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European Renaissance

and Reformation

Northern Italy: birthplace of the Renaissance

Renaissance = rebirth 

(rebirth of art and learning)

• CITIES were the center of the action
• Milan and Florence had wealthy merchants and bankers
• Artists in these cities were inspired by the former splendor of classical Greece and Rome

·      The Medici were a powerful banking family

·       They paid artists, writers, and musicians to create beautiful works of art

·       They were patrons

Isabella d’Este

·       Educated, brilliant

·       A gifted singer, lute player, innovative dancer

·       Wealthy, powerful parents

·       She sponsored painters, sculptors, musicians, writers, architects

·       A fashionista, she even designed her own perfume

·       Patron of da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Bellini, Correggio, and many, many others

·      Chiaroscuro – light vs dark

humanism

• A deep interest in what people have already achieved, as well as what they are capable of achieving in the future
• It’s not a coincidence that humanism resembles the Greek idea of arete

Classical (ancient Greek, ancient Roman) writings were important to them

Worldly (secular) values were essential - concerned with the here and now

Christian values still important, but separate from secular values 

Renaissance Man,” “Renaissance Woman

Someone who could master many fields of work

Great example of a Renaissance Woman: Isabella d’Este (see previous slide) although women were not expected to create art, just inspire artists 

The ultimate Renaissance Man: Leonardo da Vinci

• Painter
• Scientist
• Inventor

·      Sculptors made realistic figures, such as the Pieta

·      Carved from marble by Michelangelo from 1498-1499

·      Found in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City

·       

Frescoes...

·       a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly-laid,  wet lime plaster

·       vernacular - their native language

·      Shakespeare (English playwright and poet) wrote in English

·       Dante Alighieri (The Divine Comedy) wrote about Hell in Italian

·       Niccolò Machiavelli wrote in Italian

·       the theme of Machiavelli’s The Prince was that the aims of princes—such as glory and survival—can justify the use of immoral means to achieve those ends

·      The Chinese had invented the printing press centuries before, but Johannes Gutenberg revolutionized it in Germany in 1439