The Renaissance 1450-1527Unit EQ:

Why does the Renaissance mark the beginning of the modern era?

What are the indexes of modernity?• Pressures for increased democracy

• Loosening of old customs

• Questioning of ancestral religions; increased secularization

• Demands for individual liberation

• Expectation of a higher standard of living

• Drive for more equality (gender, race, class, religious, nationalities)

• Elaborate means of transportation and communication

• Advanced science, medicine, hygiene, agriculture

• Sophisticated means for fighting or negotiating peace

• Complex networks of finance and trade

“Open the door and a few flies come in” - Deng Xiaoping on China’s modernization

Renaissance: the 5 W’s

• WHAT?

• WHEN?

• WHERE?

• WHO?

• WHY?

WHAT was the Renaissance?

The Late Middle Ages: Cathedrals

After 1450: Humanism revived

power of thehuman mind

liberal artseducation

beautyand

materialism

revival of Greco-Romanclassics

Renaissance Ideals

Humanism: - Individualism - Secularism -Materialism

virtu: Civic Humanism – applying humanist values to the improvement of public virtue

Expectation of a better life in this world for future generations

Humans have power to improve and achieve

progress

Civic humanism

Essential Understanding:Time, Continuity & Change

Medieval legacies:

Renaissance departures:

WHEN? A Movable Feast

Beginnings1350-1453

Late Middle AgesRevival of Classical Texts

Height1453-1527

Refinement of a StyleLeonardo, Michelangelo

Diffusion:Northern RenaissanceRen Ideals Inspire Ref

No. Ren. artists perfect techniques

A Movable Feast:1350-1600

The Late Middle Ages: Prelude* to the Modern World 1100-1350

• Magna Charta, 1215: limits the arbitrary rule of monarchs

• Cities emerge around cathedrals and universities• Scholasticism revives the study of logic and

reason• Trade picks up between Italy and the non-western

world

*prelude = beginning that transitions to a main event

Medieval legacies: Renaissance departures:(5th – 14th C) (15th – 18th C)

“In innumerable ways today’s world is linked to the Middle Ages”:

• Technological lead of the West

• Higher law of God

• Sacred worth of individual

• The ideal of the noble warrior

• Government by consent and rule by law (Magna Charta, 1215)

“Although the elements of continuity are clear, the characteristic outlook of the Middle Ages was as different from that of the modern age as it was from that of the ancient world”

• Human intellect/reason CAN interpret

the natural world through science

• Nature is a unified field, not a hierarchical one

• Nationalism replaced personal & feudal allegiances

• Science and possibility of human progress replace faith and a sinful individual

Medieval legacies: Renaissance departures:(5th – 14th C) (15th – 18th C)

“In innumerable ways today’s world is linked to the Middle Ages”:

“Although the elements of continuity are clear, the characteristic outlook of the Middle Ages was as different from that of the modern age as it was from that of the ancient world”

WHERE: city states and principalities of the Italian peninsula

• Continuous trade with the Mediterranean world

during the Middle Ages

• Urban centers emerge

• Commercial classes in city states emerge as a vibrant force, patronize art

• Greek scholars flee there after 1453

• Legacy of Rome’s glory and civic pride

WHO? • Humanist scholars

• Wealthy patrons

• Philosophers

• Historians

• Artists and poets

• Government officials & civil servants

WHO:Petrarch, Bruni, Valla, Mirandola

Humanists create A New Set of Values

• Transition from Scholasticism to philology and liberal arts

• Revival of classical texts, Latin language, Greek philosophy from Byzantine Empire after 1453

• Use of objective historical analysis

• Intellectual curiosity glorified

WHY IMPORTANT?Renaissance ideals live on in

the indexes of modernity• Respect for dignity of the

individual and liberty

• Science replaces faith as source of material knowledge

• Expectation of a decent standard of living and growth of middle class

• Diplomacy and balance of power deployed

• Centralized state authority serves as a buffer against feudalism and disorder

“What needs to be explained is not the existence of a Leonardo or a Michelangelo but their co-existence”

