Hallmarks of the Renaissance

1. Hallmarks of the Renaissance The “Isms”

2. What are the characteristics of the Renaissance? The “isms”: • humanism (and classicism) • individualism • secularism • scientific naturalism

3. Humanism • intellectual movement based on study of the classics (classicism) • humanities (liberal arts): grammar, rhetoric, poetry, ethics, history • renewed interest in man and new view of humankind • believed in human potential and glorified man’s dignity • man depicted in art as the center of the world • civic humanism: application of humanist education to civil service • vs. Middle Ages – learning confined largely to Christian monasteries; subordination of humans to God; human body should be covered up, not glorified (Christian worldview)

4. Humanism (Classicism) Bramante, Tempietto, San Pietro in Montorio, Rome, 1508

5. Humanism Pico della Mirandola, Oration on the Dignity of Man: “O supreme generosity of God the Father, O highest and most marvelous felicity of man! To him it is granted to have whatever he chooses, to be whatever he wills.”

6. Humanism (Classicism) Michelangelo, David, 1504 (marble statue)

7. Individualism • new emphasis on individual achievement • belief that the individual ought to be free to think, speak, and act for himself • vs. Middle Ages – cooperation within small communities; individual achievement subordinate to religious faith/piety (Christian worldview)

8. Individualism Titian, Portrait of Emperor Charles V at Muhlberg, 1548 (oil on canvas) • Renaissance portraiture

9. Individualism Titian, Portrait of Empress Isabel of Portugal, 1548 (oil on canvas) • Renaissance portraiture

10. Individualism Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper, 1498 (fresco) • each of the 12 apostles has a different, individual expression

11. Secularism • increasing concern with the material rather than spiritual world • material values: money/wealth, material goods, leisure time/activities • vs. Middle Ages – focus on the spiritual world/Kingdom of Heaven (Christian worldview)

12. Secularism Pieter Bruegel, Peasant Dance, 1568 (oak on panel)

13. Secularism Boccaccio (1313-1375), The Decameron: “Niccolò’s son, Filippo, being a young man and a bachelor, was wont sometimes to bring thither a woman for his pleasure, and after keeping her there for a few days to escort her thence again. Now on one of these occasions it befell that he brought thither one Niccolosa, whom a vile fellow, named Mangione, kept in a house at Camaldoli as a common prostitute. And a fine piece of flesh she was, and wore fine clothes, and, for one of her sort, knew how to comport herself becomingly and talk agreeably.”

14. Hans Holbein, The Ambassadors, 1533 (oil on wood) Secularism

15. Scientific Naturalism • close observation and study of the natural world • geometry / proportions / space / laws of perspective • anatomy • realistic portrayal of natural world • vs. Middle Ages – less realistic and more stylized; focus is on representation of God rather than representation of God (Christian worldview)

16. Scientific Naturalism Raphael, School of Athens, 1510 (fresco) • laws of perspective

17. Leonardo da Vinci, Study of a woman’s hands, date unknown (drawing) Leonardo da Vinci, Larynx and legs, 1510 (drawing) Scientific Naturalism

18. Scientific Naturalism Leonardo da Vinci, Vitruvian Man, 1492 (pen and ink) • study of ideal proportions

19. Scientific Naturalism Fra Angelico, The Annunciation, 1432 (tempera on wood)