the renaissance birth of venus – botticelli, 1485
TRANSCRIPT
Aim: Why did the Renaissance begin in Italy?
(1)Explain how life was during the Greek and Roman civilizations.
(2)Explain Humanism and Secularism.(3)Who was Leonardo DaVinci and what did he
contribution to Art
The “Dark Ages”
Renaissance thinkers referred to the Middle Ages as the “Dark Ages”.
They believed that the “light of learning” had gone out in Europe at the fall of Rome.
Renaissance thinkers wanted to rediscover the ancient Greeks and Romans.
In Italy, a new period of artisticcreativity and new interest in
the contributions of the Greeks and Romans developed.
And why did theRenaissance begin
in Italy?Italy had
a great location for trade.
It was king ofthe Mediterranean
Sea.It controlled
European tradewith Asia.
During the Renaissance,
humanismbecame popular.It was the belief
in the importanceand uniqueness
of man.
Secularism
During the Renaissance, secularism became popular.
Secularism is a non-religious viewpoint.
Secularists look to scientific thinking for answers as opposed to religion.
Humanism
During the Renaissance, humanism became popular.
Humanism is the belief that human actions, ideas, and works are important.
Humanists rediscovered the ancient Greeks and Romans.
The Renaissance
The Renaissance was a period of artistic creativity.
Artists rediscovered the ancient civilizations of the Greeks and Romans.
The word “Renaissance” means rebirth.
Humanism
• Celebrated the individual
• Stimulated the study of classical Greek and Roman literature and culture
• Supported by wealthy patrons
Medici Family
They were a family of bankers that became very wealthy and powerful.
Soon they were involved in politics and ran the City of Florence.
They were patrons of the Arts and commissioned many works of art.
Machiavelli’s The Prince
• An early modern treatise on government
• Supports absolute power of the ruler
• Maintains that the end justifies the means
• Advises that one should not only do good if possible, but do evil when necessary
The Prince
Author: Niccolo Machiavelli
Culture: Italian (another Florentine)
Time: 1513 CEGenre: didactic prose
handbookName to Know:
Cesare Borgia
Background
Son of a lawyer.Received an ordinary
literary education; read Latin but no Greek.
Loved Roman history; studied law.
Became a political writer & theorist.
Worked as a clerk, then secretary to the second chancery of the commune in Florence (14 years).
Practical ExperienceAs secretary & Second
Chancellor of Florence, in charge of internal and war affairs, he had knowledge of military & diplomatic matters; went on diplomatic missions.
After arguing against mercenaries and for a national militia, he was given the job of forming one and leading it to battle. Did so successfully(1509).
Another Florentine Exile . . .
He lost his position and was exiled from Florence when the republican regime went out of power; forbidden to leave Florentine territory, he was imprisoned and tortured, accused of conspiracy by the new Medici regime.
After he was released, he retired with his wife and children, wrote The Prince, among other things. Later got into Medici good graces (1520s). Died in 1527.
Reaction to Change
Machiavelli’s life changed drastically when the Medici family took power in Florence.
How does he react to this?Compare with how Abelard and Dante
dealt with the unforeseen events in their lives (castration, exile).
How would Marie de France judge their reactions to unexpected change, the test of unforeseen events ?
His Importance
An historian summed Machiavelli up thus:
‘Diplomat, historian, dramatist, philosopher; the most cynical thinker of his time, and yet a patriot fired with a noble ideal; a man who failed in everything he undertook, but left upon history a deeper mark than almost any other figure of the Renaissance.’ [Durant]
Machiavelli was an independent and fearless thinker about ethics and politics:
- interested in states, not individuals
[individuals are simply members of states]
- wants to know why states rise & fall- wants to know how to delay state decay
The Prince
A manual teaching how to get and keep political power. The author assumes a pedagogical persona, seeks to persuade readers.
The work is powerful for: subject matter
rhetorical & technical brillianceAmong the most frequently reprinted books in
any language.Dedicated first to Giuliano de’ Medici, then to
Lorenzo, his nephew.
The presentation of an ideal character is a Renaissance tendency.
Author’s premise: human nature is evil;
human nature remains constant over time.
Author’s goal: to liberate Italy from both internal warring and foreign oppression.
