CH. 12-The Renaissance

CH. 12-The Renaissance

How did new ways of thinking transform European culture?

Objective: Analyze Renaissance ideas and the period's artistic, literary, intellectual, and technological advances.

RISE OF THE INDIVIDUAL

In the 1300s, a revolution began to brew in Europe. But this revolution didn’t involve weapons and war. This was a movement of ideas. People decided they wanted to enjoy life on Earth—and not just look forward to their reward in heaven. They focused on the individual and believed every person had unlimited possibilities. This was not what the Church had taught in the Middle Ages. The movement was, indeed, revolutionary.

Growth of Humanism

• be independent; think for themselves

• found inspiration in classical, or ancient Greek & Roman, writings

• Petrarch (pictured)-Italian poet, became early humanist leader

• study of history, grammar, literature, & philosophy.

• goal is to create well-rounded individuals

Multiple Choice

Scholars in the ______ empires had obtained and preserved many classical Greek and Roman writings.

• Mughal

• Egyptian

• Muslim

• Byzantine

HUMANIST THOUGHT

Humanism stressed the importance of the individual. This way of thinking differed greatly from that of medieval times—which placed kings and institutions such as the Church above everything else. Humanism also promoted a greater balance between intellect and religious faith. Humanist thinkers stressed the importance of leading a Christian life. However, they challenged people to think for themselves and not blindly accept church orders. They also taught that people could enjoy life and still be good Christians. This teaching differed from earlier beliefs that one had to avoid life’s pleasures in order to please God.

Rebirth of the Arts

• Renaissance means "rebirth"

• Began in Florence, Italy

• lasted from 1300 to 1600

• Florence, Venice, Rome, & Milan had become wealthy from trade

• movement of great creativity in the arts, writing, & thinking

• patron-one who supports an artist financially

Multiple Choice

Instead of using Latin, the language of the Church, many wrote in the ______, or their native language.

• background

• secular

• vernacular

• patronage

Advances in the Arts

• focused on portraying humans in realistic ways

• perspective-produced the appearance of three dimensions in works of art

• looked more realistic

• people in the foreground larger than those in the background

• secular, or nonreligious, subjects became popular

Multiple Choice

Italian cities particularly benefited from the reopening of the ancient trade routes of the Silk Roads between Europe and _______.

• China

• India

• Indonesia

• Russia

Architecture

• found inspiration by studying the buildings of ancient Rome

• classical Roman engineering features like arches & domes

• Filippo Brunelleschi-dome for the cathedral of Florence (Duomo)

• built two domes, one nested inside the other

• largest brick dome ever built

Multiple Choice

Brunelleschi's dome, completed in 1436, would come to symbolize the freedom of the Renaissance and of the human spirit

• true

• false

Leonardo da Vinci

• born in the village of Vinci in 1452

• trained as a painter

• excelled in astronomy, geometry, botany, sculpting, & anatomy

• "Renaissance Man"

• Mona Lisa, Last Supper

• was left-handed; wrote backwards

• designed a flying machine & submarine

Multiple Choice

Leonardo da Vinci produced relatively few paintings—only about 17.

• true

• false

THE MONA LISA

Many mysteries surround the Mona Lisa. For one thing, no one really knows the subject’s identity, although she is believed to be Lisa Gherardini (gehr-ahr-DEE-nee), the wife of a merchant. (Mona means “madame.”) But it is her mysterious smile that has captured people’s imagination for centuries. What is she smiling about? And what’s going on behind those eyes? Leonardo never gave the painting to whoever commissioned it. Instead, he kept it with him all his life. Today the painting hangs in the Louvre, a museum in Paris.

Tne Last Supper (1498)

Leonardo da Vinci's Drawings

Leonardo da Vinci's Flying Machine

Vitruvian Man (1490)-based on the ideal proportions of a man's body, and how this relates to geometry.

