The Renaissance was a period between the 15th and 16th centuries that began in Italy and later spread to other parts of Europe. It was a cultural movement that transitioned society from the Middle Ages to modern times with a focus on classical learning and individualism. Key developments included reviving antiquity through humanism, prioritizing anthropocentrism over theocentrism, emphasizing rationalism and secularism, and valuing individual expression and secular pleasures. The Italian city-states like Florence saw early developments in art, philosophy, and literature that highlighted realism, balance, and human figures. Thinkers and artists spread Renaissance ideals throughout Europe while each region incorporated elements in its own style.

1. Renaissance
from the 15th to the 16th century

2. Historical context
• Before the Renaissance: Middle Ages
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X – XV century
Theocentrism = God is the center
Irrational faith
Life with religious meaning
Pessimism
Culture in the clergy (Latin)
Europe = Catholic
Feudalism
Social life - three estates : no exchange or possibility of moving
between them

3. Renaissance - Overview
• Cultural movement
• The word „Renaissance‟ means „Rebirth‟
• Generally, from the 15th to the 16th century
o depends on the country
• Beginning in Florence (Italy) in the Late Middle
Ages (14th century)
o The Conquest of Constantinople at the hands of the Ottoman Turks
o Hellenistic culture influence
• Later spreading to the rest of Europe

4. Italian city states
1494

6. Overview
• Learning based on classical sources
o Greco-Roman
• Historians often argue this intellectual transformation
was a bridge between the Middle Ages and
the Modern era
• Influence in literature, philosophy, art, music, politics,
science, religion, and other aspects of intellectual
inquiry.

7. The beginning
• While in Italy the Renaissance was developing
in the rest of Europe the Gothic remains
o to early 16th century
• Italy coexist with the Roman Antiquity and can
inspire on it.
• Florence (1400s)
o the starting point of the new style
o the first works from here will be extended to the rest of Italy
o the development of a rich bourgeoisie aid the deployment of the forces
of the Renaissance.
o the protection of the Medici

8. Florence
Santa Maria del Fiore, known as The Duomo,
whose dome was built by Filippo Brunelleschi

9. David (Michelangelo)
The Pietà (Michelangelo)

10. Annunciation (Fra Angelico)

11. The Birth of Venus (Botticelli)

12. Characteristics
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Research of Classical Antiquity
Humanism
Positivism
Modern spirit of individuality & Self-awareness
Anthropocentric trend
Realism in sculpture and painting
o New ideal of beauty
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Scientific development
New relationship with Nature
Search for harmony, balance and serenity
Rational attitude to the world, but without
abandoning religious faith

13. Humanism
• European intellectual, philosophical and cultural
movement
• Revived the ideas of Greek and Roman thinkers
The purpose of humanism was to create a universal man whose
person combined intellectual and physical excellence and who
was capable of functioning honorably in virtually any situation
Hause, S. & Maltby, W. (2001)

14. Humanism
• In spite of formal allegiance to ascetic Christian
doctrine
• The return to favor of the pagan classics stimulated:
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the philosophy of secularism
the appreciation of worldly pleasures
intensified the assertion of personal independence
individual expression
growing secular view of life
• Honest doubt began to replace unreasoning faith
o The importance of reasoning

15. Individualism
• Individualistic conception at all levels of life
• Potential of people to overcome
o Man is conscious of his own worth and intelligence.
• The human is the center
• “The moral worth of the individual”
• Belief in the human capacity to choose between good
and evil, and act accordingly
• Man is the protagonist of destination

16. Individualism
• Freedom of individual expression
• Works of art is signed
o Role/ protagonism of the artist
o Personal growth and dignity
• Expansion of Trade – Capitalism
o growth of prosperity and luxury

17. Spiritual movement
• The Renaissance had a profound effect in the way
people perceived the relationship between man
and God
Theocentrism  Anthropocentrism
• Many of the period's foremost theologians were
followers of the humanist method:
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Erasmus
Zwingli
Thomas More
Martin Luther
John Calvin

18. Spiritual movement
• Humanism and the Individualism played a direct
role in sparking the Reformation
• Churchmen such as Erasmus and Luther proposed
reform to the Church, often based on humanist
textual criticism of the New Testament

19. Renaissance periods
1. Quattrocento  Florence
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(15th century)
Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378 - 1458)
Donatello (1382 - 1466)
Fra Angelico (1387- 1455)
Sandro Botticelli (1445 ‐ 1510)
2. Cinquecento  Rome
(16th century)
Popes: Julius II, Leo X, Clement VII and Paul III and Medici Family
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Donato Bramante (1444 –1514)
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 -1564)
Rafael Sanzio (1483 -1520)
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452 ‐ 1519)

20. Humanist
ideal
Leonardo Da Vinci
Italian Renaissance
polymath:
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Painter
Sculptor
Architect
Musician
Mathematician
Engineer
Inventor
Anatomist
Geologist
Cartographer
Botanist
Writer

21. Last Supper (Leonardo Da Vinci)

22. Vitruvian Man
The Mona Lisa

23. The influence of the
Renaissance in Germany
• Architecture retained strong influences from
medieval Gothic.
• The artistic renaissance in Germany was not an
attempted resurrection of classical art. It was an
intense renewal of the Germanic spirit, motivated
by the Protestant Reformation.
• The most famous German Renaissance artist:
Albrecht Dürer
(1471 - 1528)

24. Albrecht Dürer
self-portraits

25. The influence of the
Renaissance in Germany
• After the Reformation, the patronage of the
German nobility focused primarily on architecture
o Ability of architecture to show the power and prestige of the rulers
• Most German princes preferred to keep the Gothic
works. Only decorated with Renaissance
ornamentation.
• Habsburg emperors and the Fugger family were the
most important patrons

26. Rosenkranzaltar (Albrecht Dürer)

27. Heidelberg Castle

28. Church of San Miguel in Munich

30. Author
Cristina
Domene Beviá