- KGO

What are the indexes of modernity?• Pressures for increased democracy

• Loosening of old customs

• Questioning of ancestral religions; increased secularization

• Demands for individual liberation

• Expectation of a higher standard of living

• Drive for more equality (gender, race, class, religious, nationalities)

• Elaborate means of transportation and communication

• Advanced science, medicine, hygiene, agriculture

• Sophisticated means for fighting or negotiating peace

• Complex networks of finance and trade

Medieval & Renaissance painting compared:• Subject matter:• Purpose: • Techniques:

The Renaissance:A New Age by Self-Assertion

Gothic Cathedrals

• Long naves to the alter• Flying buttresses for

support• Stained glass windows• Statues of saints• Towns grow up around the

cathedrals

Brunelleschi: -revived classical elements - synthesizes classical architecture with gothic cathedral structure

Florence, Italy

Prague, Czech Republic

Alberti

“A building, like a body, needs an even number of supports and like a head, an odd number of openings”

Painting: Medieval versus Renaissance

Massacio:“The Expulsion of AdamAnd Eve” (ca. 1425)

-used shading to create light and shadow-used linear persepctive

Classical themes admired : architecture, heroes, education.

Massacio: linear persepctive

Leonardo da Vinci:

• Sfumato

• Chiarrascurro

The creation of naturalism.

• Proportionality• Humanistic subject matter• Meticulous observation of

what occurs in nature• Mathematical perspective

to create the illusion of 3 dimensionality

Raphael’s “The Three Graces”

Emphasis

on beauty

Botticelli’s Birth of Venus

Individualism

Materialism and luxury:

The beginningOf the Bourgeoisie =Urban upperMiddle class

Two different visions of sculpture:

Two different visions of scultpture:

Gargoyle on cathedral, Michelangelo’s Pieta,Medieval: Renaissance:Abstract NaturalisticSpiritual only HumanisticEmbedded in cathedral Free-standing

Donatello

• Revived free-standing sculpture

• Studied human anatomy

Renaissance sculpture:

• Contraposto

• Free-standing

• Proportional

• anatomy studies and mathematics

• Bold attitude

PURPOSE: naturalism as a metaphor for humanism

The Middle Ages =

A “Dark Age” ?

The Renaissance:A New Age by Self-Assertion

15th century society

The Gate toThe Market,Krakow,Poland

Continuity…….and…..Changein Renaissance Society

• Agriculture and rural society predominate

• Family relationships most important

• Importance of the church in daily life

• Patriarchy• Disparity rich/ poor/small

middle class• Short life expectancy• “The Great Chain of

Being” dominates religious values & beleifs

• Revival of cities• More consumer goods

available to all• More luxury goods

available to some• Expectation of a better

SOL for future generations emerges

• Beginning of the bourgeoisie (=middle class)

Medieval v. Renaissance idealsMEDIEVAL LIFE

Christianity central to society, culture, and education;

Strict feudal hierarchy

Decentralized authorities

Local, agrarian economies

and customs (the lord’s manor)

Classical Mythology

Medieval v. Renaissance idealsMEDIEVAL LIFE

Christianity central to society, culture, and education;

Strict feudal hierarchy

Decentralized authorities

Local, agrarian economies

and customs (the lord’s manor)

SUBJECT MATTER:SACRED, SECULAR, AND CLASSICAL

Classical humanism in art

• Revered both secular and sacred subjects

• Used Greek and Roman art as models

• Heightened awareness of individualism, beauty, the dignity of man

• Used the human form as a metaphor for the potentiality and power of the human mind

• Required the support of wealthy patrons

Renaissance HumanismEmphasized:

• Reverence for Classical civilization

• Beauty of human mind and body

• Civic humanism: Power of individual to improve, excel and create progress

• A liberal arts education was the means to individual fulfillment and social progress

Materialism and luxury

DOC. #1 DOC. #2

ObjectiveStudies of Nature andObjects

“The Hare” by Albrecht Durer

What was “Italy” in the 15-16C?• Many city states and

kingdoms• No centralized authority to create a unified Italy• While still mostly rural, the

Italian peninsula was the most urbanized place in Europe

• Condotierri and diplomats were the regulators of the balance of power

• Trade continued throughout the Middle ages

What were the characteristics ofItalian city states?

