The Renaissance The Italian Renaissance Renaissance rebirth Italian
The Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance ► Renaissance rebirth ► Italian Renaissance rebirth of ancient Greek & Roman worlds ► Characteristics § Secular Urban society (City-states) § Age of Recovery § New view of human ability & worth
Origins of the Renaissance ► European trade with Asia increased during the 1300 s. ► 2. Italian merchants organized much of this trade. ► 3. Trade cities in Italy grew wealthy. ► 4. They competed to create works that would increase the prestige of their cities. Genoa Venice Milan
Origins of the Renaissance (cont) ► 5. Florence became a center for banking, art, culture, and literature. ► 6. Cosimo de’ Medici wanted to make Florence the most beautiful city. ► 7. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread throughout Europe.
Important City-States of the Renaissance ► Florence ► Rome Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo, Venice ► Venice Genoa Towers, Façade and bell tower, Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence ► Genoa ► Milan Comune gi Milano, Milan
City State Populations
Italian City States – Not yet the nation of ITALY Each Italian city-state had its own wealthy ruler. Italian Trade Routes – Notice the impact on Italy
Florence ► Center of art, literature, and culture. ► Florence became wealthy from the manufacturing of wool. ► Later Florence became the banking center of Italy. ► The Medici family were the greatest bankers in Florence.
Florence ► The Renaissance started in Florence and spread throughout Europe. ► Competition between the Italian city-states led to advances in literature, architecture, art, music, science, and education.
Medici Family ► Ruled Florence, 13 th 17 th Centuries ► Aimed to make Florence the most beautiful city in the world – Became Patrons of the Arts. Commissioned artist (incl. da Vinci, Raphael & Michelangelo) ► Lorenzo (The Magnificent) – created peace among Italian states, ended w/his death, 2 years later FR invades
Rome ► Home of the Catholic Church ► Popes commissioned famous artists and architects to beautify Rome. Michelangelo, Raphael, and Botticelli all produced major works in Rome.
Rome ► The popes employed the best artists and architects of the Renaissance to build and decorate the most opulent churches in in the world. ► Michelangelo designed the finest example of Renaissance architecture in Rome, the Piazza del Campidoglio (bottom left). He also designed the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica (bottom right).
Venice ► Venice was the wealthiest city- state of the Renaissance. ► It was a port city on the Mediterranean. ► Venice maintained hundreds of merchant ships and warships, and thousands of sailors.
Genoa ► Genoa is located on the Mediterranean. ► Genoa was one of two main port cities in Italy during the Renaissance. ► Genoa was one of the wealthiest city-states of the Renaissance. ► Dominated trade in the Mediterranean Genoa Harbor
► Milan dominated the inland trade routes because it was the gateway to Italy from the north. ► Milan is the site of Santa Maria delle Grazie, the cathedral where Leonardo da Vinci painted The Last Supper in the dining hall. Milan
Niccolo Machiavelli IT philosopher, diplomat, poet, musician, playwright. . ► Best known for The Prince – realist politics § Rulers should behave like a lion (aggressive and powerful) and at other times like a fox (cunning and practical) § “The Ends Justify the Means” § “It was better to be feared than to be loved” § All this done to keep peace and stabilize power ► 1 st to publicly suggest immoral behavior for govt stability ►
Renaissance Society ► Strict Class society § Nobility – most powerful, but smallest group ►Strict rules and expectations ►Born not made or earned § Townspeople ►Wide range of wealth, from rich to poor ►Provide goods & services § Peasants – weakest, but largest group ►More freedoms as serfdom decreased ►Mainly lived in rural areas, so were least impacted by Renaissance
The Intellectual and Artistic Renaissance
Italian Renaissance Humanism ► Stressed that man was the center of the universe and had dignity and value ► Humanism – intellectual movement based on the classics § Study – grammar, rhetoric (debate), poetry, philosophy & history (the Humanities) ► Ren Educations – based on humanism § Goal – create complete citizens ► Vernacular Literature – written in common lang § Dante, Chaucer, Pizan
Petrarch: “Father of Humanism” ► Petrarch was a scholar and poet who was responsible for the recovery of manuscripts and works of Greek and Roman writers. ► He traveled throughout Europe recovering manuscripts of Cicero and other Roman authors that had been lost in monastery libraries. ► Petrarch, like other writers of the time, wrote in Latin. Francesco Petrarch
Dante Alighieri ► “Father of the Italian Language” ► Wrote The Divine Comedy. ► The Divine Comedy is considered one of the greatest works of Italian and world literature. ► Dante was first to write in the vernacular, the language used in everyday life. Until his time, all European literature was written in Latin. Dante Alighieri
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The Artistic Renaissance in Italy ► Rome became the center of Renaissance art in the 1500 s. § Pope Alexander VI: most notorious of the Renaissances popes; spent huge sums on art patronage. ► 3 Masters of the High Renaissance § Leonardo da Vinci § Michelangelo § Raphael ► Sculpture & Architecture are include in Renaissance Art, both drew from Greek & Roman influenences
New Artistic Techniques ► Fresco – watercolor on fresh plaster ► Law of Perspective ► Study of human anatomy ► GOAL – imitate nature From Michelangelo’s Sketch Book
Leonardo da Vinci ► Master of realism & perspective ► Studied human anatomy (cadavers) to be as accurate as possible ► Sculptor, painter, astronomer, inventor – a true “Renaissance Man”
Leonardo da Vinci The Last Supper A page from one of da Vinci’s notebooks, he “coded” his work by writing backwards. He could read it, but most other people would need a mirror to read it.
Raphael Santi ► 1 of the top Renaissance painters ► Especially known for his “Madonna's” – paintings of Mary the mother of Jesus ► A major artist in the Vatican Madonna of the Meadows Madonna del Granduca
Raphael Santi School of Athens - fresco in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. Thought to be Raphael’s masterpiece.
Raphael Santi The bracketed names are the contemporary characters from whom Raphael is thought to have drawn his likenesses. 6: Pythagoras? 7: Alexander the Great? 12: Socrates? 13: Heraclitus (Michelangelo) 14: Plato holding the Timaeus (Leonardo da Vinci) 15: Aristotle holding the Ethics? 16: Diogenes of Sinope? 17: 18: Euclid or Archimedes with students 20: Ptolemy? R: Apelles (Raphael)
Michelangelo Buonarroti ► Painter, sculptor and architect ► Most famous for work in Vatican City St. Peter’s Bascillica (large domed building) – designed by Michelangelo (St. Peter’s Square – designed by Bernini)
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