The Renaissance began as a rebirth of ideas and values from antiquity following the decline of the Roman Empire and the cultural stagnation of the Middle Ages. During this period, the Black Death pandemic killed 30-60% of Europe's population, weakening social institutions. Meanwhile, the fall of Constantinople brought Greek texts to Italy, sparking renewed interest in classical philosophy. Early Italian Renaissance artists like Giotto and Duccio began moving away from the flat, abstract styles of medieval art towards greater naturalism by incorporating perspective, anatomy and other techniques from antiquity.

1. Medieval to
Renaissance
Part 1
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2. • Renaissance
• “re - birth”
A RE-BIRTH OF WHAT ??
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3. Ancient Rome “CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY”
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Interior of the Pantheon, Rome, Italy, 118 –
125 CE.

7. Pantheon, Rome, Italy, 118 – 125 CE.
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8. By 467 AD Rome had fallen, and within a few hundred years only ruins remained…
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9. The Savage State
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10. The Arcadian or Pastoral State
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11. The Consumation of Empire
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12. Destruction
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13. Desolation
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14. The Dark Ages
…..were really this dark?
….and why were they called “The
Dark Ages”
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15. those who work, those who fight, those who pray
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17. Farming is not that fun
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18. Feudal serfs of the middle ages had
almost no say in the direction of their
own lives.
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19. Christian Cosmology
The Ptolemaic World
“The World Dome”
Understanding of the word was
limited, and your place in it was
static and unquestioned.
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20. The Great Chain of Being
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21. T he world of “now” was seen as
less real or important the the world
after death…the kingdom of heaven
Your suffering and pain…soon to
be redeemed
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22. “Antiquity vs. Middle
Ages
Where Greek and Romans painted
everyday subjects like portraits and
cityscapes, Art of the “Middle Ages”
focused on spiritual rather than physical
realities.
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23. In the Middle Ages, the position of
the viewer changed..
Instead of individuals observing the
world as the artists of classical
antiquity did….
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24. …..the “individual” is dissolved and
is looked down upon by larger,
intimidating spiritual forces
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26. Additionally, space becomes flat,
Forms become abstract, simplistic
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27. Subject matter is exclusively
religious. There is little variety,
originality, or idea of art serving a
purpose of pleasure or leisure.
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28. It seemed like everything would just stay the same forever……
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Italy Around 1400…the once great “Roman Empire”

