The Renaissance brought many changes to Europe:People moved from the countryside to towns.

The Middle Ages was dominated by religious beliefs and fears of eternal punishment. Renaissance was a more worldly age

Middle Ages – church dominated artRenaissance – art focused on nature and humans

Middle Ages – learning focused on religion & the relationship between man and GodRenaissance – focus on Greek and Roman classics

Setting the Stage

European Crusaders returning from the Middle East spurred a desire for the luxuries of the east – silk, pepper, and spices. The center of trade shifted from the Middle East to Italy.

Arab scholars had preserved the writings of ancient Greeks in their libraries and when the Byzantine Empire fell, many scholars left for Italy. The extra wealth of Italian city-states like Florence, allowed the revival of learning and art that came with the Renaissance.

Setting the StageBlack Death (plague) had killed over half the population in Italy.

The plague attacked those living in the close quarters in the city. Only those with money were able to move to the country to avoid the disease

This caused many to be angry when the church claimed the plague was God’s will (although many clergy died).

The church refused to promote hygiene because it distracted from worship. This could have prevented many deaths.

The Renaissance

The Renaissance began in Italy about 1300, nearly 200 years before the rest of Europe. The word renaissance is French for “rebirth”. What was reborn? Greek and Roman art and ideas were rediscovered, studied, and used by people of the Renaissance.

Scholars of the Renaissance were called secular humanists because they concentrated on examining the thoughts and actions of human beings. Art and literature focused more on human life, not just religion.

Secular – not religious

Humanism – study and progress of human nature at the center of interests.

Humanism

•3 main Greek & Roman ideas:

•Improvement through study and reflection

•Commitment to public service

•Life long learning (Well - Rounded)

The Humanities And Education

As the study of humanism became popular in Italy in the mid 1300s, humanist teachers began to replace the clergy as the main source of education in Italy. These humanists opened schools, where they taught the children of wealthy families to value the works and traditions of classic Rome and Greece.

These teachers encouraged people to write in their own languages, (vernacular) instead of in only Latin and Greek. As a result, literary works became available to the masses of people who did not speak these old languages. New and important literary works were published in the languages of the people, helping to spread ideas throughout Europe more quickly.

The ideal man or woman of the Renaissance had to excel in many areas.

Such a person, for example, should:

know many of the great Greek and Latin writings; be charming, polite, and witty;

be physically fit, good on horseback and with a sword (especially men);

be able to dance, play an instrument or sing, and write poetry.

People of the Renaissance focused more on individual accomplishments, learning, and enjoying the luxuries of life.

By the early 1500’s, European trade had begun to shift from the Mediterranean Sea to Amsterdam and other ports of Northern Europe. Artists like Albrecht Durer, a German, carried Renaissance styles and ideas back to his homeland.

This encouraged the spread of Renaissance ideas to Northern Europe, starting the so-called “Northern Renaissance”. Jan van Eyck was another notable Northern Renaissance artist whose realism and detail stand out. Outside Italy, the Renaissance period lasted until around 1600.

CHANGES IN ARTWealthy

merchants and bankers encouraged a rebirth of art by supporting artists. A supporter of the arts is known as a patron of the arts.

Artists could then study and create art as their profession.

Lorenzo Medici

Many Renaissance artists painted frescos They did this by painting on wet plaster (basically cement) walls.

The paint would dry “into” the plaster, allowing the paintings to last for centuries.

Of course, Renaissance artists got the idea from the Greeks and Romans

Two early artists, Giotto and Massacio helped bring about the change from painting flat, stiff-looking forms that had been typical in the Middle Ages to the Renaissance style of painting humans to look realistic and lifelike.

What Giotto and Massacio did for painting, the artist Donatello did for sculpture.

Donatello created realistic, freestanding statues that borrowed from the Roman and

Greek style.