Great Ideas of the

Renaissance

Great Ideas of the

Renaissance

Renaissance:Renaissance:• A French word

meaning rebirth

• A French word meaning rebirth

A New Way of ThinkingA New Way of Thinking

Middle AgesMiddle Ages

• Life is hard• Work toward the

reward you will receive in Heaven.

• Life is hard• Work toward the

reward you will receive in Heaven.

RenaissanceRenaissance

• Live in the here and now.

• Study the great thinkers of Greece and Rome

• Live in the here and now.

• Study the great thinkers of Greece and Rome

Humanism:Humanism:• An intellectual movement that was

based on the classical cultures of Greece and Rome

• More people were taught to read and learned grammar, rhetoric, poetry and history.

• An intellectual movement that was based on the classical cultures of Greece and Rome

• More people were taught to read and learned grammar, rhetoric, poetry and history.

Why Italy?Why Italy?• The Italians were

surrounded by ancient buildings, ruins, coins, etc.

• The Italians were surrounded by ancient buildings, ruins, coins, etc.

The Roman ColosseumThe Roman Colosseum

The Roman ForumThe Roman Forum

Italy during the RenaissanceItaly during the Renaissance

Patrons:Patrons:• Supporters of the arts• Supporters of the arts

Lorenzo “Magnifico” De’ MediciLorenzo “Magnifico” De’ Medici

The most famous patron in ItalyThe most famous patron in Italy

ArtArt

Early Renaissance Painting

The works of art of this period feature mainly religious themes because the Roman Catholic Church was the main patron of these artists.

Giotto (1267 – 1337)

Giotto di Bondone (better known as just Giotto), was an Italian painter and architect. He is generally considered the first in a line of great artists who contributed to and developed the Italian Renaissance.

Giotto’s Frescos of Jesus

A fresco is a painting done on wet plaster. As it dries the wet plaster absorbs the paint and the painting becomes part of the wall surface rather than resting on top of it. This makes a durable work of art; if the wall is destroyed the painting can often be reassembled because of the size of the plaster parts.

Giotto

Botticelli (1445 – 1510)

Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, better known as Sandro Botticelli was an Italian painter during the Renaissance.

A portrait of Botticelli

Botticelli’s Annunciation

The Annunciation refers to the Bible story of the angel Gabriel speaking to Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Botticelli’s Primavera (Spring)

Botticelli used some mythological themes in some of his paintings. From left to right are Mercury, the Three Graces, Venus, Flora, Chloris, and Zephyrus.

Botticelli’s Birth of Venus

Botticelli’s Birth of Venus

Botticelli's Venus was chosen to be the picture on the first Italian euro coins (2002).

Botticelli’s Paintings

A fresco of the Three Graces

Michelangelo (1475 - 1564)

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, commonly known as Michelangelo, was a Renaissance sculptor, architect, painter, and poet.

Some people think he is the greatest artist that ever lived.

Michelangelo’s sculpture

The Pieta David

A closer look at DavidThe sculpture is so famous that it has become iconic.

People recognize it instantly even when it is put into a cartoon or used in photographs.

The statue was cleaned in 2003

Michelangelo's masterpiece was given its first cleaning since 1873. It had been almost 500 years since it was hewn from a single block of marble and it took conservation experts more than six months to complete the incredibly delicate cleaning.

Michelangelo’s painting

The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican in

Rome.

The Sistine Chapel

“The Creation of Man”, a panel from the Sistine Chapel.

The Sistine Chapel

Isaiah Ezekiel

The Last Judgment

The Last Judgment is a common theme in religious art.The most famous is Michelangelo's "The Last Judgment" in the Sistine Chapel. He portrays himself as St. Bartholomew's flayed skin.

Michelangelo’s ArchitectureHe designed St. Peter’s Basilica dome in the Vatican and the city hall on Capitoline Hill in Rome.

Michelangelo also designed the uniforms for the Swiss Guard, the Army that protects the pope.

The Swiss Guard still use the same uniforms today.

Only the fabric has changed to make the uniforms lighter and easier to wear.

Raphael (1483– 1520)

Raphael or Raffaello was a master painter and architect in the Italian High Renaissance.

He is celebrated for the perfection and softness of his paintings.

This painting is a self-portrait.

Raphael’s “The Sistine Madonna”

This detail from the Sistine Madonna is reproduced on everything from pillows to stationary.

Raphael’s “School of Athens”The famous School of Athens is set in classical times.

Plato and Aristotle are shown in the center engaged in a philosophical discussion.

Raphael painted Michelangelo into the picture after looking at the Sistine Chapel.

Raphael’s portraits

Pope Julius II

Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519)

Leonardo da Vinci was an architect, musician, anatomist, inventor, engineer, sculptor, geometer, and painter. He has been described as a universal genius, a man both infinitely curious and infinitely inventive. He is also said to be one of the greatest painters that ever lived.

Self-portrait

da Vinci’s Mona Lisa

The Mona Lisa, an oil painting on poplar wood, is perhaps the most famous painting in art history.Few other works of art are as romanticized, celebrated, or reproduced.

The Mona Lisa is another example of an iconic piece of art.

Gary Larson’s

“The Moona Lisa”

The Mona Lizard

The Simpson’s version of the “Mona Lisa”

da Vinci’s The Last Supper

This fresco is one of the most well known and valued in the world; it has never been privately owned because it cannot be moved. Leonardo was one of the first painters to effectively use perspective.

da Vinci’s Notebooks

Leonardo’s notebooks contain studies of human anatomy. A recent TV show copied his image for a poster.

Inventor

He envisioned inventions such as this idea for a type of helicopter.

da Vinci’s Notebooks

Leonardo's notebooks were on four main themes; architecture, elements of mechanics, painting, and human anatomy.

An armored tank designed by Leonardo included designs for the exterior and interior.

LiteratureLiterature

Renaissance LiteratureSome famous authors of the Renaissance are Dante and Machiavelli from Italy, and Shakespeare from England.

Dante (1265 – 1321)

Durante Alighieri, better known as Dante, was an Italian Florentine poet. His greatest work, The Divine Comedy, is the basis of the modern Italian language.

A fresco of Dante

Machiavelli (1469 - 1527)

Niccolò Machiavelli was a Florentine political thinker and historian. The Prince details the methods a leader can use to gain power.According to Machiavelli, it is important that the leader be willing to do anything necessary to maintain power.However, Machiavelli says that above all, the leader must not be hated.

Shakespeare (1564 – 1616)

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright.

Shakespeare is considered by many to be the greatest writer in the English language, and one of the greatest of all time.

Romeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet is a play about the fate of two young lovers who would do anything to be together.

It is the most famous of his plays and the most famous love story in history.

“But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.”

Modern Adaptationsof Romeo and Juliet

“O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name;

Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I'll no longer be a Capulet.”

Much Ado About Nothing

Hamlet is a story of a prince whose father is killed by his uncle. When his uncle marries Hamlet’s mother and takes the throne, it starts a series of ghost-sightings and swordfights that end in murder and death.

Hamlet“To be, or not

to be,That is the question.”