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Chapter 1 Section 1 Reading Focus

• Why Were the Italian city-states a favorable setting for a cultural rebirth?

• What was the Renaissance?

• What themes and techniques did Renaissance artists and writers explore?

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Chapter 1 Section 1 Vocabulary

• Patron-person who provides financial support for the arts. (p.35)

• Humanism- intellectual movement at the heart of the Renaissance that focused on worldly subjects rather than religious issues.

• Humanities- study of subject taught in ancient Greece- grammar, rhetoric, poetry and history

• Perspective- artistic technique used to give drawings and paintings a 3D effect

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Renaissance Politics and Economics

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Setting the Stage for the Renaissance: Economics

Revival of trade: 11th century

• Improved agricultural techniques

• Population increase• New trade routes• Improved

transportation A Renaissance-era moneychanger

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Setting the Stage for the Renaissance: Politics

• City-states• Communes• New economic elite• The popolo• Oligarchies and

dictatorships• Condottieri

A group of condottieri

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Italian City-States

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Milan

• The Visconti family• Territorial expansion

The Sforza Family• Ruled Milan, 1450–1535• Francesco Sforza (1401–1466)

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Venice

• Major center of trade

• Doge• Merchant oligarchy

Customs House and entrance to the Grand Canal (Venice)

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War Between Venice and Genoa

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Venice in the 15th Century

• Mainland expansion• Constantinople• The Ottoman Turks

“The Capture of Constantinople” by Renaissance artist Jacopo Tintoretto

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Florence • Center of banking and textiles

• Bankers for the papacy

• The gold florin• Nominally a

republic, but controlled by an oligarchy of bankers and merchants

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The Medici Family

• Powerful bankers• Ruled Florence for most

of the 15th century• Cosimo de Medici• Patrons of the arts

Cosimo de Medici

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Lorenzo de Medici• Grandson of Cosimo• Assumed power in

1469 at age 20• “Lorenzo the

Magnificent”• The Pazzi consipracy• War against Rome

and Naples

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Rome and the Papal States• Renaissance

popes: both religious and political leaders

• During the Renaissance, the Papacy became more political and secular

A distant view of Vatican City in Rome

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Naples• Only kingdom in

Italy during the Renaissance

• Vassal state of Rome

• More feudal than other city-states

• King Alfonso (1396–1458)

• King Ferdinand I (also known as Ferrante; 1458–1494)

Statue depicting the coronation of the Neapolitan king Ferdinand I

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Patronage• Financial support

of artists• Means for the

wealthy and powerful to compete socially with one another

• Types of patronage Wealthy

Renaissance merchants, as depicted in a fresco by artist Domenico Ghirlandaio

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Women and the Renaissance

• Education• Roles as patrons

of the arts• Women political

leaders in Italy

Isabella d’EsteCaterina Sforza

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• Art in the Renaissance

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Leonardo da Vinci

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Leonardo, The Last Supper

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Leonardo, Mona Lisa

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Leonardo’s Notebooks

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Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel

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The Rebirth of Classical Learning

• The “rediscovery” of classical scholarship• Renewed respect for Greek and Roman art,

science, and philosophy

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Raphael, Pope Leo X With Two Cardinals

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The Rebirth of Classical Learning

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Describe the scene in the painting.

• What is the physical setting?• What appears to be going on? • How are the people in the painting dressed? What time

period do they appear to be from?

33

• The man in the red robe represents Plato, but he resembles a famous Renaissance figure. Who do you think he is?

Plato (Leonardo)

Heraclitus (Michelangelo)

Euclid (Bramante)

Raphael

• Why do you think Raphael made certain ancient philosophers in this painting look like key Renaissance figures?

34

• What are these two groups of men doing?• Thematically, how does this painting differ from

medieval paintings?

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• Is this image realistic? • Why or why not?

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• How does this painting make effective use of symmetry?

• How does Raphael create a sense of perspective?

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• Does the fact that this painting was commissioned by the pope surprise you?

• Why or why not?

38

The Printing Press

• Invented by Johann Gutenberg in the mid-1400s

• Made printed works cheaper and more readily available

• Increased literacy in Europe

• Helped spread new ideas

A replica of Gutenberg’s printing press