Renaissance• Means
REBIRTH
• Rebirth of art and learning
• Began in northern Italy
Economic Foundations
• Increased demand for Middle Eastern products
• Encouraged the use of credit and banking
• Letters of credit expanded supply of money and sped up trade.
• New accounting and bookkeeping practices used Arabic numerals
Italy• Italian city-states became
rich from trade: – Florence– Venice – Genoa
• They were trading centers for the distribution of goods to northern Europe.
• Independent city-states governed as republics by wealthy merchants.
Niccolo Machiavelli• Wrote The Prince– guidelines for the
how to get power by absolute rule.
• Believed the ends justified the means
• One should do good if possible, but do evil when necessary.
Art and Literature• Medieval art and literature focused on the Church and salvation.
• Renaissance art and literature focused on individuals and worldly matters, along with Christianity.
Artists and Writers
• Artists –Leonardo da
Vinci
–Michelangelo
• Writers–Petrarch
Leonardo da Vinci• Painted the
Mona Lisa and The Last Supper
• Handsome, athletic, singer, artist, scientist, inventor
Notebooks
Michelangelo• Painted the
ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and sculpted David
• Sculptor, painter, architect, poet
The Sistine Chapel Ceiling
Creation of Eve Creation of Adam
Separation of Light and Darkness
The Last Judgment
Pieta
David
Moses 1513-1515
RaphaelPainter
1483-1520
The School of Athens
Pythagoras
Socrates
Plato and Aristotle
Euclid
Zoroaster & Ptolemy
Raphael (back)
Petrarch• Wrote Sonnets
• He wrote with a Humanistic approach
• Considered the “Father of Humanism”
Humanism• Celebrated the
individual• Stimulated the study
of Greek and Roman literature and culture
• Humanists were supported by PATRONS who were very wealthy
The Vitruvian Man
Northern Renaissance
• With the rise of trade, travel and literacy, the Italian Renaissance spread to northern Europe.
• The art and literature changed as people of different cultures adopted Renaissance ideas.
Northern Renaissance Writers• Erasmus—The
Praise of Folly (1511)
• Critical of corrupt church practices
• Catalyst for Protestant Reformation
Northern Renaissance Writers• Sir Thomas More
—Utopia (1516)
• Depicts world with perfect social, legal and political system
• Leading humanist scholar
The Printing Press
• Major invention of the Renaissance• Printing press created by Johannes Gutenberg
– Was the first way to print large amounts of text at once, instead of by hand or by blocks
– 1st book printed was the “Gutenberg Bible”• Influence of the printing press was…
– Made books faster and more accessible to people– Made books much cheaper than before– Increased the literacy rate of people in Europe– Allowed more people the ability to be educated
