Renaissance Notes

1. Set the Stage…
The Italian Renaissance

2. Transformation of Europe
 The roots of the Renaissance lie in events that
began in the Middle Ages
 In particular, the Crusades planted the seeds of
change that would transform Europe and move
it out of the Middle Ages

3.  The Crusades stimulated trade by
introducing Europeans to many desirable
products.
 This trade promoted frequent contacts with
the Byzantine and Muslim Empires.
Transformation of Europe

4. Economic Effects of the Crusades
Increased demand for Middle
Eastern products
Spices, linen, perfumes, food
products

5. Economic Effects of the Crusades
Stimulated the production of
goods to trade in Middle Eastern
markets
Wool (England), precious metals,
wine, wax

6. Economic Effects of the Crusades
 Encouraged the use of credit and banking
 Move money between
areas
 Local currency
exchange
 Letters of credit served to
expand the supply of money and
expedite trade.

7. Economic concepts of the Renaissance:
New economic institutions developed
during the Renaissance.
De Medici family in Italy supported

8. Economic Concepts Developed
The Roman
Catholic Church
ruled that usury
(charging interest
on loans) violated
Christian principles
Considered a sin

9. Economic Concepts
 The banks existed outside the church so
interest was charged
 Merchants charged interest on loans as a
means of making money
 Eventually caused
friction between the
church and merchants

10. Economic Concepts
This helped to secularize (less of
religious view, more of a worldly
view) northern Italy (where the
Renaissance first developed).

11. Economic Concepts
New accounting and bookkeeping
practices (use of Arabic numerals)
were introduced.

13.  After suffering through war and
plague, Europeans wanted to
enjoy life.
 Questioned the church’s belief in earthly suffering
 Questioned medieval society which blocked social
advancement
 Looked toward classical past for ideas
 Roman and Greek ideals

14.  Wealth accumulated from European trade
with the Middle East led to the rise of Italian
city-states. Wealthy merchants were active
civic leaders.

15. Northern Italy
Florence, Venice, and
Genoa
 Had access to trade routes
connecting Europe with Middle
Eastern markets
 Served as trading centers for
the distribution of goods to
northern Europe
 Were initially independent
city-states governed as
republics
Venice
Florence
Genoa

16.  Between 1300-1600, new
intellectual and artistic ideas
developed.
 Renaissance = “rebirth” & marked the beginning
of the modern world.
 Began in 1300 in large city-states in northern
Italy and spread to northern Europe.
 Northern Europe lagged behind because France and
England were locked in the Hundred Years’ War.

17. Renaissance Changes

18. Influence of classical ideas
 Humanism
 Focus on human potential and achievements
 Celebrated the individual
 Secular learning
 Most remained devoutly Catholic, but the spirit of
Renaissance was secular.
 Secular - relating to worldly as opposed to sacred
(religious) things

19. Influence of classical ideas
 Focus on secular education:
 “Renaissance Person” = Universal Man - ideal
individuals strove to master almost every area of study.
 Patrons of the arts
 A patron is someone of wealth who financially
supports an artist, philosopher, musician,
allowing that artist to dedicate his life to
perfecting his art.
 Revival of Greco-Roman ideals

20.  Revolutionizes Art – as Renaissance
advanced, artistic styles changed.
 Medieval art and literature focused on the Church
and salvation, while Renaissance art and literature
focused on individuals and worldly matters, along
with Christianity

21. TMNT
Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael

22. Donatello
 Made sculptures more
realistic by carving
natural postures and
expressions that
revealed personality.
 David – 1st
European
sculpture of a free-
standing nude since
ancient times.
David

23. Michelangelo
Buonarroti
 Painter (Sistene
Chapel), sculptor
(David), architect (St.
Peter’s Basilica), poet
 Portrayed the human
body in painting and
sculptures while
showing heroic
grandeur and human
potential. David

24. Michelangelo’s Achievements
Pieta
Creation of Adam
Sistene Chapel

25. Leonardo da Vinci
 Painter, sculptor, inventor and scientist
 Created notebooks with observations of how
things worked and inventions. 3500 pages
have been recovered.
 Interesting fact – Leonardo wrote backwards in
“mirror-writing” – only be read in a mirror.
 Only 17 of his paintings survived including well-
known works – Mona Lisa and The Last Supper.

