Common Core Literacy Module
Title: Renaissance Arts and Science influence on the world.
Author: Rhonda Ball
Grade Level: 6th Grade
Teaching Task: Task 18 Informational or Explanatory Template Tasks
After researching, from your in class reading, the accomplishments of Renaissance Artists and
Scientists, write a report that explains how Renaissance art and inventions have influenced the
world.
Essential Question:
What impact did Renaissance artists and scientists have on the modern world?
Vocabulary Task:
Mix, Match, Freeze
Vocabulary Flashcards
Mini-Tasks: opening activities
Anticipation Guide
Vocabulary Cards-each student creates using the following words: Renaissance, humanism,
patron, cathedral, Lorenzo Medici, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Petrarch, Nicolaus
Copernicus, Donato Bramante, El Greco, Johannes Gutenberg, William Shakespeare, cathedral,
Mini-Tasks:
Critical Thinking worksheet - Michaelangelo
Q-chart – Da Vinci
ABC Squares – Shakespeare
Graphic Organizers
Photo Analysis of Tempietto, Mona Lisa, A View of Toledo – use window to look a picture of the
.
Rome. Photo Analysis worksheet.
Mix, Match, Freeze-Vocabulary Activity
Materials Needed:
Articles about artists and scientists
Textbook
Worksheet copies
Art Pictures
Name _________________________________________Date_______________________Class_____
Anticipation Guide for Renaissance Scientists and Artists
Lorenzo Medici
Nicholas Copernicus
William Shakespeare
Leonardo da Vinci
Galileo
Tempietto
Michelangelo
Petrarch
El Greco
Guttenberg
Sir Isaac Newton
Match the names from above with the accomplishments below. You may use a name twice.
Names
Artists and Scientists
Painted “A View of Toledo”
Designed a temple in Rome
Painted the Mona Lisa
Sculpted David
Believed in Copernicus’s theory
Became most celebrated poet in Europe
Patron of the arts
Developed the theory of gravity
Developed idea that sun was at the center of universe
Famous playwright and poet
Developed plans for submarine, machine gun, parachute and flying machine
Was forced to renounce his heliocentric belief by the church
Invented the printing press
Renaissance Graphic Organizer – Artists
Artist
Work(s) of Art
Influence on World
Name _____________________________________Date__________________________Class______
Renaissance Graphic Organizer – Scientists
Scientists
Discoveries
Influence on World
Critical Thinking
Directions:
Read the article through one time.
As you read the article a second time:
*Mark any questions or things you wonder about with a question mark (?)
*Mark any exciting events or actions with an exclamation mark (!)
*Mark any connections you have with the text with a plus sign (+)
You may also wish to label the connections with a:
W – for text to world connections
T—for text to text connections
S—for text to self connections
Next, write three open-ended (stuff) questions based on the article. Discuss these questions
with a partner, and choose the best question from each person’s list.
These questions may be typed up as a discussion guide for the next day or shared in another
manner that works for the class.
Critical Thinking
Directions:
Read the article through one time.
As you read the article a second time:
*Mark any questions or things you wonder about with a question mark (?)
*Mark any exciting events or actions with an exclamation mark (!)
*Mark any connections you have with the text with a plus sign (+)
You may also wish to label the connections with a:
W – for text to world connections
T—for text to text connections
S—for text to self connections
Next, write three open-ended (stuff) questions based on the article. Discuss these questions
with a partner, and choose the best question from each person’s list.
These questions may be typed up as a discussion guide for the next day or shared in another
manner that works for the class.
TEACHING TASK RUBRIC (NFORMATIONAL OR EXPLANATORY)
Scoring
Elements
Focus
Controlling
Idea
Reading/
Research
Development
Organization
Conventions
Content
Understanding
Not Yet
1
Attempts to address prompt, but
lacks focus or is off-task.
Attempts to establish a
controlling idea, but lacks a clear
purpose.
Attempts to present information
in response to the prompt, but
lacks connections or relevance to
the purpose of the prompt. (L2)
Does not address the credibility
of sources as prompted.
Attempts to provide details in
response to the prompt,
including retelling, but lacks
sufficient development or
relevancy. (L2) Implication is
missing, irrelevant, or illogical.
(L3) Gap/unanswered question is
missing or irrelevant.
