The Renaissance in Italy
Renaissance = “Rebirth”
The Renaissance 1300-1500
• The period after the Middle Ages/Dark Ages and before modern history
• At the end of the Black Death (plague)
• A time of great art and great thinkers
• It marked a shift from an agricultural to a urban society
• Trade was of greater importance
• (Italian gown shown here)
The Renaissance Began in Italy and Later Spread
• Italy is where the Roman Empire existed, so architecture & other artifacts were present.
• The Pope, head of the Roman Catholic Church, was also in Italy
• Geographic location was great for trade to the North, South and East
Renaissance Art
• Used religious figures, but against classical backgrounds
• Artists returned to the realism of classical times using perspective
Medieval Portrayals of the Madonna
Renaissance Portrayal of the Madonna
Leonardo da Vinci• Artist, Scientist, all
around Renaissance Man.
• -The Mona Lisa
• -The Last Supper
• -The Vitruvian Man
• -Self portrait
• BTW – He also robbed graves.
The Brilliance of Leonardo
• Out of 17 half brothers and sisters, Leonardo was recognized as “unusual” as a child.
• Apprenticed to a painter by 15.
The Brilliance of Leonardo
• Developed interest in science and technology.
• Tried to invent rockets, bridges, flying machines, parachutes, fire trucks with extendable ladders, etc.
• May have also invented the telescope?
• Was a lefty!
BTW:
• Leonardo and the next Renaissance Man absolutely HATED one another!!!
• Both are what we call “Renaissance Men”– Able to do more than
one thing quite well!
Michelangelo
• Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni[
• And we wonder why we just call him “Michelangelo”?
• Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet and engineer.
Michelangelo• La Pieta in the Sistine
Chapel in Rome.
David
The Divine Spark
Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
Raphael• The School of Athens • Portrayal of the
Madonna, mother of Jesus.
Self-portrait by Raphael, missing since World War II
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles• Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles were all named after the famous artists of the Renaissance.
• Master Splinter and Super Shredder were not.
Renaissance Writings• Wrote of philosophy and
scholarship• Developed guidebooks for
success• Machiavelli wrote a guide for
rulers on how to gain and maintain power
• He urged rulers to use whatever methods necessary to achieve their goal
Machiavelli
• “The end justifies the means.”
• He has a Machiavellian mind.– NOT a compliment!
THE RENAISSANCE IN THE NORTH – the late start!
• Northern Europe began the Renaissance nearly 100 years after Italy because they still suffered from the Black Death and had not experienced the same economic growth -- until the 1400’s!
Where it began in the North• The Northern Renaissance
began in a region called Flanders where there were lots of prosperous cities. (Present-day France, Belgium and Netherlands.
• It then spread into the remainder of France, Spain, Germany and England.
The Printing Revolution• 1455, John Gutenberg
of Germany invented a printing press with movable type
• Why was this a BIG DEAL?
The Gutenberg Bible
Ned Flanders
Northern Humanists and Writers • Those in the North also
stressed education and the classics.
• Writing had been in Latin -- began writing in everyday language (the vernacular)
• What affect would this have?
Erasmus• A Priest and Humanist• Used knowledge of
languages and produced a new edition of the Bible
• He called for a translation of the Bible into the vernacular
• Why was this a big deal?
Shakespeare• English poet and
playwright• Incorporated
Renaissance ideals into a language the people could understand
• Introduced more than 1700 new words
Shakespeare Insults
• “You vomitous mass”• “You crusty botch of
nature!”• “I never see thy face
but I think upon hell-fire.”