The Italian Renaissance

1. The Italian Renaissance Mr. Evans Level 2 Humanities NVIB

2. 1300-1600 The Idea of Rebirth- The idea of rebirth was perpetuated by the people of the Renaissance themselves. It was they who labeled the preceding era the “Middle Ages” or “Gothic”, in order to distance themselves from their forebears. But in fact, the European cultural flowering known as the Renaissance was a natural out growth of the High Middle Ages, an evolution rather than a revolution. The first flowering occurred in Italy, from roughly 1300-1500, followed by a northern Renaissance in France, Germany, England, and the low countries between about 1450 and 1600. For Europe, the 14th century was one of disintegration. The Hundred Years War entangled England and France in a long and bloody conflict. The plague decimated Europe’s population and left entire villages deserted. In its wake, the feudal structure crumbled. Monarchies began to gain power taking it from the once feared Roman Catholic Church.

3. Humanism in italy Italian economic activity was centered in urban areas. Italian towns produced textiles and luxury goods. This is very different from Northern European towns. By the beginning of the Renaissance, Italy was broken into about 250 separate city-states. Wealthy families such as the Medici rose to power and became supporters of the arts (cha-ching)! Florence was the birthplace of the intellectual movement known as humanism. Humanists agreed with the Greek philosopher Protagoras, who noted that “man is the measure of all things.” Knowledge of the classics became the basis of education over all Europe. In Italy, educated people realized that the study of the ancient writers offered fresh insights into how people should conduct themselves. These ideas were later expressed in various forms of art from the region.

4. Byzantine influences The demise of the Byzantine Empire helped feed the fires of humanism in Renaissance Europe. The Byzantine Empire was the first to continue the studies of the ancient Greeks and Romans. When the Byzantine Empire fell to the Muslim Turks many scholars from the area fled to Italy. Their idea of questioning authority landed on fertile ground. Living among the ruins of the ancient Romans, it wasn’t difficult for Italians to imagine a different time and way of thinking. This combined with wealth created a fire of different thinking. However Italy’s wealth was not spread equally among its people & dissention began to cause violent actions among those wishing for a better life. Revolts were usually crushed by the wealthy families of the city-states.

5. Art & architecture Giotto diBondone started the change in art with frescoes of sacred subjects depicted realistic-looking people with strong emotions. However, the high point of Italian art came in the late 1400s & early 1500s with artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, and Raphael (RaffaelloSanzio). Da Vinci was a painter, an inventor, and wildly curious about all spheres of science. He left the world not only the “Mona Lisa” and the “Last Supper”, but also more than 4,000 pages of notes and drawings of human anatomy, mechanical diggers, artillery, and even the principles of flight (400 years before aircraft). Michelangelo brought the depiction of the human form to new artistic heights in paintings such as the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, in his architecture, and most particularly in sculptures like the “pieta” in Rome and the “David” in Florence. Raphael’s paintings emphasized proportion and harmony. His “School of Athens,” which depicts philosophers of Ancient Greece, reflects the Renaissance’s worship of classical ideals as well as the painter’s studies of perspective. After studying classical architecture in Rome, Filippo Brunelleschi revived the classical ideal in his buildings for Florence, most notably in his eight-sided dome for its cathedral.

6. Social thought Church domination in the past created a movement of individual freedom of thought. Niccolo Machiavelli’s revolutionary book The Prince, a work of political philosophy that starts with the assumption that people are naturally greedy and amoral, and that for a statesman, the end justifies the means is probably the most influential text from the era. The education and power of women in society-wealthy women, at least-improved during the renaissance. Wealthy or aristocratic families had their daughters tutored at home, sometimes by noted humanist scholars. Isabella d’Este ruled the small Italian territory of Mantua with such skill that scholars and artists were attracted to her court. Although the Roman Catholic Church was an important patron of Renaissance art and learning, in many ways the new ideas clashed with church doctrine. However, most Europeans did not turn from the church during the Renaissance. Rather all of the questioning of spiritual matters during the Renaissance led to a very critical time in history known as the Reformation.