Italian Renaissance Station 1:Renaissance Man & Woman

"Let the man we are seeking be very bold, stern, and always among the first, where the enemy are to be seen; and in every other place, gentle, modest, reserved, above all things avoiding ostentation [showiness] and that impudent [bold] self-praise by which men ever excite hatred and disgust in all who hear them...I would have him more than passably accomplished in letters, at least in those studies that are called the humanities, and conversant not only with the Latin language but with Greek, for the sake of the many different things that have been admirably written therein. Let him be well versed in the poets, and not less in the orators and historians, and also proficient in writing verse and prose.”

“Many faculties of the mind [intelligence] are as necessary to woman as to man; likewise gentle birth, to avoid affectation [showing off], to be naturally graceful in all her doings, to be mannerly, clever, prudent [sensible], not arrogant, not envious, not slanderous [insulting], not vain, not quarrelsome [argumentative], not silly……Beauty is more necessary to her than to the courtier, for in truth that woman lacks much who lacks beauty.…she will always show herself obedient, sweet and affable [pleasant] to him, and as desirous of pleasing him as of being loved by him.”

- Baldassare Castiglione, from The Courtier

Italian Renaissance Station 2:Art in the Third Dimension

Classical artists had used perspective, but medieval artists abandoned the technique. In the 1400s, Italian artists rediscovered it. Perspective is based on an optical illusion. As parallel lines stretch away from a viewer, they seem to draw together, until they meet at a spot on the horizon called the vanishing point.

Pentecost by Titian

Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci

Italian Renaissance Station 3:

Captivity

Realism

David by Michelangelo

Madonna della Sedia by Raphael

Peasant Wedding

by Bruegal

Italian Renaissance Station 4:Patrons

All of the story problems that follow are taken from historic documents of Renaissance Italy, and represent real-life amounts, currencies and formulas.

1. Alberto the Painter received 250 ducats (gold coins used as currency in Venice) to create a painting for a wealthy family in Venice. Because the family expects the painting to be delivered ready to hang, Alberto will spend 20% of his payment to have a frame made for the painting. After purchasing the frame, how many ducats would Alberto have left?

2. Lorenzo was commissioned to create an altarpiece for a church in his town. The altarpiece is a triptych; it has a large panel in the center and two smaller panels on either side. The central panel measures 3 feet tall by 2.5 feet wide. The two smaller panels each measure 3 feet tall by 1.5 feet wide. What is the total area of the altarpiece?

3. Cosimo has completed a large oil painting but before he delivers it to the patron who ordered it, he must apply a varnish to the painting. The formula he uses to make the varnish is 25% oil copal varnish, 25% poppy oil, and 50% spike oil. If he has 12 ounces of poppy oil, how much spike oil will he need to complete the formula? How much oil copal will he need?

4. Inventories of the wealthy patron family of de Medicis recorded art, weapons, clothes, and antiques. Values of each item were recorded in florins (currency of Renaissance Florence). According to the chart [on back], which item was the most valuable? Which was the least valuable? What is the average value of the items on the chart, rounded to the nearest whole number?

5. Between the years 1434 and 1471, the Medici family spent 663,755 florins (coins used as currency in Florence) on buildings, charities and taxes. If the Medici family spent 340,576 on buildings and 189,450 on charities, how much did they spend on taxes?

6. In 1470, the standard rate of payment for a painter of frescos in Venice was 10 bolognini (currency used in Renaissance Italy) per foot. Ten bolognini is equal to 1/10 of a ducat. How many ducats would a painter earn for painting a fresco 10 feet long?

7. Antonia painted a portrait of a duke standing next to a bookcase. In life, the duke stood six feet tall. When the painting was completed the image of the duke measured 36 inches and the bookcase measured 48 inches. What was the actual height of the bookcase?

8. Raphael bought a palazzo for 1365 florins. The palazzo has five shops on the lower level. Raphael rented out each of the five shops for 3 florins a month. How many years would it take for Raphael to earn the purchase price of the palazzo?

Italian Renaissance Station 5:Machiavelli

Excerpt from The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

There are four ways a new prince can acquire a principality: by one's own arms, by the arms of others, by evil means, and by civil means. A principality that is won by a prince by his own arms is most secure. (1, 2)

"In the end, the arms of another will fall from your hand, will weigh you down, or restrain you." Chapter 13, pg. 52 (2)

"The two most essential foundations for any state, whether it be old or new, or both old and new, are sound laws and sound military forces. Now, since the absence of sound laws assures the absence of sound military forces, while the presence of sound military forces indicates the presence of sound laws as well, I shall forego a consideration of laws and discuss military forces instead." (3, 7, 10)

"A prince must have no other objective, no other thought, nor take up any profession but that of war, its methods and its discipline, for that is the only art expected of a ruler." (4, 11)

Machiavelli states that in an ideal world, it is virtuous for a prince to be good. But in reality, princes who distance themselves from ethical concerns and do whatever it takes for the benefit of their states rule best. (5, 6)

"The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved. I conclude that since men love as they themselves determine but fear as their ruler determines, a wise prince must rely upon what he and not others can control." Chapter 17, pg. 61 (5, 6, )

When two neighbors are at war, a prince must never be neutral; he must take sides. The prince must have the wisdom to choose the least risky venture and act on it courageously. (8)

Wisdom is also needed in picking and satisfying his closest advisors and avoiding flatterers. (9)

When a prince conquers a new territory that shares a common language and culture as his original domain, all he needs to do to maintain control is to extinguish the former ruling line. (12, 13)

The prince must protect weaker neighbors and weaken powerful ones. He must not let a powerful force enter his territories, including allies. Last, the wise prince must be willing to use force to remedy a situation before it becomes unfixable. It is almost always more effective to confront problems early. A wise prince must not put off confrontations for another day. (14, 15)

Italian Renaissance Station 6:Dante

Now notes of desperation have begunto overtake my hearing; now I comewhere mighty lamentation beats against me.I reached a place where every light is muted,which bellows like the sea beneath a tempest,when it is battered by opposing winds.The hellish hurricane, which never rests,drives on the spirits with its violence:wheeling and pounding, it harasses them.When they come up against the ruined slope,then there are cries and wailing and lament,and there they curse the force of the divine.I learned that those who undergo this tormentare damned because they sinned within the flesh,subjecting reason to the rule of lust.And as, in the cold season, starlings' wingsbear them along in broad and crowded ranksso does that blast bear on the guilty spirits:now here, now there, now down, now up, it drives them.There is no hope that ever comforts them--no hope for rest and none for lesser pain.And just as cranes in flight will chant their lays,arraying their long file across the air,so did the shades I saw approaching, borne

by that assailing wind, lament and moan;

so that I asked him: "Master, who are thosewho suffer punishment in this dark air?""The first of those about whose historyyou want to know," my master then told me"once ruled as empress over many nations.Her vice of lust became so customarythat she made license licit in her lawsto free her from the scandal she had caused.She is Semíramis, of whom we readthat she was Ninus' wife and his successor:she held the land the Sultan now commands.That other spirit killed herself for love,and she betrayed the ashes of Sychaeus;the wanton Cleopatra follows next.See Helen, for whose sake so many yearsof evil had to pass; see great Achilles,who finally met love-in his last battle.See Paris, Tristan . . ."-and he pointed outand named to me more than a thousand shadesdeparted from our life because of love.No sooner had I heard my teacher namethe ancient ladies and the knights, than pityseized me, and I was like a man astray.