Italian Renaissance (jan 1, 1400 – jan 1, 1492)
Description:
Rise of the Italian City-States
rest of Europe is still rural but some cities prospered in N Italy
- By the late 1300s Florence, Venice, and Milan all had populations of about 100,000
in the absence of hereditery kings, wealthy merchants formed oligarchies that governed the independent city-states in N Italy
- Wealthy merchants dominated political, economic, and artistic life in the N Italian cities"
Florence and the Medici
"During the 15th century (Quattrocento), Florence became the center of the Renaissance
- wealth was based on textile merchants and bankers
Medici family dominated Florence's economic, political, and artistic life for much of the 15th century
- they earned their wealth as bankers
- Cosimo (1389-1464), Piero (1416-1469), and Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449-1492) financed libraries, built churches, sponsored the Platonic Academy of Philosophy, and commissioned 100s of works of art
- peak was during Lorenzo the Magnificent"
Medieval Mindset
"Medieval Mindset was to achieve salvation
- God had created the world to prepare humans for the afterlife
- Humans and their lives on earth were equally insignificant
- Individuals are of no importance
- Medieval artists worked for the glory of god so did not achieve fame"
Individualism
"Italian nobles earned social rank through success in business by their own skill, so they took pride in their achievements
- believed they were successful because of their individual merits
- Fame is a reward for superior talent - portraits and autobiography illustrate the interest in individual personality and fame
- Renaissance artists often included self-portraits in their paintings
Virtu
- individualism stressed the importance of personality, the developent of unique talents, and the pursuit of fame and glory
- a person has virtu when they display the full range of human abilities
- Oration on the Dignity of Man by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola - celerated the human potential for greatness"
Humanism
"Petrarch and Renaissance scholars scorned medieval art and literature
Scholars like Petrarch who studied ancient Greco-Roman texts were called humanists
- rejected medieval scholasticism and instead advocated a curriculum based on the study of Greek and Roman literature, rhetoric, and history
- believed that by studying Greek and Roman texts they could gain a better understanding of human nature
played a key role in promoting new liberal arts education, developing vernacular languages, and renewing interest in translating and preserving Greek and Roman manuscripts
- classical contact would enrich their own culture by promoting civic responsability, encouraging artistic creativity, and rewarding individual excellence"
Secularism
"Medieval culture emphasized spritual salvation and values
Renaissance culture was far more interested in the pleasures of material possessions
- wealthy Renaissance families openly enjoyed fine music, expensive foods, and beutiful works of art
- Cosimo de Medici commissioned shocking statues in his garden
- David by Donatello"
Education and the ideal courtier
"While medieval scholars had studied classics to understand God, Renaissance humanists studied the classics to understand human nature and learn practical skills
Leading renaissance scholars opened schools and academies that taught Roman history, Greek philosophy, and Latin grammar and rhetoric
believed curriculum would teach future business, political, and military leaders how to become eloquent and peruasive speakers and writers
Baldassare Castiglione (1478-1529)
- ideal individual strove to become the ""universal man"" who excelled in many fields
- The Courtier explainedhow upper-class men and women could become accomplished coutiers
- courtier should be polite, charming, witty, and physicallt strong, able to dance, write poetry, sing, and play music
- court lady should be well-educated and charming, expected to inspire poetry and art but not to create it"
Machiavelli
"death of Lorenzo the Magnificent left power vaccuum in Italy and ended the Renaissance there
In 1494 King Charles VIII of France invaded Italy and conquered Naples
- King Ferdinand of Spain contested France's claim to Naples
- sparked Hapsburg-Valois Wars that involved all of the Italian city-states
Machiavelli was a Florentine diplomat and political philosopher, considered the creator of modern political science
- appalled by devastation of the Hapsburg-Valois Wars
- wrote The Prince to advise Italian rulers on how to unite Italy
People are selfish, untrustworthy, and corrupt, a prince must be as strong as a lion and as shrewd as a fox"
Italian Renaissance art
"Patrons
- artists received commissions from Catholic Church, guilds, and wealthy families like the Medicis
- patrons viewed art as a way to display their wealth and promote their fame
Characteristics
- Perspective: illusion of depth
- Chiaroscuro: illusion of volume - realistic juxtaposition of light and dark
- Pyramid configuration: 3D pyramid configurations to create symmetrical and balanced compositions as opposed to people all in a line like in medieval art
- Classical forms and Christian subjects: attempted to revive classical standards of beauty"
Examples of Italian Renaissance art
"Filippo Brunelleschi, The Dome of Florence Cathedral
- combined knowledge of Roman engineering principles with innovative building techniques to construct a 100-ft-high dome that seemed to reach to heaven without any support
- became a symbol of Florence's piety, power, and ingenuity
Michelangelo. David
- contrapposto (stiff right leg and relaxed left leg) pose recalls statues from Greece and Rome
- Unlike serene classical stautes, Davis defiantly faces Goliath
- can be viewed as a metaphor for Florence's victory over Milan
Raphael, School of Athens
- depicts a gathering of ancient philosophers from various eras
- toga-clad Plato and Aristotle dominate the center of the painting
- Raphael underscored the rising statues of Renaissance artists by including portraits of his contemporaries among the ancient philosophers (Plato = da Vinci)
Pierro della Francesca, Frederico de Montefeltro and Battista Sforza
- state portraits became popular in 15th century
- Francesca painted a double portrait of Duke Montefeltro and his wife
- celebrate the power of the aristocratic elite (red clothing is same color as conventional for portraits of Roman emperors)
Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel Ceiling
- combine Classical form with Christian subject matter
- Creation of Adam panel marks the culmination of a century of Renaissance research into the nature and possibilities of human anatomy
- Both Sistine Chapel Ceiling and St. Peter's Basilica represent the power of Renaissance papacy"
Women during the Renaissance
"Beginning of the Renaissance coincided with a debate about women called querelle des femmes
- humanists debated women's character, nature, and role in society
Christine de Pizan (1364-1430), The First Feminist
- political writer who became the 1st woman in European history to earn a living as an author
- wrote a history of famous women designed to refute ""masculine myths"" about women
Humanism represented a real advance fro aristoratic women
- received an education similar to men
Isabella d'Este was the most famous Renaissance woman
- art patron, being a patron of the arts was the most accepted role for a renaissance woman
- example of how women often played an important role in smaller Renaissance courts
Limitations
- humanism only affected a fairly small amount of of Renaissance women
- vast majority did not experience any significant loosening in the restraints that traditionally restricted their lives (denied basic civil rights and excluded from guilds)
- continued to lead highly circumscribed lives - expected to participate in the endless labor required to provide food and clothing for their families - childbearing and rearing also restricted their freedom"
Added to timeline:
Industrial Era
Date:
