The Renaissance began in Italy in the late Middle Ages and spread to the rest of Europe by the 16th century. It was characterized by a revival of interest in classical learning and values. Several Italian city-states, like Florence, Rome, Venice, and Milan, became centers of the Renaissance and saw cultural and artistic flourishing due to wealth accumulated through trade and banking. Renowned artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael produced famous works that defined the era. The widespread use of the printing press also helped spread Renaissance ideas across Europe.

1. The
Renaissance
Presented by : Group 1

2. The Italian Renaissance
► Renaissance
 rebirth
► Italian Renaissance  rebirth of ancient
Greek & Roman worlds
► Characteristics
 Secular Urban society (City-states)
 Age of Recovery
 New view of human ability & worth

3. Origins of the Renaissance
► European
trade with Asia increased during
the 1300s.
► 2. Italian merchants organized much of this
trade.
► 3. Trade cities in Italy grew wealthy.
► 4. They competed to create works that
would increase the prestige of their cities.
Genoa
Venice
Milan

4. Origins of the Renaissance
► 5.
(cont)
Florence became a center for
banking, art, culture, and literature.
► 6. Cosimo de’ Medici wanted to make
Florence the most beautiful city.
► 7. The Renaissance began in Italy and
spread throughout Europe.

5. Important City-States of the
Renaissance
► Florence
► Rome
Palazzo
Contarini
del Bovolo,
Venice
► Venice
Genoa Towers,
Façade and
bell tower,
Santa Maria
del Fiore,
Florence
► Genoa
► Milan
Comune
gi Milano,
Milan

6. Italian City States – Not yet the nation of ITALY
Each Italian
city-state had
its own wealthy
ruler.
Italian Trade Routes – Notice the impact on Italy

7. Florence
► Center
of art, literature,
and culture.
► Florence became
wealthy from the
manufacturing of wool.
► Later Florence became
the banking center of
Italy.
► The Medici family were
the greatest bankers in
Florence.

8. Florence
► The
Renaissance
started in Florence
and spread
throughout Europe.
► Competition between
the Italian city-states
led to advances in
literature,
architecture, art,
music, science, and
education.

9. Medici Family
► Ruled
Florence, 13th  17th Centuries
► Aimed to make Florence the most beautiful
city in the world – Became Patrons of the
Arts. Commissioned artist (incl. da
Vinci, Raphael & Michelangelo)
► Lorenzo (The Magnificent) –
created peace among Italian
states, ended w/his death,
2 years later FR invades

10. Rome
► Home
of the Catholic
Church
► Popes commissioned
famous artists and
architects to beautify
Rome. Michelangelo,
Raphael, and Botticelli
all produced major
works in Rome.

11. Rome
popes employed the best artists
and architects of the Renaissance to build and
decorate the most opulent churches in in the world.
► Michelangelo designed the finest example of
Renaissance architecture in Rome, the Piazza del
► The
Campidoglio (bottom left). He also designed the
dome of St. Peter’s Basilica (bottom right).

12. Venice
► Venice
was the wealthiest citystate of the Renaissance.
► It was a port city on the
Mediterranean.
► Venice maintained hundreds of
merchant ships and warships,
and thousands of sailors.

13. Genoa
► Genoa
is located on the
Mediterranean.
► Genoa was one of two
main port cities in Italy
during the Renaissance.
► Genoa was one of the
wealthiest city-states of
the Renaissance.
► Dominated trade in the
Mediterranean
Genoa
Harbor

14. ► Milan
dominated the inland
trade routes because it was the
gateway to Italy from the north.
► Milan is the site of Santa Maria
delle Grazie, the cathedral where
Leonardo da Vinci painted The
Last Supper in the dining hall.
Milan

15. Niccolo Machiavelli
► IT
philosopher, diplomat, poet,
musician, playwright..
► Best known for The Prince – realist politics
 Rulers should behave like a lion (aggressive and
powerful) and at other times like a fox (cunning
and practical)
 “The Ends Justify the Means”
 “It was better to be feared than to be loved”
 All this done to keep peace and stabilize power
► 1st to publicly suggest immoral behavior for govt
stability

