What does the word
“Renaissance“ mean?
• A French word meaning “rebirth”
• So this was a time of newness
• The beginning of a new era
• 1300 to 1500

Where did the Renaissance begin?
Why there?
Italian City-States
Many reasons:
• Renewed interest in culture of ancient Rome, which was centered in Italy and many architectural remains
• Italy’s cities survived and prospered during the
Middle Ages (bubonic plague or Black Death killed
1/3 -> famine & war)
• Wealthy & powerful merchant class promoted by political & economic leadership, attitudes & interests, and financial investment in arts

What city & family most symbolized the Renaissance?
Florence & the Medicis
• Symbolized Renaissance because so many gifted poets, artists, architects, scholars & scientists
• Medici family – one of most successful bankers & merchants in Europe

Florence & the Medicis
• Cosimo de’Medici – took control of
Florence’s gov’t in 1434 and the family ruled for many years
• Lorenzo “the Magnificent” – grandson who represented the Renaissance ideal
• “Renaissance man”?

• Patron – financial supporter of the arts.
• Medicis were the most famous patrons
• Artists, poets, etc. come to the Medici palace.
• Why would someone be a patron?

Describe and explain 3 main characteristics of the Renaissance.
1. Change
• Time of creativity & change in many areas – political, social, economic & cultural.
• Change in the way people viewed themselves & their world o Transform their world o Control from chaos & disorder o Individual achievement o More optimistic – focus on human experience rather than life after death
• Much of classical heritage survived by monks & scholars
• Renewed interested in arts: grammar, poetry, painting, sculpture, architecture, music
• 1300-1500
• birthplace in Italy then spread

Describe and explain 3 main characteristics of the Renaissance.
2. Spirit of Adventure
• Sense of curiosity
• World exploration – curious about world, especially after travelled in Crusades E.g.. Christopher Columbus in 1492
• Science – curious about nature, E.g.. Nicolaus
Copernicus
3. Humanism
• Intellectual movement focusing on worldly subjects rather than religious issues
• Education should stimulate creativity
• Humanities – subjects taught in Greek & Roman schools such as grammar, rhetoric, poetry and history

Who is Francesco Petrarch and what was his contribution to the Renaissance?
• Italian poet, scholar, &philosopher
• Father of Humanism
• Blends classical knowledge with religion
• Discovered & renewed interest in Latin literature
• First libraries of Western world
• Amazing poet, gained fame for his sonnets about his love, Laura

Golden Age of Arts
• Religious figures but set in Roman or Greek backgrounds
• Humanist in that portraits of people (reflecting focus on individual)
• New Techniques – to make more realistic. E.g. perspective – distant objects smaller and shading
• Architecture – Gothic of Middle Ages too cluttered so focused on more Greek & Roman

Leonardo Da Vinci
• Endless curiosity.
• Besides being an artist, da Vinci was a proficient engineer, scientist, and inventor.
• Ideas for inventions during the late 1400s and early 1500s:
A) Airplane
B) Submarine
C) Parachute
D) Tank
E) Machine Gun
Michelangelo
• Multi-talented: sculptor, painter, architect
Raphael
• Paintings blend Christian & classical styles.

Mona Lisa
Last Supper

The David The Pieta

The School of Athens The Mond Crucifixion

• Jacopa di Cione
• Madonna and Child in Glory
• 1360/65
• Tempera and gold on panel
• Halos
• Hieratic scale – which figures are the biggest?

The central figures of the
Madonna and child in this painting from the late
Middle Ages are much larger than the four saints who stand below the
Madonna or the angels gathered around the upper edges of the painting.
The artists made the
Madonna and child larger to help viewers understand that they are the most important figures in the painting.

Renaissance
• Franconian School
• Miraculous Mass of
St. Martin of Tours
• about 1440
• Tempera and gold on canvas on panel
• Background vs previous?
• Heiratic scale?
• Realistic surroundings?

• Guiliano Bugiardini
• Madonna and Child with
• St. John, 1510
• Oil on panel
• Halos?
• Background?
• Portrayal of holy family?

Tempura paint – Middle Ages.
Very flat, can’t capture realistic details
Oil Paint – invented in the Renaissance
Artists can build layers allowing light to come through – more realistic

• Giovanni Agostino da Lodi
• Adoration of the
Shepherds
• 1510
• Holy family, angel, shepherds
• Hieratic scale?
• Halos?
• Tempura or oil?

