1400-1600
From Medieval to Renaissance
• Medieval 800-1400
• Instructs in Christian faith. Appeals to the
emotions, stresses importance of religion.
• Renaissance 1400-1600
• Reconciles Christian faith and reason. Promotes
“rebirth” of the classical ideal. Allows new
freedom of thought.
The Renaissance
There were many exciting
developments that occurred
during the Renaissance.
Due to these developments
and the fact that this period
marked the end of the deadly
Black Plague that concluded
the Medieval period, it is no
wonder the word Renaissance
means “re birth.”
Developments
• One of these developments was the discovery that the world was
not flat but round. This led to a surge in world exploration to
unknown lands that increased the awareness that people existed
who were of different continents, cultures, religions, and races.
•
Another development was Galileo’s heliocentric theory that
the sun, not the earth, was the center of the universe. This
discovery was met with great hostility by a world who, as a result of
this theory, suddenly felt small and insecure.
•
Queen Elizabeth I of England was a big fan of the arts and
encouraged people to create. Consequently, the Renaissance was a
time when music, drama, and the creation of visual art flourished.
So influential was Queen Elizabeth to the arts that the Renaissance
is often referred to as the Elizabethan period.
•
It was also during the Renaissance that the printing press was
invented. This was especially remarkable because it enabled the
printed page to be reproduced with ease which led to literacy,
education, and the opening of schools.
During the Renaissance dancing was a social activity in
which people danced with partners as part of an
organized event.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNOa0dxb2gU
INFLUENCE OF RELIGION
• The Protestant Reformation was a Christian reform in Europe which is
generally deemed to have begun with Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses in
1517
• These theses center edon particular disputes within the Catholic Church
regarding confession and absolution (release from consequences).
Significantly, the Theses offer a view on the validity of indulgences and
indulgences being sold (financial transaction rather than genuine contrition)
• Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and
searched for realism and human emotion in art
• Renaissance humanists believed that the liberal arts (art, music, grammar,
rhetoric, oratory, history, poetry, using classical texts, and the studies of all
of the above) should be practiced by all levels of "richness". They also
approved of self, human worth and individual dignity.
Commedia dell ‘Arte
Commedia dell ‘Arte was a type of theater that was very
popular in Italy during the Renaissance. Small casts would
improvise on comedies for which there was no script.
Harlequin
Columbina
Brighella
Pulcinella
Pantalone
Il Dottore
Pierrot
Isabella
Scaramouche
Commedia dell'arte incorporates specific roles and characters
•Conventional plot lines were written on themes of adultery, jealousy, old
age, and love
• 3 main stock roles: servant, master and innamorata,
•the characteristics of the character and the characteristics of the mask are
the same.
•servants are called the Zanni ---Arlecchino, Brighella and Pedrolino
•Some of the better recognized commedia dell'arte characters include the
following:
•Arlecchino--also known as Harlequin
•Pantalone
•Il Dottore
•Brighella
•Il Capitano
• Colombina
•the Innamorati
• Pedrolino
• Pulcinella
• Sandrone
• Scaramuccia (also known as Scaramouche);
•La Signora
•Tartaglia
VISUSAL ART
perspective – creating an illusion of depth---linear perspective
sfumato - blurring or softening of sharp outlines by subtle and gradual blending of one tone
into another through the use of thin glazes to give the illusion of depth or threedimensionality.
Fresco- painting done on wet plaster
chiaroscuro - painting modeling effect of using a strong contrast between light and dark to
give the illusion of depth or three-dimensionality.
PERSPECTIVE– creating an illusion of depth--linear perspective
FRESCO
Painting done on wet plaster
sfumato - blurring or
softening of sharp
outlines by subtle and
gradual blending of
one tone into another
through the use of
thin glazes to give the
illusion of depth or
three-dimensionality.
Leonardo
da
Vinci
During the Renaissance, Leonardo da
Vinci created works with less religious
emphasis than those of the Medieval
period and more of the world around
him. Still, religion remained an
inspiration to the visual arts. Some of da
Vinci’s most famous paintings are of the
Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, and John
the Baptist.
Michelangelo
Another famous artist was Michelangelo whose passion to create sculptures inspired
Pieta and David. His painting, The Creation of Adam, adorns the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel in Rome and took several years to create.
William Shakespeare
SHAKESPEARE
William Shakespeare was said to have developed ideas for
his plays from commedia dell ‘Arte. Considered to be the
most famous playwright of all time, Shakespeare wrote a
variety of plays including comedies, tragedies, and historical
dramas.
Sonnet 18
14 lines. All
sonnets have 14
lines which can
be broken down
into four
sections called
quatrains.
A strict rhyme scheme.
The rhyme scheme of
a Shakespearean sonnet
is ABAB / CDCD /
EFEF / GG (note the
four distinct sections
in the rhyme scheme).
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
Written in iambic
Pentameter. Sonnets are
written in iambic
pentameter, a poetic
meter with 10 beats per
line made up of
alternating unstressed
and stressed syllables
1st Quatrain
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
A
B
A
B
This establishes the subject of the sonnet.
The subject’s true beauty is being compared to
the beauty of a summer’s day.
Number of lines: 4
Rhyme scheme
A
B
A
B
(-ay)
(-ate)
(-ay)
(-ate)
2nd Quatrain
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
C
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
D
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
C
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd; D
This should develop the sonnet’s theme.
--Summer is not eternal
Number of lines: 4.
Rhyme Scheme:
C ( -ines)
D (imm’d)
C (-ines)
D (imm’d)
3rd Quatrain
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
E
F
E
F
This should round off the sonnet’s theme.
The subject of this sonnet can never loose their beauty .
Even death cannot stop the beauty of the subject and the
admiration the speaker has for them.
Number of lines: 4.
Rhyme Scheme:
E (-ade)
F (owest)
E (-ade)
F (-owest)
4th
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, G
So long lives this and this gives life to thee. G
This should act as a conclusion to the sonnet.
As long as there is life on this planet, this will
always be true and you will live forever.
Number of lines: 2.
Rhyme Scheme:
G (-ee)
G (-ee)
MUSIC EXAMPLES
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
(between February 3 1525 and
February 2 1526[1] – 2 February 1594)
Italian composer of the Renaissance.
With regard to the arts, a composer named Palestrina carried music to a
new level. Instead of the monophonic melodies of the Medieval period
sung by the Roman Catholic priests, Palestrina developed music that
included two or more melodic lines performed at the same time.
This was called counterpoint. In counterpoint two or more voices or
instruments play against each other. If one melodic line moves upward,
the other melodic line (or lines) move downward. If a pitch in a melodic
line is sustained, the pitches in the other melodic line will move.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhpQgOpFEsY