The RenaissanceHistorical Age vs. Historical Movement
“Rebirth”Rediscovery of ancient classical texts and their applications in the arts and sciencesRevitalization of European culture in general
Beginning of the Renaissance
No set starting point or place
Happened gradually at different places at different timesDuring the 13th through 16th Centuries
Universally ascribed to Central Italy
Specifically Florence
Explanations for the Renaissance
The Medici FamilyAllowed for the advancement of artwork
The “Great Man” ArgumentArtists of the day were geniuses
Rise of IndividualismChange from collective neutrality to the “lonely genius”
Black Plague TheoryIntroduction of the Printing Press
Bubonic Plague
“Black Death”Spread by fleas on rats20 million out of 70 million Europeans diedIndiscriminateNo protection
Led more people to think about life rather than afterlife
Printing PressGutenberg (1454)
Gutenberg Bible
Moveable-type Printing PressIncreased printing volume and decreased prices
Literature experienced a massive boom
Spread of the Renaissance
FranceImported by King Charles VIII
Poland & HungaryLate 15th Century
Low Countries, Germany, England, Scandinavia, and Central Europe
Late 16th Century
Renaissance RulersItaly
Medici FamilyEstablished a hereditary monarchy in Florence
FranceKing Charles VIIILouis XI
EnglandHenry VIIElizabeth I
“Elizabethan era”
SpainFerdinand & Isabella
Italian vs. English Renaissance
1520s – 1660s
Dominant art form is literature
Influenced by the Italians themselves
1300s – 1520s
Art is driven by the visual arts (painting and sculpting)
Classical Antiquity
Renaissance ArtItalian Renaissance Artists
Focused on religious figures as well as portraits of well-known figures of the dayPut religious figures in Greek or Roman backgroundsLearned the rules of perspectiveUsed shadingStudied human anatomy
Northern Renaissance ArtistsFocused on religious drawingsLater began to paint scenes of daily lifePerfected the oil painting technique
Renaissance Artists Michelangelo Di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
(1475 – 1564)Italian sculpture, painter, architect, and poet who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art
I cannot live under pressures from patrons, let alone paint.
-- Michelangelo
Renaissance ArtistsLeonardo Da Vinci
(1452-1519)Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, and engineer whose genius epitomized the humanist ideal
Renaissance ArtistsDonatello (1386 – 1466)
Greatest sculptor of the 15th century
Masaccio (1401 – 1428)Created an illusion of three-dimensions
Raphael (1483 – 1520)Best known for Modonnas and large figure compositions in the Vatican
Caravaggio (1573 – 1610)Shadowing and details drew out emotions of the viewer
Literature and Poetry
Focus on translating and studying classic works from Latin and Greek
Attempt to integrate style into own work
Largely influenced by developing sciences and philosophy, as well as the politics of the day
Renaissance AuthorsPoets
Dante Alighieri The first poet to embody the spirit of the Renaissance
Edmund Spencer & John MiltonIncreased interest in understanding English Christian beliefs
PlaywrightsChristopher Marlowe & William Shakespeare
Represented the English take on life, death, and history
PhilosophersSir Thomas More & Sir Francis Bacon
Published ideas about humanity
Architecture
New sense of light, clarity, and spaciousnessReflects the philosophy of Humanism
Enlightenment and clarity of mind
Development of a new column order
Science and Philosophy
HumanismOptimistic philosophy
Man is rational, able to think for himselfMan is good by nature
Direct contrast to the Catholic Church
Time of Scientific “backwardness”Nature not governed by laws or mathematicsLogic and deduction secondary to intuition and emotion
The Catholic Church During the Renaissance
Influence and prestige was decliningPriests and Monks unable to keep up with growing needs of the communitiesLeaders had much less need of an alliance with the Catholic Church
Weakened by the Great SchismEvent that divided Western Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.
Renaissance WarsHundred Years War (1337 – 1453)
England vs. FranceDisrupted trade throughout northwest
War of the Roses (1455 – 1485)Series of dynastic civil wars in England
Fought by the rival houses of Lancaster and York
Italian Wars (1494 – 1527)Long-running series of wars between Florence and Milan
Positive Views of the Renaissance
Reconnection of the west with classical antiquityThe absorption of knowledge
particularly mathematics
The focus on the importance of living well in the present
Renaissance humanism
Creation of new techniques in art, poetry, and architecture