16. Renaissance Society
► Strict
Class society
 Nobility – most powerful, but smallest group
►Strict
rules and expectations
►Born not made or earned
 Townspeople
►Wide
range of wealth, from rich to poor
►Provide goods & services
 Peasants – weakest, but largest group
►More
freedoms as serfdom decreased
►Mainly lived in rural areas, so were least impacted by
Renaissance

17. The Intellectual and Artistic
Renaissance

18. Italian Renaissance Humanism
► Stressed
that man was the center of the universe
and had dignity and value
► Humanism – intellectual movement based on the
classics
 Study – grammar, rhetoric (debate), poetry,
philosophy & history (the Humanities)
► Ren Educations – based on humanism
 Goal – create complete citizens
► Vernacular Literature – written in common lang
 Dante, Chaucer, Pizan

19. Petrarch: “Father of Humanism”
► Petrarch
was a scholar and
poet who was responsible for
the recovery of manuscripts
and works of Greek and
Roman writers.
► He traveled throughout Europe
recovering manuscripts of
Cicero and other Roman
authors that had been lost in
monastery libraries.
► Petrarch, like other writers of
the time, wrote in Latin.
Francesco
Petrarch

20. Dante Alighieri
► “Father
of the Italian
Language”
► Wrote The Divine Comedy.
► The
Divine Comedy is
considered one of the greatest
works of Italian and world
literature.
► Dante was first to write in the
vernacular, the language used
in everyday life. Until his time,
all European literature was
written in Latin.
Dante
Alighieri

21. Insert scanned table

22. The Artistic Renaissance in
Italy
► Rome
became the center of Renaissance art in the
1500s.
 Pope Alexander VI: most notorious of the
Renaissances popes; spent huge sums on art
patronage.
► 3 Masters of the High Renaissance
 Leonardo da Vinci
 Michelangelo
 Raphael
► Sculpture & Architecture are include in Renaissance
Art, both drew from Greek & Roman influenences

23. New Artistic Techniques
► Fresco
–
watercolor on
fresh plaster
► Law of
Perspective
► Study of human
anatomy
► GOAL – imitate
nature
From Michelangelo’s Sketch Book

24. Remember these guys?
Leonardo
Raphael
Michelangelo
Donatelo

25. Leonardo da Vinci
► Master
of realism &
perspective
► Studied human
anatomy (cadavers)
to be as accurate as
possible
► Sculptor, painter, as
tronomer, inventor
– a true
“Renaissance Man”

26. Leonardo da Vinci
The Last Supper
A page from one of da Vinci’s
notebooks, he “coded” his work
by writing backwards. He could
read it, but most other people
would need a mirror to read it.

27. Raphael Santi
►1
of the top Renaissance painters
► Especially known for his “Madonna's” –
paintings of Mary the mother of Jesus
► A major artist in the Vatican
Madonna
of the
Meadows
Madonna del
Granduca

28. Raphael Santi
School of
Athens fresco in
the
Apostolic
Palace in
the Vatican.
Thought to
be
Raphael’s
masterpiece
.

29. Raphael Santi
The bracketed names are the contemporary characters from whom Raphael is thought
to have drawn his likenesses. 6: Pythagoras? 7: Alexander the Great? 12: Socrates?
13: Heraclitus (Michelangelo) 14: Plato holding the Timaeus (Leonardo da Vinci)
15: Aristotle holding the Ethics? 16: Diogenes of Sinope? 17: 18: Euclid or Archimedes
with students 20: Ptolemy? R: Apelles (Raphael)

30. Michelangelo Buonarroti
► Painter,
sculptor and architect
► Most famous for work in Vatican City
Vatican City
St. Peter’s Bascillica
(large domed building) –
designed by Michelangelo
(St. Peter’s Square –
designed by Bernini)

31. Michelangelo
Well known for his frescoes in the Sistine Chapel.
The ceiling illustrates the stories of the Book of
Genesis
The Creation of Adam
The Last Judgement
On the Alter Wall of the
Sistine Chapel.

