Renaissance and Reformation

New Ideas and Art

Lesson 2

Renaissance Humanism

In the 1300s, European scholars created a new way of understanding the world. It was called humanism, and it was based on ancient Greek and Roman ideas. Humanists believed that individuals were important.

During the Crusades, Arab Muslims passed on what they knew about Greek and Roman works. Italians found old Latin writings in monasteries. They also studied old buildings and statues to understand what made them beautiful. Humanist scholars studied mathematics, medicine, biology, and astronomy.

Educated people wrote in the classical Latin. They also began to write in the vernacular, or the everyday language that people spoke in a region and more people could read their works.

Renaissance Humanism Cont.....

In the early 1450s, Johannes Gutenberg invented a printing

press that used movable metal type. It could print books quickly.

More books were available so more people learned to read.

Scholars read one another’s works and wrote letters to discuss

their thoughts. These changes helped ideas spread more quickly

than ever before.

Leonardo da Vinci was one of the most important

Renaissance scientists and artists. Most of what we know

about him comes from his drawings of scientific projects.

The Printing Press

Multiple Choice

an emphasis on worldly concerns; a belief that reason leads to knowledge

• secular

• humanism

• diplomacy

Open Ended

Why might humanism have appealed to people after the Black Death?

Open Ended

How did Gutenberg’s printing press bring change to Europe?

Italy’s Renaissance Artists

Rich Italian families and church leaders paid artists to make paintings, sculptures, and buildings. Renaissance artists followed examples of the ancient Romans and Greeks. They also expressed new humanist ideas.

Renaissance painters painted in new ways. They used perspective, a way of showing things as they appear at different distances. Artists studied the human body to help them draw more accurately. They used light and shadows instead of hard outlines to separate objects. This is called chiaroscuro. Chiaro means “clear or light” in Italian and oscuro means “dark.”

Example of chiaroscuro painting. "Girl With a Pearl Earring" by Johannes Vermeer

Italy’s Renaissance Artists Cont...

The golden age of Renaissance art lasted from 1490 to 1520.

Famous artists of the time were Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo

Buonarroti, and Raphael Sanzio.

One of da Vinci’s most famous works is the Mona Lisa. He also

painted The Last Supper, which shows Jesus with his disciples.

Da Vinci showed the feelings of the disciples through their

positions and gestures.

The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci

The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci

Italy’s Renaissance Artists Cont....

Michelangelo painted and sculpted. He tried to show realistic human beings with feelings and emotions. Michelangelo also painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome with images from the Christian Bible. The figures he painted have muscular bodies that show their power.

Raphael was one of the best painters in Italy. He is best known for a fresco called the School of Athens. It shows many Greek philosophers.

Some women, like the daughters of nobles, contributed to the arts. Artemisia Gentileschi was one of the first women to paint important historical and religious scenes.

Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel painted by. Michelangelo

Multiple Select

Who paid artists to create works during the Renaissance?

• Rich families

• Humanists

• Church Leaders

• European Scholars

Open Ended

How could studying science have helped Renaissance artists?

Open Ended

What was similar about the work of da Vinci and Michelangelo?

The Northern Renaissance

In the late 1400s, the Renaissance spread to northern Europe and

later to England. War, trade, travel, and the printing press spread

humanist ideas.

The Northern Renaissance took place in present-day Belgium,

Luxembourg, Germany, and the Netherlands. Northern artists

painted with oil paints. Oils created richer colors and allowed

more detail. Jan van Eyck was a Flemish painter. His best-known

painting is The Arnolfini Portrait. It shows a newly married couple.

Every fold in their rich clothes and every detail in the room are

visible.

Jan van Eyck "The Arnolfini Portrait"

The Northern Renaissance Cont....

Albrecht Dürer was an important Renaissance artist from Germany. He is best known for his engravings. An engraving is made from an image carved in metal, wood, or stone. Ink is put on the surface, then the image is printed on paper.

In England, the Renaissance theater was very popular. Playwrights, or writers of plays, wrote about people’s strengths, weaknesses, and feelings. The greatest playwright of the time was William Shakespeare. He wrote comedies, historical plays, and tragedies. A tragedy is a play in which the main character suffers great loss or pain. Some of Shakespeare’s most famous works are Hamlet, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare’s plays are still very popular.

Engraving by Albrecht Dürer

Open Ended

How did Renaissance ideas arrive in northern Europe?

Open Ended

How did northern Renaissance painters differ from Italian Renaissance painters?

Multiple Choice

Who was one of the greatest playwrights of the Renaissance time period?

• Jan Van Eyck

• Albrecht Dürer

• William Shakespeare.