26. Leonardo da Vinci Writings
Notebook of observations – Let’s analyze...

27. Leonardo da Vinci’s Achievements
Mona Lisa

28. Leonardo da Vinci’s Achievements
Last Supper

29. Da Vinci
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef-
tYOd8xbg

30. Raphael
 Studied works of Michelangelo and Leonardo.
 Portrayed the Madonna and child as gentle and calm.
 Worked for Pope Julius II and created works for the
Pope’s private rooms in the Vatican.
 Died at age 37.
 Famous works
 School of Athens
 Madonna of the Goldfinch - shattered into
17 pieces when the house of its owner
collapsed in 1547
Madonna and the Goldfinch

31. School of Athens

32. Medieval Art v Renaissance Art
Medieval
 Two-dimensional,
image seems flat
 No semblance to
reality
 i.e.. Stained glass
 Jesus – divine, devoid
of emotion, inhuman
Renaissance
 Three-dimensional, use
of perspective
 Feels so real, you can
reach into the picture
 Jesus – human
 i.e. Cross = pain,
suffering, feelings of a
human being

33. Which is Medieval, which is
Renaissance, how can you tell?
Think!
Pair!
Share!

34.  Renaissance writers
produced works that not
only reflected their time,
but also used techniques
that writers rely on today.
 Vernacular – using native
language
 Most writers in Middle Ages
wrote in Latin
 Self-expression or portray
individuality
 Humanism

35. Renaissance Writers
 Writers promoted humanism
 Francesco Petrarch
 Wrote sonnets (love poems)
 Considered the “Father of Humanism”
 leader in humanist scholarship
 Niccolo Machiavelli
 The Prince
 Political guidebook: “The end justifies the means”
 An early modern treatise on government
 Supports absolute power of the ruler
 Advises that one should not only do good if possible,
but do evil when necessary

36. Northern Renaissance
 With the rise of trade, travel, and literacy, the Italian
Renaissance spread to northern Europe.
 Growing wealth in Northern Europe supported
Renaissance ideas
 Northern Renaissance: Renaissance ideals (humanism)
mingled with northern (England, France, Germany)
traditions.
 The art and literature of the Italian Renaissance
changed as people of different cultures adopted
Renaissance ideas.
 Religious and Secular subject

37. Northern Renaissance Writers
 Northern Renaissance writers also adopted
the ideal of humanism and merged ideas with
Christianity
 Desiderius Erasmus
 In Praise of Folly (1511) – poked fun at greedy
merchants, pompous priests and heartsick lovers.
 Although barbs were aimed at clergy, his work is strongly
Christian.
 Thomas More
 Utopia (1516) – Imaginary land inhabited by peaceful
people.
 William Shakespeare

38. Thomas More - Utopia
“Gold and silver, of which money is made, are
so treated…that no one values them more
highly than their true nature deserves. Who
does not see that they are far inferior to iron
in usefulness since without iron mortals
cannot live any more than without fire and
water?”
-Thomas More, Utopia

39. Northern Renaissance Writers
 William Shakespeare
 Wrote in Renaissance England in
late 1500s (Renaissance in
England known as Elizabethan
Age for Queen Elizabeth I)
 Works display a masterful
command of the English language
and deep understanding of human
beings revealing souls of people
through dramatic conflict.
 Wrote Histories, Tragedies,
Comedies and Poetry

40. Shakespeare’s Famous Works
 Henry VIII
 A Midsummer Night’s Dream
 Romeo and Juliet
 Hamlet
 Taming of the Shrew
 Julius Caesar
 All’s Well that Ends Well

41. Shakespeare in London/Hollywood

42. Printing Press
 A new invention that adapted Chinese technology
helped spread Renaissance ideas throughout Europe
 Block printing: similar to stamping today
 Moveable type: separate piece of type for each letter.
 Johann Gutenberg, a craftsman from Germany,
reinvented movable type printing around 1400.
 This method was practical for Europeans because their
languages have a very small number of letters in their
alphabets.

43. Printing Press
 Printing Press – a
machine that presses
paper against a tray
full of inked
moveable type.
 Gutenberg printed a
complete Bible
(Gutenberg Bible) in
1455. It was the first
full-size book printed
with moveable type.
Only 46 still exist.

44. Printing Press Significance
 Revolutionary impact on European Society!
 Production and sale of books
 Books were cheap enough for people to purchase.
 Books were written in vernacular (native)
languages.
 Advances learning and increases literacy.
 By 1500, presses in 250 cities had printed 9-10
million books.
 Dissemination (spread) of ideas