The Prince, Almost
Machiavelli admired Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI, makes him an embodied will to power, a model for supermen, beyond good and evil.
Borgia’s Accomplishments
- Destroyed his disloyal generals, having first made their supporters his own.
- Put Remirro de Orco in charge of Romagna. He pacified the province and united it (the bad guy); Borgia then instituted civil courts (good guy).
- Had Remirro killed and displayed in public square. “The ferocity of this spectacle left those people at the same time gratified and awe-struck.”
Art and PatronageItalians were willing to spend a lot of money on art.– Art communicated social, political, and
spiritual values.– Italian banking & international trade interests
had the money.
Public art in Florence was organized and supported by guilds.
Therefore, the consumption of art was used as a form of competition for social & political status!
1. Realism & Expression
� Expulsion fromthe Garden
� Masaccio
� 1427
� First nudes sinceclassical times.
2. Perspective
Perspective!Perspective!Perspective!
Perspective!Perspective!
First use of linear
perspective!
Perspective!Perspective!
� The Trinity
� Masaccio
� 1427
What you are, I once was; what I am, you will
become.
3. Classicism
� Greco-Roman influence.
� Secularism.
� Humanism.
� Individualism free standing figures.
� Symmetry/BalanceThe “Classical Pose”
Medici “Venus” (1c)
4. Emphasis on Individualism� Batista Sforza & Federico de Montefeltre:
The Duke & Dutchess of Urbino
� Piero della Francesca, 1465-1466.
Isabella d’Este – da Vinci, 1499� 1474-1539
� “First Lady of the Italian Renaissance.”
� Great patroness of the arts.
� Known during her time as “First Lady of the World!”
5. Geometrical Arrangement of
Figures� The Dreyfus Madonna with the Pomegranate
� Leonardo da Vinci
� 1469
� The figure as architecture!
7. Artists as Personalities/Celebrities
� Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, andArchitects
� Giorgio Vasari
� 1550
Renaissance Florence
The Wool Factoryby Mirabello Cavalori, 1570 1252 – first gold
florins minted
Florentine lion:symbol of St.
Mark
Filippo Brunelleschi
Commissioned to build the cathedral dome.– Used unique
architectural concepts. He studied the
ancient Pantheon in Rome.
Used ribs for support.
Other Famous Domes
Il Duomo St. Peter’s St. Paul’s US capital
(Florence) (Rome) (London) (Washington)
The Renaissance “Man”
� Broad knowledge about many things in different fields.
� Deep knowledge/skill in one area.� Able to link information from
different areas/disciplines and create new knowledge.
� The Greek ideal of the “well-rounded man” was at the heart of Renaissance education.
1. Self-Portrait -- da Vinci, 1512
1452 - 1519
� Artist
� Sculptor
� Architect
� Scientist
� Engineer
� Inventor
Leonardo, the Scientist (Biology):Pages from his Notebook
� An example of the humanist desire to unlock the secrets of nature.
A study of siege defenses.
Studies of water-lifting devices.
Leonardo, the Engineer: Pages from his
Notebook
Leonardo da Vinci….
O investigator, do not flatter yourself that you know the things nature performs for herself, but rejoice in knowing that purpose of those things designed by your own mind.
2. Michelangelo Buonorrati
� 1475 – 1564
� He represented the body in three dimensions of sculpture.
The School of Athens – Raphael, 1510 -11� One point perspective.
� All of the important Greek philosophers and thinkers are included all of the great personalities of the Seven Liberal Arts!
� A great variety of poses.� Located in the papal apartments
library.� Raphael worked on this commission
simultaneously as Michelangelo was doing the Sistine Chapel.
� No Christian themes here.
Aristotle:looks to thisearth [thehere and
now].
Plato:looks to theheavens [or
the IDEALrealm].
The School of Athens – Raphael, details
A Portrait of Savonarola� By Fra Bartolomeo,
1498.
� Dominican friar who decried money and power.
� Anti-humanist he saw humanism as too secular, hedonistic, and corrupting.
� The “Bonfire of the Vanities,” 1497.
/ Burned books, artwork, jewelry, and other luxury goods in public.
/ Even Botticelli put some of his paintings on the fire!!