Attempts to organize ideas, but
lacks control of structure.
1.5
Approaches Expectations
2
Addresses prompt appropriately,
but with a weak or uneven focus.
Establishes a controlling idea with a
general purpose.
Presents information from reading
materials relevant to the purpose of
the prompt with minor lapses in
accuracy or completeness. (L2)
Begins to address the credibility of
sources when prompted.
2.5
Meets Expectations
3
Addresses prompt appropriately and
maintains a clear, steady focus.
Establishes a controlling idea with a
clear purpose maintained throughout
the response.
Presents information from reading
materials relevant to the prompt
with accuracy and sufficient detail.
(L2) Addresses the credibility of
sources when prompted.
Presents appropriate details to
support the focus and controlling
idea. (L2) Briefly notes a relevant
implication or (L3) a relevant
gap/unanswered question.
Presents appropriate and sufficient
details to support the focus and
controlling idea. (L2) Explains
relevant and plausible implications,
and (L3) a relevant gap/unanswered
question.
Maintains an appropriate
organizational structure to address
the specific requirements of the
prompt.
Attempts to demonstrate
standard English conventions, but
lacks cohesion and control of
grammar, usage, and mechanics.
Sources are used without
citation.
Uses an appropriate organizational
structure to address the specific
requirements of the prompt, with
some lapses in coherence or
awkward use of the organizational
structure
Demonstrates an uneven command
of standard English conventions and
cohesion. Uses language and tone
with some inaccurate,
inappropriate, or uneven features.
Inconsistently cites sources.
Attempts to include disciplinary
content in explanations, but
understanding of content is
weak; content is irrelevant,
inappropriate, or inaccurate.
Briefly notes disciplinary content
relevant to the prompt; shows basic
or uneven understanding of
content; minor errors in
explanation.
Demonstrates a command of
standard English conventions and
cohesion, with few errors. Response
includes language and tone
appropriate to the audience,
purpose, and specific requirements
of the prompt. Cites sources using an
appropriate format with only minor
errors.
Accurately presents disciplinary
content relevant to the prompt with
sufficient explanations that
demonstrate understanding.
Born: March 6, 1475
Caprese, Italy
Died: February 18, 1564
Rome, Italy
Italian artist
Michelangelo was one of the greatest sculptors of the Italian Renaissance and one of its
greatest painters and architects.
Early Life
Michelangelo Buonarroti was born on March 6, 1475, in Caprese, Italy, a village where
his father, Lodovico Buonarroti, was briefly serving as a Florentine government agent.
The family moved back to Florence before Michelangelo was one month old.
Michelangelo's mother died when he was six. From his childhood Michelangelo was
drawn to the arts, but his father considered this pursuit below the family's social status
and tried to discourage him. However, Michelangelo prevailed and was apprenticed
(worked to learn a trade) at the age of thirteen to Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449–1494),
the most fashionable painter in Florence at the time.
After a year Michelangelo's apprenticeship was broken off. The boy was given access to
the collection of ancient Roman sculpture of the ruler of Florence, Lorenzo de' Medici
(1449–1492). He dined with the family and was looked after by the retired sculptor who
was in charge of the collection. This arrangement was quite unusual at the time.
Early works
Michelangelo's earliest sculpture, the Battle of the Centaurs (mythological creatures
that are part man and part horse), a stone work created when he was about seventeen, is
regarded as remarkable for the simple, solid forms and squarish proportions of the
figures, which add intensity to their violent interaction.
Soon after Lorenzo died in 1492, the Medici family fell from power and Michelangelo
fled to Bologna. In 1494 he carved three saints for the church of San Domenico. They
show dense forms, in contrast to the linear forms which were then dominant in
sculpture.
Rome
After returning to Florence briefly, Michelangelo moved to Rome. There he carved a
Bacchus for a banker's garden of ancient sculpture. This is Michelangelo's earliest
surviving large-scale work, and his only sculpture meant to be viewed from all sides.
In 1498 the same banker commissioned Michelangelo to carve the Pietà now in St.
Peter's. The term pietà refers to a type of image in which Mary supports the dead Christ
across her knees. Larger than life size, the Pietà contains elements which contrast and
reinforce each other: vertical and horizontal, cloth and skin, alive and dead, female and
male.