The Kress Monnogrammist about 1550/1560

Accurate Perspective
• Mathematical formulas enable artists to use space in a very realistic way
Reflection of Reformation
• Saints, angels, heaven begin to be part of everyday life

• Annibale Carracci
• The Bean Eater
• 1582/83
• Who is this person? A saint?

Interiors of
Gothic Cathedrals

by Baldassare Castiglione
• Italian courtier, diplomat, soldier and a prominent
Renaissance author
• Instruction book to be ideal Renaissance person
• Book, in dialogue form, recounts a philosophical conversation
• Tribute to life at court of Urbano and friends who died

What is an ideal Renaissance Man?
• Different from chivalrous knight who proved himself on the battlefield
• Instead: o Gentleman with education in Greek & Latin o Well-educated (Humanist) o Active politically o Be an orator o Become a courtier (be popular – funny pleasant) o Military knowledge o Excel in sports o Be of noble birth

•
• “Outward beauty is a true sign of inner goodness.
This loveliness, indeed, is impressed upon the body in varying degrees as a token by which the soul can be recognized for what it is, just as with trees the beauty of the blossom testifies to the goodness of the fruit.”
― Baldassare Castiglione , The Book of the Courtier

• Italian historian, diplomat, philosopher, humanist and writer
• Father of political science
• Guide for rulers to gain and maintain power. o Better to have power than be liked.
o “End justifies the means.” – what does this mean?
o Debate: realistic or cynical?

What countries did the Renaissance move to after Italy?
• Began in Flanders (France, Belgium & the
Netherlands)
• Spain, France, Germany & England not until 1500s
• Each country had its own Renaissance!

Why did it take longer to happen in the North than in Italy?
Delayed because recovery from plague much slower
Ideas travel with people!
• Albrecht Durer – German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist o returns from Italy and employs new method in painting: engraving. o Spreads Renaissance ideas. o “German Leonardo”
• Merchants begin to expand trade throughout
Europe
• Students attend universities in Italy
• Armies do battle in Italy

Christian Humanists
• Education & classical learning - rediscovering works of the Greeks & Romans o Also early Christian authors that the Italians didn’t consider
• Using that education for religious & moral reform o More focus on religion that Italian Renaissance o Mysticism – direct, personal connection with
God & live a Godlike life
• Optimism – about people’s ability to improve o Would want to change the church

Who was Erasmus and what were his accomplishments?
• Erasmus – Christian humanist, scholar ,author, & philosopher
• Struggle between classics & religion – compromise was finding common themes
• Disturbed by corruption in the church and called for reforms.
• Focus on restoring the church to early Christianity
• New Greek edition of the New Testament and called for translation into vernacular.

What does vernacular mean and why is it important to the Renaissance?
• Everyday language of people o So German or French for these people o What’s U.S. vernacular?
• Important: o Renaissance ideas spread o brings education and literacy to the people o Allows people to read and interpret for themselves

Who was Thomas More? What is a utopia? Agree? Why or why not?
• Thomas More – book Utopia
• Utopia describes ideal society of peace, harmony, education, opportunity and justice
• Word Utopia literally means “nowhere” – does it exist?

Who is William Shakespeare? Choose one work not listed in your textbook and explain how it reflects humanist ideas.
• 37 plays including comedies, history plays, tragedies.
• Enriched the English language with the creation of
1700 new words.
• Human subjects rather than religious – about experiences of real people

Who is Miguel de Cervantes?
Describe his most famous work.
The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha
• Don Quixote mocks romantic notions of medieval chivalry
• The main character in his novel is tall, thin Don
Quixote. He is a older gentleman (Don means "Sir" in
Spanish) and a dreamer. He reads too many chivalric novels and sets out to revive chivalry under the name of Don Quixote.

The Ingenious Gentleman Don
Quixote of La Mancha
• Although the age of knights is past, Quixote dresses up in rusty armor and mounts his tired, old horse. He sets off to perform acts of chivalry in the name of his love.
He takes with him short, stout Sancho Panza. Sancho is an ordinary farmer who rides a mule, but Don Quixote sees him as his faithful squire. Sancho frequently deals with Quixote’s speeches on knighthood with humor

Who invented the printing press?
When? What effect did it have?
• Johann Gutenberg - 1456 printed the first complete edition of the bible using the first printing press and printing inks in the West.
• Main results of the invention of the Printing Press:
A) Books produced faster
B) Books were now cheaper
C) Literacy rate went up
D) Scholars had access to one and other’s work