In Italy the growth of wealthy trading cities and new ways of thinking helped lead to a rebirth of the arts and learning. This era became known as the Renaissance
.

As the economy and society changed, new ideas began to appear. This period of interest and developments in art, literature, science and learning is known as the Renaissance , the Ancients
• Venetian ships carried goods for trade and Greek scholars seeking refuge
• Scholars brought ancient works thought to be lost
New World of Ideas
• Italians who could read looked for more information
• Read Arabic translations of original texts
• Searched libraries, found lost texts
Different
Viewpoints
• As they read, began to think about philosophy, art, science in different ways
• Began to believe in human capacity to create, achieve

The revival of trade in Europe helped bring an end to the Middle Ages & gave rise to the Renaissance
The rise of cities brought artists together which led to new techniques
& styles of art
Increased trade gave rise to Italian city-states & a wealthy middle class of bankers & merchants
Wealthy bankers & merchants wanted to show off their new status by commissioning art

Crusades (1095 – 1291) = Religiously sanctioned military campaigns waged by Roman Catholics against Muslims who had occupied the near east since the Rashidun Caliphate (founded after
Muhammad’s death in 632, the Rashidun Caliphate was one of the largest empires of the time period)
Increased demand for Middle Eastern products
Stimulated production of goods to trade in Middle
Eastern markets
Encouraged the use of credit and banking

●
Johannes Gutenberg
●
In 1455, produced the
1st printed book, a bible
●
Gutenberg Bible
●
Used moveable metal type

Literature flourished during the Renaissance and spread
Renaissance ideas, which can be greatly attributed to
Johannes Gutenberg .
In 1455 Gutenberg printed the first book produced by using moveable type , The Bible, and started a printing revolution that would transform Europe.
Literacy rates increased

Artists Methods
• Studied perspective, represented threedimensional objects
• Experimented with using colour to portray shapes, textures
• Subject matter changed; artists began to paint, sculpt scenes from Greek, Roman myths
Classical Influence
• Religious paintings focused on personality
• Humanist interest in classical learning, human nature
• Building design reflected humanist reverence for
Greek, Roman culture
• Classical architecture favoured

The Renaissance produced new ideas that were reflected in the arts, philosophy, and literature.
Patrons, wealthy from newly expanded trade, sponsored works which glorified city-states in northern Italy. Education became increasingly secular.

Classical art showed the importance of people and leaders, as well as gods and goddesses
Medieval art and literature focused on the
Church and salvation
Renaissance art and literature focused on the importance of people and nature, along with religion

History Alive! Pg. 316 ‘Discobolus’
• Figures were lifelike but often idealized (more perfect than in real life)
• Figures were nude or draped in togas (robes)
• Bodies looked active, and motion was believable
• Faces were calm and without emotion
• Scenes showed either heroic figures or real people doing tasks from daily life

History Alive! Pg. 317 ‘Narthex Tympanum'
• Most art was religious, showing Jesus, saints, people from the Bible, and so on
• Important figures in paintings were shown as larger than others around them
• Figures looked stiff, with little sense of movement
• Figures were fully dressed in stiff-looking clothing
• Faces were serious and showed little feeling
• Paint colors were bright

History Alive! Pg. 317 ‘The School of Athens’
• Artists showed religious and nonreligious scenes
• Art reflected a great interest in nature
• Figures were lifelike and three-dimensional, reflecting an increasing knowledge of anatomy
• Bodies looked active and were shown moving
• Figures were either nude or clothed
• Scenes showed real people doing everyday tasks
• Faces expressed what people were thinking
• Paintings were often symmetrical (balanced, with the right and left sides having similar or identical elements)

Renaissance artists embraced some of the ideals of ancient
Greece and Rome in their art.
The purpose of art would no longer be to glorify God, as it had been in Medieval Europe. Artists wanted their subjects to be realistic and focused on humanity and emotion.
New Techniques also emerged.

Italians patrons (financial supporters) were willing to spend a lot of money on art
– Art communicated social, political, and spiritual values and therefore being able to buy art was used as a form of competition for social and political status.

Expulsion from the Garden
Masaccio
1427
First nudes since classical times.

Perspective!
Perspective!
Perspective!
Perspective!
Perspective!
Perspective!
First use of linear perspective!
The Trinity
Masaccio
1427
What you are, I once was; what I am, you will become.

Batista Sforza & Federico de Montefeltre:
The Duke & Dutchess of Urbino
Piero della Francesca, 1465-1466.

Leonardo da Vinci
1469
The figure as architecture!
The Dreyfus Madonna with the
Pomegranate

Chiaroscuro: use of light and shade
Sfumato: gradual blending of one area of color into another without a sharp outline
Ginevra de' Benci, a young Florentine noblewoman who, at the age of sixteen, married Luigi Niccolini in 1474 .

(1503-1506)

(1495-1498)
Jesus and his apostles on the night before the crucifixion

Notebooks
Leonardo da Vinci dissected corpses to learn how bones and muscles work

Born in 1475 in a small town near Florence, is considered to be one of the most inspired men who ever lived; he was a sculptor, painter, engineer, architect, and poet.

The Biblical shepherd,
David (who killed Goliath) recalls the harmony and grace of ancient
Greek tradition
Michelangelo created his masterpiece
David in
1504.


15c
What a difference a century makes!
16c


Depicts the biblical history of the world from the
Creation to the Flood
About a year after creating
David, Pope Julius II summoned
Michelangelo to Rome to work on his most famous project, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Creation of Eve
Creation of Adam
Separation of Light and Darkness The Last Judgment

Pieta 1499
Marble Sculpture
Captures the sorrow of the
Virgin Mary as she cradles her dead son, Jesus on her knees

The Renaissance in northern Europe (outside Italy)
• There was increased cultural exchange between
European countries
• Printed materials helped to spread ideas
• Centralization of political power made the northern Renaissance distinct from the Italian
Renaissance (e.g., nation-states instead of Italian city-states )

• Growing wealth in Northern Europe supported Renaissance ideas.
• Northern Renaissance thinkers merged humanist ideas with Christianity.
• The movable type printing press and the production and sale of books
(Gutenberg Bible) helped disseminate ideas and allowed more people to become educated.

•Cultural and educational reform
•The study of classical culture (ancient Greece and Rome), in contrast with the study of things related to the church and religion
• Celebrated the individual
•Was supported by wealthy patrons (financial supporters)

http://www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/sistina_vr/i ndex.html