Florence
On Michelangelo's return to Florence in 1501 he was recognized as the most talented
sculptor of central Italy. He was commissioned to carve the David for the Florence
Cathedral.
Michelangelo's Battle of Cascina was commissioned in 1504; several sketches still exist.
The central scene shows a group of muscular soldiers climbing from a river where they
had been swimming to answer a military alarm. This fusion of life with colossal
grandeur henceforth was the special quality of Michelangelo's art.
From this time on, Michelangelo's work consisted mainly of very large projects that he
never finished. He was unable to turn down the vast commissions of his great clients
which appealed to his preference for the grand scale.
Pope Julius II (1443–1513) called Michelangelo to Rome in 1505 to design his tomb,
which was to include about forty life-size statues. Michelangelo worked on the project
off and on for the next forty years.
Sistine Chapel
In 1508 Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to decorate the ceiling of the chief
Vatican chapel, the Sistine. The traditional format of ceiling painting contained only
single figures. Michelangelo introduced dramatic scenes and an original framing system,
which was his earliest architectural design. The chief elements are twelve male and
female prophets (the latter known as sibyls) and nine stories from Genesis.
Michelangelo stopped for some months halfway along. When he returned to the ceiling,
his style underwent a shift toward a more forceful grandeur and a richer emotional
tension than in any previous work. The images of the Separation of Light and Darkness,
and Ezekiel illustrate this greater freedom and mobility.
After the ceiling was completed in 1512, Michelangelo returned to the tomb of Julius and
carved a Moses and two Slaves. His models were the same physical types he used for the
prophets and their attendants in the Sistine ceiling. Julius's death in 1513 halted the
work on his tomb.
Pope Leo X, son of Lorenzo de' Medici, proposed a marble facade for the family parish
church of San Lorenzo in Florence to be decorated with statues by Michelangelo. After
four years of quarrying and designing the project was canceled.
Medici Chapel
In 1520 Michelangelo was commissioned to execute the Medici Chapel for two young
Medici dukes. It contains two tombs, each with an image of the deceased and two
allegorical (symbolic) figures: Day and Night on one tomb, and Morning and Evening
on the other.
A library, the Biblioteca Laurenziana, was built at the same time on the opposite side of
San Lorenzo to house Pope Leo X's books. The entrance hall and staircase are some of
Michelangelo's most astonishing architecture, with recessed columns resting on scroll
brackets set halfway up the wall and corners stretched open rather than sealed.
Poetry
Michelangelo wrote many poems in the 1530s and 1540s. Approximately three hundred
survive. The earlier poems are on the theme of Neoplatonic love (belief that the soul
comes from a single undivided source to which it can unite again) and are full of logical
contradictions and intricate images. The later poems are Christian. Their mood is
penitent (being sorrow and regretful); and they are written in a simple, direct style.
Last Judgment
In 1534 Michelangelo left Florence for the last time, settling in Rome. The next ten years
were mainly given over to painting for Pope Paul III (1468–1549). In 1536 Michelangelo
Michelangelo.
began the Last Judgment, for Pope Paul III, on the end wall of the Sistine Chapel. The
design shows some angels pushing the damned down to hell on one side and some
pulling up the saved on the other side. Both groups are directed by Christ. The flow of
movement in the Last Judgment is slower than in Michelangelo's earlier work. During
this time, Michelangelo also painted frescoes in the Pauline Chapel in the Vatican
(1541–1545).
Works after 1545
Michelangelo devoted himself almost entirely to architecture and poetry after 1545,
including rebuilding of the Capitol area, the Piazza del Campidoglio, for Pope Paul III.
The pope also appointed Michelangelo to direct the work at St. Peter's in 1546. The
enormous church was planned to be an equal-armed cross, with a huge central space
beneath the dome. Secondary spaces and structures would produce a very active
rhythm. By the time Michelangelo died, a considerable part of St. Peter's had been built
in the form in which we know it.
Michelangelo's sculpture after 1545 was limited to two Pietàs that he executed for
himself. The first one, begun in 1550 and left unfinished, was meant for his own tomb.
He began the Rondanini Pietà in Milan in 1555, and he was working on it on February
12, 1564 when he took ill. He died six days later in Rome and was buried in Florence.