32. Michelangelo, the sculptor
The Pieta –
marble statue
of a crucified
Jesus being
held by his
mother Mary.
In St. Peter’s
Basilica.

33. Michelangelo, the sculptor
David – carved from
one piece of marble
from 1501 to 1504.
Said to be
proportionally perfect,
though David is 17
feet tall

34. Architecture
Architectural design returns
to the classical styles of
Rome and Greece.
► Public buildings, homes and
villas are designed using
Greek and Roman
architectural styles.
► Renaissance buildings
feature columns, domes, and
vaulted ceilings.
► Brunelleschi designs the first
domed building.
► Perspective becomes
important in architecture.
►

35. Brunelleschi
The Basilica di
Santa Maria
del Fiore,
Florence, also
called the
Duomo.

36. Donato Bramante
St. Peter’s Basilica
in Vatican City.
Started in 1506;
Completed in 1626.

37. The Printing Press
Johannes Gutenberg was a
German goldsmith and printer.
► Gutenberg was the first to
develop movable type. This
allowed for mass production of
books.
► Gutenberg’s invention
revolutionized book-making in
Europe.
► Gutenberg was the key figure
in spreading the Renaissance.
► His invention of movable type
is still considered the most
important invention in history.
►

38. IMPACT
► Much
easier to
publish books
► Increased literacy
► 1450-1500, 20 million
books printed
covering 35,000
topics
► Vernacular Literature
– written in common
language
 Dante, Chaucer, Shak
espeare

39. Writers of the Renaissance
► With
the printing press. books become more
affordable and more people (mostly wealthy)
learn to read
► Dante, Petrarch and Machiavelli were all
important writers of the time
► But there were more…

40. New Words Abound…
Alligator
Critical
Equivocal
Eyeball
Eyesore
Gloomy
Laughingstock
Lonely
Luggage
Manager
Puke
Torture
Worthless
Zany
But where did they come from?

41. William Shakespeare
► Shakespeare
is considered the
greatest writer and dramatist of
all time.
► Shakespeare wrote Romeo and
“All the world’s a stage,
and all the men and
women merely players
there, they have their exits
and their entrances, and
one man in his time plays
many parts….”
William Shakespeare
Juliet, Merchant of Venice, Julius
Caesar, A Midsummer’s Night
Dream, Henry IV, Henry V, Much
Ado About Nothing, Twelfth
Night, Hamlet and more.
► Shakespeare
wrote 38 plays, 154
sonnets, two narrative
poems, and other poems.

42. Shakespeare
► William





Shakespeare (1564-1616)– Elizabethan era
Greatest of English Renaissance authors
His work reflected the Renaissance ideas of classical
Greek and Roman culture, individualism and
humanism
Wrote comedies, tragedies, histories and sonnets
Known for the “timelessness” of his work
Close to 300 movies and TV adaptations have been
made of Shakespeare’s work (e.g. Ten Things I
Hate About You, a rendition of The Taming of the
Shrew)

43. Contributions of the Renaissance
► Invention
of the Gutenberg Press
► The banking industry
► Exploration, colonization of world
► Expansion of trade
► Humanism, individual is the center of the universe
► Reintroduction of Greek and Roman knowledge
and philosophy
► Gateway to modern art forms
► Expansion of Greek and Roman architecture and
sculpture
► Increased scientific knowledge, and desire to know
more

44. Quiz!
1 - 4. Give the 4 important cities that helped widen the
idea of the Renaissance
► 5. What is the meaning of renaissance
► 6. It is the home of the Catholic Church
► 7. The wealthiest city-state of the renaissance
► 8. They are the weakest but largest group
► 9. He is the Father of Humanism
► 10. He is the father of the Italian language
► 11 – 12. Give 2 famous artworks by Leonardo da Vinci
► 13 – 14. 2 famous artworks by Michelangelo
► 15. Give one more famous renaissance painter
►