upper class Men and Women—
– Men:
• Create art and push for excellence in education
• “universal man” or “renaissance man”
• Arts and education: charming, witty, well educated,
dance, sing, play music and write poetry.
• Physical: skilled rider, wrestler and swordsman
“Renaissance Man”
• A man who is a master of many different
important areas of study
• Examples:
• Leonardo da Vinci—painter, sculptor, inventor,
scientist (always called “The Renaissance
Man”
• Michelangelo Buonarroti—painter, sculptor,
architect, and poet
Changing Values
• Upper class Men and Women:
– Women:
• Not expected to seek fame, but instead expected to
inspire and support art (patronize)
• Seek well rounded education and charm
Revolutionized Art
• Perspective—three
dimensions on a flat surface
(used by Renaissance
painters)
• Humanism displayed
through the art:
– Real, almost lifelike paintings
– Beauty, color, zeal, inspiration
and meaning now a goal of
the artists
– Human body far more
accurate
The Vanishing Point
Michelangelo
• Pieta
Michelangelo’s
David
Leonardo
da Vinci
The Mona
Lisa
Raphael– School of Athens
• Anguissola—
Women Artists
– First to gain international
recognition
Renaissance v Middle Age Art
Revolutionized Writing
• Vernacular writing vs Latin
• Vernacular = native language
• Dante did this in Middle Ages, most
Renaissance writers adopted this
Francesco Petrarch
• “Father of Renaissance”
• First to declare a difference
between the Renaissance and
Middle Ages
• Wrote in both Italian and
Latin
• Famous sonnets—about
Laura
• One of the earliest and most
influential humanists
Giovanni Boccaccio
• Decameron—book of
stories
• Tragic and comic
views of life
• Presented characters’
individuality
Niccolo Machiavelli
• The Prince—political
guidebook
• Addressed the
imperfection of
humans and that
what was morally
right was not always
politically effective
A Woman of Influence
• Vittoria Colonna
– Exchanged sonnets with
Michelangelo
– Helped Castiglione
publish The Courtier
Results of Italian Renaissance
• New art and literature styles
• New values—importance of individual
• 20.
Changes in the Arts
Changes in Society
1. Art drew on techniques and
styles of classical Greece and
Rome.
2. Paintings and sculptures
portrayed individuals and nature
in more realistic and lifelike
ways.
3. Artists created works that were
secular as well as those that
were religious.
4. Writers began to use vernacular
languages to express their ideas
5. The arts praised individual
achievement.
1. Printing made information
available and inexpensive.
2. Availability of books promoted
increased desire for learning and
rise in literacy.
3. Published accounts of new
discoveries, maps, and charts led
to further discoveries in variety
of fields.
4. Christian humanists’ attempts to
reform society changed views
about how life should be lived.
5. People began to question
political structures and religious
practices.
The Renaissance Spreads North
Focus of the Northern Renaissance
• The focus of the Renaissance in Northern Europe was
more religious
• Many sought religious reform and a return of the
Church to its true mission and spirituality
• Many were highly critical of the worldliness and
corruption in the Church and papacy
• Northern Renaissance figures believed that
education and literacy were key to social and
religious reform
• Advocated the translation of the scriptures into the
vernacular languages
Major Historical Events of the
Renaissance Period
• Age of Exploration (Period of European
Expansion)
• Protestant Reformation and the Religious
Wars
• Scientific Revolution- Rise of Modern
Science
• The Rise of the Modern Nation-state
Characteristics of Renaissance Art
Realism
Three-dimensional
Balanced and ordered
Portraits
Landscapes and attention to depictions of
nature
Classical style
Depiction of classical themes and stories
Humanism: The School of Athens by Raphael
- a celebration of classical learning
Individualism –Portraits
-portraits celebrated the unique qualities and personality of the
individual person (two examples by Leonardo da Vinci)
Secularism-non-religious
Renaissance art often depicted stories and scenes from classical literature
Religion remained a major focal point of
Renaissance art -The Sistine Chapel-Michelangelo
Northern Italian Art
Hans Holbein
Bruegel