Michelangelo excelled in poetry, sculpture, painting, and architecture. He was the
supreme master of representing the human body. His idealized and expressive works
have been a major influence from his own time to ours.
For More Information
Beck, James H. Three Worlds of Michelangelo. New York: Norton, 1999.
Bull, George Anthony. Michelangelo: A Biography. New York: Viking, 1995.
Gilbert, Creighton. Michelangelo. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967.
Pettit, Jayne. Michelangelo: Genius of the Renaissance. New York: Franklin Watts,
1998.
Read more: Michelangelo Biography - life, family, childhood, death, mother, young, son,
old, information, born http://www.notablebiographies.com/MaMo/Michelangelo.html#ixzz2168Lkihg
Introduction
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Polish astronomer who is best
known for the astronomical theory that the Sun was near
the center of the universe and that the Earth and other
planets rotated around the center. He also stated that
the Earth spinning on its axis, rotates once daily and
makes a full revolution around the Sun in a year.
Copernicus did not believe that the Earth and other
planets were influenced by or revolved due to the Sun,
instead he believed that the Sun was located near the center of the
universe. It was this center of the universe which influenced those
bodies and caused them to revolve. This theory is called the
heliocentric or sun-center theory of the universe.
Background
Copernicus grew up in Poland and was given a solid education due to
the influence of his uncle who was a bishop. He moved to Italy to
further his studies in 1495 at the age of 22 to further his studies.
It was there at the University of Bologna that Copernicus became very
interested in astronomy. He befriended one off his professors named
Domenico Maria de Novara who was very skeptical of the Ptolemaic view
of the universe. Copernicus began to share his skepticism and he began
to look for a solution that would resolve the problems with the wide
spread theory about the universe.Sometime between 1507 and 1515 he
completed a short paper entitled "Commentariolus". Even though it was
not published until the 19th century, it was important because it
served as the basis for his radically new theory of the universe.
Shortly there after, in 1517, Copernicus began work on his major work,
"On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres," which he did not
complete until 1530. However, it was not published until 1543, just
before Copernicus died.
The Copernican Heliocentric Theory
You must have a little background on the
accepted Ptolemaic view of the solar
system in order to understand the
difference between it and that which
Copernicus theorized. Scientists believed
that the Earth was fixed at the center of
the universe and surrounded by several
concentric rotating spheres which were
the planets, sun and moon. On the
outermost sphere, picture the inside of a
balloon, where the stars which were
fixed. This outermost sphere was said to
wobble slightly to account for the procession of the equinoxes. There
was one question that this system brought up that puzzled scientists:
Why did Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn every so often appear to move across
the sky in one direction and then seem to stop and go in the opposite
direction, what they called retrograding across the sky? To explain
this phenomena Ptolemy proposed that the planets, sun, and moon moved
in small circles while traveling in their much larger orbits around
the fixed Earth. These small circles were called epicycles, but many
scientists did not see this as the answer. The heliocentric theory
would explain why the planets seemed to retrograde across the sky.
The Copernican theory explained many of the observations of
astronomers. Some of its revolutionary ideas were that the Earth
rotates on its axis daily and revolves around the Sun once a year. The
heliocentric theory retained many of the characteristics of its
predecessors, one key concept it embraced was planetary spheres, the
outermost sphere containing the stars. Copernicus knew that his
explanation was not completely correct. Among other things, he
realized that the rotation of Earth in its orbit would cause a
continuous repositioning of the stars in the sky. He resolved this by
posing that the distance between the Earth and the outer sphere which
contained the stars was so great that any variation in the position of
the stars would be almost undetectable. However, in the heliocentric
theory the outermost sphere containing the stars was stationary. The
heliocentric system did resolve many of the problems with its
predecessors; the apparent yearly motions of the stars and Sun, the
apparent retrograde motions of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, and the fact
that Mercury and Venus never travel more than a certain distance from
the Sun. Copernicus reordered the planets according to the time it
took for them to revolve around the center of the universe (near the
Sun). Unlike Ptolemy's theory of the universe, the larger the radius
of the planet's orbit, the longer it takes to make one revolution.
Influence
When the Copernican theory was first published it was not accepted by
the scientific community. Even though it was physically sound, the
calculations of astronomical positions was not made much simpler,
neither were these calculations much more accurate. Tycho Brahe
developed a middle position between the two theories which was more
widely accepted. Some of the most famous heliocentric theory
supporters were Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, and of course Sir
Isaac Newton who helped explain the force, gravity, that all bodies
exert on each other.