Florence:

The Medicis• Began as merchants then

took capital & went into banking

• Became powerful politicians and married into royal and papal families

• Lorenzo builds a library of classical works, patronizes artists

• Cosimo attempts (but does not succeed) in bringing order to Florentine politics

Venice: La Serenissima

• First global mercantile empire

• Served as conduit between west and “the orient” throughout late Middle Ages

• Aspired to republican glory through the Doge and the Great Council

Balance of power and diplomacy used to prevent hegemony among the Italian city states:

origins of modern international relations.

The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein

The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein

Baldassare Castiglione

• “Let the man we are seeking be exceedingly

fierce, harsh, and always among the first, wherever the enemy is; and in every other place, humane, modest and reserved”

The Prince as the Agent of Change “Every prince must desire to be

considered merciful and not cruel. He must, however, take care not to misuse this mercifulness…A prince, therefore, must not mind incurring the charge of cruelty for the purpose of keeping his subjects united and faithful…”

Machiavelli v. Castiglione

• What are ethics? Do ethics have a place in political leadership?

• Is it “better to be feared than loved”?

• What is the most effective type of leadership?

Machiavelli’s Legacy• Do the ends justify the means?• Conflict of western values: -is the state more important than the

individual? -is order and stability more important

than individual rights?• Is politics divorced from ethics?• Politics as a “science” : -leaders can study what worked in the

past as a guide to policy -leaders must pursue pragmatic policies,

not ethical ideals

Two visions of Civil SocietyMachiavelli Castiglione

• The ends justify the means

• Politics is separate from Christian ethics

• The prince should prefer fear to love as a tool of government

• Centralized authority is preferable to feudalism

• Leaders should do what is effective, not ideal

• Leaders are role models and should act accordingly to inspire their people

• Ideals DO matter in government

• The Prince should cultivate his character to improve his rule

• Rulers should be intellectually curious

Two visions of Effective Leadership:Machiavelli: Castiglione:

Beginnings1350-1453

Late Middle AgesRevival of Classical Texts

Height1453-1527

Refinement of a StyleLeonardo, Michelangelo

Diffusion:Northern RenaissanceRen Ideals Inspire Ref

No. Ren. artists perfect techniques

A Movable Feast:1350-1600

1453, Seige of Constantinople

• Greek scholars come to Italy

• Mediterranean monarchs sponsor new trade routes to avoid trade with Muslim Constantinople

• Atlantic becomes new market

in global trade

Fall of Rome 1527: Second turning point• End of Italian Renaissance

• Diffusion of Renaissance

ideals to Northern Europe

• End of Italian political

power until unification in 1870

Connections to Machiavelli’ political philosophy????

Northern Renaissance

• Emphasis on Christian Humanism and piety• Photographic-like naturalism• Nature and bible themes

The Northern Renaissance and Christian Humanism lay the foundations for Martin Luther’s 95 Theses and the Reformation…

Understand the Question:“Describe the various values and purposes of

Renaissance education.

“Analyze the extent to which these values and

purposes were transformed and challenged over

times”

Document #7:“At least twice a year...not only for learning

the liberal arts, but also the fear of God,

virtue and discipline…”

From the School of Ordinances ofWurttemberg, Germany, 1559

Northern RenaissanceHumanistic Art, Christian Subject Matter

Document #12:

Percentage of Justices of the Peace

Who attended University (by county):

Date: Kent: Northamptonshire:Somerset:

The value of the individual as represented through portraiture

Intellectual Curiosity Encouraged,

Scholars revered,

Latin, Universal Language of Scholars

Erasmus of Rotterdam, Christian Humanist (by Hans Holbein)

Sir ThomasMore, ChristianHumanist ofEnglandPainted byHans Holbein