8.1 Renaissance (c.

1300-1600)
 Means “rebirth”

 Movement based on rediscovering the

knowledge of the Ancient Romans and
Ancient Greeks

 Explosion of creativity in art, writing and

thought
 Renaissance
 Started in Italy around
1300 and spread
through Europe

Why Italy? 3 reasons

 Why Italy?

 1. City-States
 Trade during the crusades built cities in Italy
 Best place to exchange ideas
 Much less controlling than the larger empires of
Europe
 Plague killed many people, survivors made
higher wages
 Why Italy?
 2. wealthy merchant class:
 Merchants did not inherit success, had to earn it
 Believed in individual achievement
 Powerful Medici family influenced politics in
Florence
 Why Italy?
 3. Looking to Greece and Rome
 Looked down on the art & literature of the
Middle Ages

 Studied and drew inspiration from Ancient

Greece and Rome
 IMPORTANT
 The Renaissance has a New View of People

 Emphasis on individual ability

 Belief that humans could accomplish anything

and change society
 Humanism
 Intellectual movement that is focused on human
achievements and potential rather than religious themes.

 Focused on the man and his world.

 Tried to understand Ancient Greek values

 Secular nature of humanism-people became worldly and

focused on here and now
 Sometimes went against teachings of the Catholic Church and
Medieval thinking.
 Patrons
 A patron is someone who gives

 The Church and wealthy merchants were

patrons of the arts

 They paid to create beautiful works of art

 The Renaissance Man
 The idea that the educated should master
every area of study
 Also a “universal Man”

 Da Vinci- Painter, sculptor, architect,

inventor, mathematician
Art
 Art
 Anatomy
 To create more realistic human figures

 Geometry
 Used to create perspective, angles, depth and more
realism
 Medieval Art vs. Renaissance Art
MEDIEVAL ART RENAISSANCE ART
 depicted subjects in an  Use of oil paints
unrealistic two-  3-D and realism were the new
dimensional style techniques of the
Renaissance.
 Showed importance of  Also did sculpting and frescas
the soul over the body. (large paintings)
 Often focused on  Renaissance Artists
religion  Leonardo da Vinci
 Michelangelo
 Raphael
 Donatello
4 Masters of Renaissance Art
Medieval or Renaissance
art?
For the following slides, identify each
piece of art as “MA” or “REN”
 STOP!
How did you do?
 Donatello
 Florence, Italy 1386-1466

 Sculptor
 Master of relief sculptures
 Raphael
 Urbino, Italy 1483-1520

 Painter and Architect

 Known for graceful and perfect images
 Michelangelo
 Tuscany, Italy 1475- 1564

 Painter, sculptor, poet, architect, engineer

 Leonardo Da Vinci
 Florence, Italy 1452- 1519

 Mathematician, scientist, engineer, inventor,

painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician,
writer
 Northern Renaissance
 Belgium and
Netherlands
 Northern Renaissance
 Artists did not have large Cathedral walls to
paint

 Did not have the Italian understanding of

science and geometry
 Northern Renaissance
 Sought to capture real life through by
observation and detail.
 Northern Renaissance
 Jan van Eyck

 Created oil paintings

 Brilliant translucent colors
 Literature
 Gutenberg’s Press
 German machine which printed books onto
paper

 1450
 The Printing Revolution
 In 1456, Johann Gutenberg printed the bible using
movable metal type on a machine called a Printing
Press.
 Printed books became cheap and easier to produce that
hand copies.
 Now, readers gained access to broad range of knowledge
(Medicine to Religion)
 The printing press would greatly contribute to the
Protestant Reformation.
 Literature
 Vernacular
 Local language of the people
 Renaissance Writers
 Began to use the vernacular (vernacular =
the native language) instead of classical
Latin.
 Machiavelli, who wrote The Prince a
handbook for behavior.
 Literature
 Dante’s Divine Comedy

 Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales

 Christine de Pizan’s “Book of the City of

Ladies”