[ Back ]
Introduction
Many centuries ago, in the land we call Italy, everyone did what the Roman Catholic
Church said was right. This, of course, limited people’s ideas. Everyone just went on
thinking the church was right except for one man, who could not accept all of the
supreme church’s teachings, and that man was Galileo Galilee.
Beginning
Galileo Galilee was born in Pisa, Italy on February 15, 1564. In 1570, he and his family
moved to Florence, Italy. There, he started going to school. Then, in 1581, Galileo went
to the University of Pisa. He studied medicine at the University of Pisa. Near the end of
his studies at the University of Pisa, Galileo didn’t care for medicine any longer, but
became interested in mathematics. In 1585, Galileo left the University of Pisa and
became a mathematics tutor. He continued to be a tutor in mathematics for the next four
years.
Becoming a Astronomer
In 1589, Galileo invented the hydrostatic balance. A hydrostatic balance is an
instrument used to find the gravity of objects by putting an object in water. Later in 1589,
he became a professor of mathematics at the University of Pisa. Mathematics in those
days wasn’t like math is today. Then, math was astronomy and scientific theories from
the ancient Greeks. In 1592, Galileo became a professor of mathematics for the
University of Padua. He spent the next 18 years teaching mathematics. During this time,
he agreed with another famous scientist’s theory that the sun is the center of our solar
system. This famous scientist, Nicolaus Copernicus, lived before Galileo. Galileo did not
agree with the church’s teaching that the Earth is the center of our solar system. Galileo
would not agree publicly with Copernicus’ theory yet.
Inventing
In 1609, Galileo built his first telescope. Galileo’s telescope was different
and better than the old telescopes because he used one tube that could fit
into another tube so you can slide them back and forth. This let you change
the focus of the telescope’s lens. Galileo also changed the size of the lens. These
things allowed his telescope to be more powerful.
Putting His Telescope Into Action
Galileo’s first discovery with his new telescope was that the moon is
bumpy, not smooth and flat like the church taught. Then, in 1610,
Galileo discovered four moons of Jupiter. Later that year, he was
named the personal mathematician of a member of the ruling family
of Florence, Italy.
Laws Of Motion
Also, in 1610, Galileo stated his opinion in public that the sun is the
center of the solar system. The Roman Catholic Church didn’t know
that Galileo was disobeying the church’s teaching yet, so Galileo was safe from the
church’s power to punish him for now. During that time, he discovered the Law of
Pendulums and the Law of Falling Bodies. The Law of Falling Bodies states that all
objects fall at the same speed no matter how heavy they are. The Law of Pendulums
states that pendulums swing at the same speed whether their arcs are large or small.
Going to Rome
Then in 1616, the all-mighty Roman Catholic Church found out Galileo disobeyed the
church’s teachings. Galileo was summoned to Rome to be put on trial to see if he
should be punished for going against the church. Galileo was not punished, but he was
warned not to take Copernicus’ theory seriously any more.
Later Life
In 1632, Galileo wrote the Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, which
was a comparison of the ancient Greeks’ theories (Aristotle’s and Ptolemy’s) and the
theories he agreed with (Nicolaus Copernicus’.) Galileo was summoned to Rome again
to be judged on purposely disobeying the church’s teachings. This time, he was found
guilty. He was punished by being sentenced to life in prison. Galileo was 70 at the time
and in poor health, so he was allowed to serve his sentence in his home in Florence,
Italy. He went blind while imprisoned at home. However, that didn’t stop Galileo from
completing his second masterpiece, Discourse on Two New Sciences, which is his
theory of motion. Then, in 1642, at the age of 78, Galileo Galilee died.
Conclusion
Galileo Galilee will be remembered as the man who cared more about uncovering the
truth than he cared about his life. He will also be remembered as the man who started
modern science. Most of all, though, he will be remembered as a great man who
accomplished more than anyone could have possibly asked him to.
