Renaissance Art: Petrarch and Boccaccio

1. Renaissance Art:Petrarch and Boccaccio Rhiannon Arnold and Sophia Leggio

2. Petrarch: Background • Known as Francesco Petrarca • Born on July 20th, 1304 in Arezzo, Italy • Studied law in France like his father wished • Decided to then focus on studying classical authors • This inspired him to become an author himself. • He soon went on to become the Father of Humanism. Petrarch, during his studies. http://www.tuscanyvillages.com/francesco-petrarca-petrarch/

3. Petrarch’s Contribution To Poetry Petrarch, aside from being the Father of Humanism, is most famously known for his collections of poems about his love, Laura. One day while at a church, Petrarch saw Laura and immediately fell in love. He spent the rest of his life writing love poems to Laura, even after she died from the Black Death in 1348. All 366 of Petrarch’s poems written about Laura are collected in a book called The Canzoniere. It was written in the vernacular, and many people were able to read it. Of the 366 poems, 317 of them are sonnets, which were rhyming poems that typically had some sort of an argument written within them. The Canzoniere written in the vernacular http://brbl-archive.library.yale.edu/exhibitions/petrarch/3.html

4. “Father of Humanism” Petrarch is consider the father of humanity because he combined classical European culture with Christianity. He also influenced Humanism by writing about the emotion of love. Petrarch, the Father of Humanism http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2012/11/why-the-reformation-happened-when-it-did/

5. A painting of Petrarch with Laura. https://bookhaven.stanford.edu/2013/07/a-birthday-card-for-petrarch-his-deepest-torments-are-shockingly-foreign/ This picture shows that Petrarch’s heart belongs to Laura. Petrarch’s love, Laura. http://notesfromapianist.wordpress.com/2011/04/06/sonnets-and-songs-tre-sonetti-del-petrarca/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrarch

6. Boccaccio: Background • Boccaccio was born in 1313 in Tuscany Italy • His father did not support his interest in literature and sent him to Naples to be an apprentice at a bank. • He was encouraged by his father to attend law school, and he went to Studium and studied cannon law for six years. • While he was in Naples he fell in love with Fiammetta, and she appears in almost all of his writings up until the Decameron. Giovanni Boccaccio http://litgloss.buffalo.edu/boccaccio/more.shtml

7. Boccaccio’s Work His most popular work was the Decameron, which was written in 1348-1354. It tells the story of 10 people fleeing Florence because of the plague. They live in the countryside and each day one person is the king or queen of all the others and decide how the day will be spent. In addition the groups shared stories with each other, and over the course of 10 days 100 stories were shared which is why it’s called the Decameron or “Ten Days’ Work”. These stories cover a range of topics about life and focuses on the human ability to overcome and exploit fortune. It connects to the Renaissance because there are many example of humanism in the story because there are many aspects that are about human worth and dignity. The Decameron painted by John William Waterhouse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Decameron

8. Boccaccio’s arguments with the church • He challenged arguments made by clerical minds because they wanted to limit access to classical works because they believed that they challenged the church’s beliefs. • He thought that ancient literature was important to the development of the Renaissance and the flow of humanistic ideas and writings. The Duomo Cathedral in Florence Statue of Boccaccio http://traveltips.usatoday.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Boccaccio

9. Similarities and Differences Petrarch and Boccaccio were not just similar, but they were related in many ways. For example: • Petrarch was Boccaccio’s inspiration • After reading one of Boccaccio’s writings, the Tale of Griselda, he rewrote it in Latin because he wanted such a wonderful story to be written in a language more people could read it in. • Both of their fathers didn’t support their passions for literature Even though they were closely related to one another, they also had some differences: • Boccaccio is most famous for writing his book, Decameron, and Petrarch is most known for his collection of love poems. • Petrarch also wrote letters, some called “Familiar Letters” and more called the Seniles. Boccaccio did not write any letters. • Boccaccio created a book with 106 women’s biographies in it and Petrarch didn’t write any biographies.

10. Bibliography • http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/70836/Giovanni-Boccaccio • http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/boccaccio/life1_en.php • http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/154876/Decameron • http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/454103/Petrarch • http://www.biography.com/people/petrarch-9438891#awesm=~oANXD4lGUN9gIn

11. Thank You For watching Boccaccio Petrarch http://www.biography.com/people/petrarch-9438891 http://commons.wikimedia.org/