30. Numerous independent city states
Republics: Venice, Florence, Siena
(self-governance)
Source of wealth varies from city to
city-port cities involved in trade,
other cities depend on banking,
arms, or textiles
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32. yersinia pestis
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33. Widespread death caused odd and varied reactions in people…from celebratory nihilism, to
extreme piety. All belief in social institutions were weakened.
Jews were often persecuted because their hygienic practices meant they did not die in as great
numbers.
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34. 1348 --The Black Death
• Estimated to have killed 30% – 60% of Europe's population , reducing the
world’s population from an estimated 450 million to between 350 and
375 million in 1400. This has been seen as creating a series of religious,
social and economic upheavals which had profound effects on the course
of European History. It took 150 years for Europe's population to recover.
• Because the plague killed so many of the poor population, wealthy land
owners were forced to pay the remaining workers what they asked, in terms
of wages.
• Because there was now a surplus in consumer goods, luxury crops could
now be grown. This meant that for the first time in history, many, formerly of
the peasant population, now had a chance to live a better life. Most
historians now feel that this was the start of the middle class in Europe and
England.
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35. …meanwhile
The Fall of Constantinople (formerly
the Byzantine Empire) in1453 to the
Ottoman Empire meant that many
scholars soon arrived in Italy with
knowledge of Greek thinkers like Plato
that had been lost or forgotten in the
Middle Ages.
A new interest in “antiquity” is sparked
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36. Humanism changes
Culture
Italian scholars recovered a large part
of Greek and Roman Literature
(Cicero)
Humanism emulates Roman Civic
Virtues:
Self-sacrifice to the state, stoic
indifference to personal misfortune,
participation in government.
Humans can solve their own problems
through reason and don’t have to turn
to a higher authority.
Reward for good deeds is “fame” not
“sainthood”.
This thought began in Florence, Italy
then spread all throughout Europe.
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37. A focus on human beings…
Humanism
• A cultural and intellectual movement during the
Renaissance, following the rediscovery of the art and
literature of ancient Greece and Rome.
• A philosophy or attitude concerned with the interests,
achievements, and capabilities of human beings rather
than with the abstract concepts and problems of theology
and science.
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38. Marsilio Ficino
Translated Plato into Latin
(from Greek)
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39. Niccolò Machiavelli
“The Prince”
A practical manual for young rulers
that did not appeal to Christian
Morality.
“Machiavellian” today refers to
someone who is scheming and
sometimes unethical.
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40. Giordano Bruno
“infinity”
Proposed that stars were distant
suns with their own planets.
Burned at the stake for his
heresies.
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41. The Decameron
Renaissance Humanists
• Petrarch
• Giovanni Boccaccio
– Established a “vernacular” literature
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42. Mendicant Orders and
Confraternities
During the “Great Schism” (Pope
moved to France), Monastic
(mendicant) orders like the
Augustinians, Franciscans, and the
Dominicans became important social
forces.
Confraternities, organizations of
laypersons dedicated to strict religious
observance also grew in popularity.
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BONAVENTURA BERLINGHIERI,
panel from the Saint Francis Altarpiece ,
San Francesco, Pescia, Italy, 1235.
Tempera on wood, 5’ x 3’ x 6”.

44. “ Maniera Greca ” or Italo-Byzantine
Style
Painted 9 years after Francis’s
death
Displays “stigmata” (2 nd Christ?)
Gold leaf, flatness, other-worldy
spiritual nature
4 of 6 narrative scenes depict
miraculous healings
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CIMABUE, Madonna Enthroned with Angels and
Prophets , from Santa Trinità, Florence, Italy, ca. 1280 –
1290. Tempera and gold leaf on wood, 12’ 7” x 7’ 4”.
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

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50. A movement slightly forward…
Gold=light of heaven
Spatial contradictions
Diagonals draw you slightly in
Cult of Mary important to the
Medieval mind-less intimidating,
speaks to god on your behalf
Christ is small, but does not have
proportions of an infant
Shows influence of Byzantine
tradition
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56. Giotto di Bondone
“Father of Western Art”
Student of Cimabue
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GIOTTO DI BONDONE, Madonna Enthroned , from
the Church of Ognissanti, Florence, Italy, ca. 1310.
Tempera and gold leaf on wood, 10’ 8” x 6’ 8”.
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

58. Mary has solidity, stability,
substance-not spiritual immateriality
Angels stand on a more common
level
Light and shadow “chiaroscuro”, not
flatness
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70. More Giotto…
Enrico Scovegni’s Arena Chapel
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71. Next to ancient Roman ARENA
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Giotto di Bondone, Arena Chapel
(Cappella Scrovegni; interior looking west),
Padua, Italy, 1305 – 1306.

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77. Lapis lazuli
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78. Enrico Scrovegini
Sin of “usury”
(charging interest)
In Dante’s “Inferno” the elder
Scrovegni is singled out for residing
in a circle of hell
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79. Attempt at
“atonement”
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81. Giotto has created and architectural space for Mary and the Angel
Earthly settings-not gold panel paintings
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83. Joachims vision

84. Figures have mass and solidity
First “Real” human beings in ART since Ancient Greece and Rome
Introduction of “chiaroscuro”
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85. Scenes from
Christ’s childhood
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86. Scenes from
Christ’s childhood
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87. Ministry of Christ
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96. Duccio’s version
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GIOTTO DI BONDONE, Lamentation , Arena Chapel, (Cappella Scrovegni ), Padua, Italy, ca. 1305. Fresco, 6’ 6
3/4” x 6’ 3/4”.

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