Date
1564
1589
1609
1610
1613
1616
1632
Event
Galileo Galilei is born on February 15
Invented the hydrostatic balance
Built his first telescope and discovered moon is bumpy
Discovered four moons of Jupiter
Stated his theory of sun being the center of the solar
system
Stated his idea of the law of falling bodies and the law of pendulums
Went to the Roman Catholic Church but was not punished
Wrote Dialogue Concerning The Two Chief World Systems
1632
1640
1642
Went to Rome again but was punished
Completed Discourse on Two New Sciences
Galileo Galilee dies
1610
NEWTON
Sir Isaac Newton
1642-1727
Christmas night, 1642 Hannah Newton gave birth to a baby boy with a comet
overhead. Isaac was named that after his father, Isaac Newton Senior. But Newton
Senior had not been able to see Isaac because he had died in mid October.
Isaac was born way before expected. He was extremely weak as a baby. The nurses
needed some medication for little Isaac. They needed it from the house on the top of
the hill. The nurses were so doubtful that Isaac would still be alive that they even
stopped to take a rest on the wall. But poor little Isaac did survive. He survived so
well he turned out to be one of the Greatest Scientists Ever!
Little Isaac was so weak as a little baby that he needed a little pillow to support his
little head still at the year of 1. So you could say he was off to a bad start as a
little baby. But no one would know that he would have one of the greatest minds of
his time. No one thought Isaac would stay alive for 84 seconds. But not only that, he
would live to be 84 years old when he finally died of natural causes. To live to 84 is
pretty long time to live, but 84 back then when they didn't live as long was really
old. He would later grow to invent many wonderful things, such as a branch of
mathematics called "calculus." He also proved that white light contained the colors of
the rainbow. Last and defiantly not least he discovered a thing called gravity!
Copernicus was a Polish monk who studied astronomy, mathematics and medicine. A
little while after he died there was a book published of his on the movement of the
planets. He stated that the planets all circled the sun. But this theory went against
the teachings of a Greek scholar from the 4th century B.C. by the name of
Aristotle. He thought the universe was made up of hallow spheres arranged around
the Earth. People had been thinking that for about 1,500 years. It took a lot of guts
to challenge something like that because people had been thinking that for so long.
Isaac was a teacher at the fine college of Cambridge. Isaac was not very popular
there, though. Most of the kids there thought Isaac was crazy. Isaac would
sometimes teach to an empty classroom because of those reasons. Even some mocked
him.
One of the people to mock him was the great Robert Hooke. He was considered very
smart for his time because he was part of the royal society of mathematics &
science. One time Hooke entered Newton's classroom and told him that it was a
brilliant idea but the math was all wrong. Hooke and Isaac didn't really like each
other all that much. One time Isaac tried to tell his gravity theory to the royal
society but Hooke tried to copy Newton's ideas. And then Hooke had the nerve to
accuse Newton of copying himself. There was a contest for the first person to
explain it in a way it could be understood. Newton won.
Newton never wanted to publish his work. That is because he was worried that people
like Hooke would make fun of his work. He said he would only publish his work when
he was on his death bed. He published before that though. His young helper talked
him into it and Newton finally did. The book was called Princapelia Mathamatica.
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Act 3, Scene 2,
Mark Antony:
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him;
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones,
So let it be with Caesar … The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answered it …
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest,
(For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all; all honourable men)
Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral …
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man….
He hath brought many captives home to Rome,
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?
O judgement! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason…. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
Art Explorer | Innovations 1400-2020 | Patron of the Arts | The Artist's Life | Lesson Plans
Time Telescope | My Innovations | Gallery 2020
Themes
Quest for Knowledge
Arts and Architecture
Patrons and Lifestyles
Everyday Life
Trade & Exploration
Science & Technology
Today—Digital Camera
The first digital camera was a team effort between
Apple Computers and Kodak film. The first mass
marketed color digital camera was the Apple Quick
Take 100. Since then the digital camera has gone
through numerous improvements gaining new features
each time.
1907—Color Film
The Lumiere brothers achieved a new and exceptional
quality with their autochrome plates. The three-color
plates became the first commercial color film that was
available to everyone.
Daytona, Florida, an autochrome picture by Charles C. Zoller.
Copyright © 2002 George Eastman House, Rochester, NY
1888—First Kodak Camera
"You press the button, we do the rest" was the slogan for the first
Kodak camera introduced in 1888. George Eastman founder of
Kodak wanted a camera simple enough for everyone. The first
Kodak camera came preloaded with a 200-foot roll of film enough
to take 100 circular pictures.
