September 15, 2014
• Objective: Students will be able to describe the
characteristics of the Renaissance and identify
and analyze why it began in Italy.
• Do Now: What were the characteristics of the
Renaissance?
• Agenda:
• Introduction to the Renaissance
• Renaissance PowerPoint
• Group Work
• Homework: Finish Classwork
Renaissance
• Means rebirth-specifically art and learning
• 1300-1600-peak around 1500
• Time of great change-politically, socially,
economically, and societal.
Shift to Renaissance…
• Shift from agricultural to urban society
• Renewed interest in classical learning of
Greece and Rome
• Continued use of Latin
• Shift from religious beliefs to “human
experience” and the “here and now”
• Focus is the individual
Renaissance Man
• Renaissance Men-were well roundedtalented in numerous areas.
• Renaissance Women-were expected to
inspire art yet not create it
Expressing Humanism
• Renaissance fueled an intellectual
movement-humanism.
• Focued on: learning, wordly affairs, living
in “here and now”
• Shifted from religion to world affairs.
• Emphasized the humanities-grammar,
rhetoric, poetry, history etc.
• Petrarch-assembled a library of Greek and
Roman manuscripts in monasteries and
Italy as Birthplace of the
Renaissance...Why?
• Ancient Roman art and architecture
• Centered on former Greek Empires
• Use of Latin kept memories of classical
civilization alive
• Centered on Mediterranean Sea
– Trade
– Islamic and Byzantine influences
• Many cities and city-states: large
population-led to competition
•
Artists
• Renaissance painters, sculptors, and
architects drew inspiration from the
classical Greek and Roman artists rather
than their medieval predecessors
• Artists used the technique of linear
perspective to represent the three
dimensions of real life on flat, two
dimensional surfaces
• Art focused on: perspective, depth, vivid
colors, and attention to detail
Difference in Painting
Medieval
Renaissance (The Virgin and
Child with Saint Anne by da
Vinci, 1510)
Difference in Painting
Medieval
Renaissance (Pope
Julius II by Raphael)
The School of Athens by Raphael
The School of Athens, with lines to
show perspective
Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520)
Raphael is famous for his warm, pious,
and graceful Madonnas such as The
Small Cowper Madonna, c. 1505
St. George Fighting the
Dragon, 1505
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
• Ideal Renaissance
Man
• Well Rounded and
talented in many
areas
Mona Lisa uses light and shadow and
perspective to make the figures fully
human, enigmatic, and mysterious
The Last Supper
The Last Supper captures the emotions of each of Jesus’
disciples at the exact moment of their learning one will
betray Him
Leonardo da Vinci
The Vitruvian Man
da Vinci’s study of the
proportions of the human
body
da Vinci’s plans for a
helicopter
Sculptors
• Sculptors depicted their subjects in natural
poses
• Reflected working of human muscles
• Strays from awkward and rigid poses
Michelangelo Buonarotti (14751564)
Moses
David
Michelangelo’s David and Moses show dramatic
and emotional postures and expressions
Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel
Michelangelo’s frescos covering the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel in the Vatican-depicts scenes from the
Bible
Tour of the Vatican
Donatello
Donatello’s David was the first nude
statue of the Renaissance and is known
for its grace, proportionality, and
balance
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446)
• Architecture in
Renaissance:
• Simple and elegant
classical style
• Perfected domesopen and airy
Brunelleschi is famous for
his dome atop the
cathedral in Florence
Famous Renaissance Authors
• Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400)
– Canterbury Tales
• Thomas More (1478-1535)
– Utopia
• Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616)
– Don Quixote
• William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
– Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Macbeth, Hamlet
Movable Type
• Johannes Gutenberg’screated the moveable
type printing press
• Led to:
1. Mass production of books
2. More books in circulation
3. Increased literacy
4. Spread of ideas
5. Spread of culture