Michelangelo

• Michelangelo di Buonarroti Simoni

• born in the Italian village of Caprese in 1475

• was trained mainly as a sculptor

• Moses (1516) for the tomb of Pope Julius II

• sculpture of David (Jewish King)

• Sistine Chapel in Rome (Vatican)

Moses and the Tomb of Pope Julius II (1545)

Multiple Choice

The Sistine Chapel, which Michelangelo painted while lying on his back, depicts scenes from—

• the Bible

• the Battle of Florence

• Michelangelo's childhood

• the Persian War

La Pieta (1499)-Jesus in the lap of his mother, Mary, after the Crucifixion

Raphael

• Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino

• born in Urbino, Italy, in 1483

• moved to Florence as a young man

• studied the works of great artists including da Vinci

• School of Athens (1511)

• ancient Greek philosophers & scientists (painted himself in it)

Multiple Choice

Raphael was only 27 when he completed the School of Athens, which was a(n) _______, a painting done rapidly in watercolor on wet plaster on a wall or ceiling.

• fresco

• acryllic

• abstraction

• watercolor

Raphael painted himself in the School of Athens (looking straight at you)

Renaissance Writers

• Dante Alighieri-The Divine Comedy; focused on spiritual development & life after death

• Cervantes-Don Quixote; landowner imagines he is a knight, going on many adventures

• Niccolò Machiavelli (pictured)-The Prince; how to gain & hold political power

Multiple Choice

Like painters and sculptors of the time, Renaissance writers focused on portraying the real life of individuals.

• true

• false

LIFE DURING THE RENAISSANCE

The Renaissance benefited mainly the upper class. In general, only wealthy people had time to study classical texts and examine humanist ideas. Most members of the middle and lower classes were not well educated. As a result, most of them did not take part in Renaissance activities. Over time, however, Renaissance ideas gradually spread to more of the population as more people became educated.

Multiple Choice

Women gained many social and political rights during the Renaissance.

• true

• false

THE RENAISSANCE MOVES NORTH

During the late 1400s, Renaissance ideas began to spread north from Italy to countries such as France, Germany, Spain, and England. The Northern Renaissance and the Italian Renaissance differed in several ways. For one thing, northern European scholars did not study the classics as much as Italian scholars did. In addition, northern artists created works that were much more detailed in their presentation of everyday life.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following was a great Northern Renaissance artist?

• Pieter Bruegel

• Jan van Eyck

• Albrecht Dürer

• all answer choices are correct

William Shakespeare

• born in 1564 in Stratford, England.

• "The Bard"

• English playwright, poet, & actor

• wrote comedies, tragedies, & history plays (37 plays and 150 poems)

• A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet

• died a rich man (uncommon)

Multiple Choice

Shakespeare has been credited by the Oxford English Dictionary with introducing almost ______ words to the English language.

• 250

• 500

• 1,000

• 3,000

Math and Science

• introduced use of letters in algebraic equations (x+y=6)

• scientists developed new theories about the universe

• greater understanding of the minerals & metals that made up Earth’s surface

• cartography, or mapmaking

• human dissection for education

Multiple Choice

Renaissance scholars made advances in the science-related areas of _____, which is the study of the human body.

• chemistry

• botany

• anatomy

• biology

THE PRINTING PRESS

Today, ideas can fly around the world at the push of a button or the click of a mouse. In the early days of the Renaissance, however, ideas mostly spread by word of mouth as traders and travelers made their slow way from place to place. But then a German printer came up with an invention that sped up the exchange of ideas. In many ways, it was the Internet of its day.

The Printing Press

• Johann Gutenberg-German blacksmith, goldsmith, publisher, & printer (around 1450)

• built on earlier Chinese technology known as wood-block printing

• fueled the spread of Renaissance ideas

• printed a Latin Bible in 1455

• known as the Gutenberg Bible

The Gutenberg Bible (1455)

THE IMPACT OF PRINTING

The printing press had a huge impact on European society. Before, printers had to spend many months handwriting copies of books. Now, they could produce hundreds of copies quickly. As a result, books became cheap enough for many people to buy. The availability of so many books encouraged more people to learn how to read (literacy increased) It also helped spread new ideas more quickly than ever. It also allowed people to interpret the Bible for themselves (not popular with the Catholic Church).

Multiple Choice

A person could copy a single book in about five months; a printing press could produce _____ books in the same amount of time.

• 100

• 250

• 500

• 750

LEGACY IN THE ARTS AND SCIENCES

Did you know that the Renaissance influenced many modern developments? GPS technology owes a debt to the advances Renaissance scientists made in mapmaking. Studies of the human body in the 1500s paved the way for today’s medical-imaging techniques. As for the arts, if you travel to almost any state capitol, you’ll see a dome that resembles Brunelleschi’s. The Renaissance left us a living legacy.