Patent drawing for Eastman's 1888 camera.
Image courtesy of PatentMuseum.com
1800—Paint in Tubes
By 1800 oil paints were being sold in tin tubes,
allowing painters to bring their supplies right out into
nature. The painters in the Romantic period took
advantage of this and were allowed the freedom to
capture nature at a specific moment in time.
1510—The Renaissance Connection
While Medieval artists concentrated on the religious meaning
of their work rather than on making the subjects look lifelike,
Renaissance painters and sculptors preoccupied themselves
with trying to represent people and nature in a more realistic
way. Adoration of the Shepherds is but one example of a
Renaissance painting that demonstrates new ideas and methods
artists were experimenting with at the time.
Giovanni Agostino da Lodi, (Italian)
Adoration of the Shepherds
1510
Oil on panel
One of the most significant innovations in painting occurred in
1410 with the development of slow drying oil paints. Artist Jan
Van Eyck was the first to show the world the intensity of oil
painting. Van Eyck had a desire to capture every detail of
nature just as it was seen. With their translucent nature, oil
paints allowed him to create more subtle tones of light and
color. No longer forced to use fresco and tempera, these new
thick and colorful paints not only allowed artists more time
with their work and the ability to paint over earlier efforts, but
also increased the range of pigments or colors as they could be
blended on the painting itself to create smooth changes in tone.
Renaissance artists could now move towards representing the
world around them as realistically as possible much like today's
who capture the world using digital technology.
Samuel H. Kress Collection.
1410—Oil Paints
Artist Jan van Eyck was the first to show the world the
intensity of oil painting. Van Eyck had a desire to capture
every detail of nature just as it was seen, with their
translucent nature, oil paints allowed him to create more
subtle tones of light and color.
The Virgin and Child and Donor, by Jan van Eyck
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Patrons and Lifestyles
Everyday Life
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Today—The Internet
The Internet revolutionized the computer and
communication. It has world wide broadcasting
capabilities, it is a mechanism for information
dissemination, and a medium for collaboration and
interaction between individuals and their computers
without regard for geographic location.
1924—Television
John Logie Baird airs first mechanical broadcast of a
picture of the Maltese Cross. In 1936 the first
scheduled television broadcasts begins in the United
Kingdom with the Unites States following suit in 1939.
1876—First Multiple Copy Machine
Thomas Edison invents mimeograph a mechanical duplicator that is
able to produces multiple copies by pressing ink onto paper through
stencils. Eventually replaced by more sophisticated technology, the
photocopy machine which is still in use today.
1690—First Newspaper
America's first newspaper, Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and
Domestick is printed in Boston, Massachusetts and lasts only one issue
since it was published without permission. It caused great outrage as it
contained "reflections of a very high order".
1527—The Renaissance Connection
Note how the artist Ugo da Capri has carefully arranged several books
in the foreground of the woodcut Diogenes. Although images of the
Bible appeared in art works prior to the Renaissance, it was only after
the invention of the moveable type printing press by Gutenberg
(1455) that artists began to acknowledge the influence ancient
writings and ideas were having on the world in which they we now
living. Here da Capri includes several books to remind the viewer of
the importance ancient Greek stories and Diogenes, the central figure,
was a Greek thinker (412 - 323 B.C.).
Ugo da Carpi, (Italy)
Diogenes
1527
chiaroscuro woodcut
Purchase: SOTA Print Fund, 1982.
The invention of the moveable type printing press did more than any
other innovation to spread the ideas of the Renaissance. Gutenberg's
invention led to acceleration of printed materials making books
widely available for the first time. Mass communication by way the
printed word was now possible. Between 1500 and 1600 an estimated
200 million books were printed. This was a significant change from
the Medieval period when Monks and priests made books were by
hand, painstakingly copied and often beautifully illustrated, or
"illuminated" with small paintings. In 2002 over 665 million people
around the world communicated using the internet with the United
States having the most users with nearly 143 million people online
followed by China with approximately 56.6 million. (219 words)
1455—Printing Press
Gutenberg invents a moveable type printing press
made of cast metal and publishes the first Bible. His
invention of the printing press led to acceleration of
printed materials making books widely available for
the first time.
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