The Renaissance in Italy

Chapter 13: Section 1

What Was the Renaissance?

• Time of creativity

• Shift from agricultural to an urban society

New Worldview

• Time of rebirth• Renewed interest in the classical learning of

Greece and Rome

Humanism

• Humanists studied the classical culture of Greece and Rome, but used that study to increase their understanding of their own times

Emphasized Humanities

• Subjects such as grammar, rhetoric, poetry, and history

Petrarch

• Early Renaissance humanist, poet, and scholar• Assembled library of Greek and Roman

manuscripts

Italy

• Renaissance began in Italy

• Italy’s location on the Mediterranean sea encouraged trade and increased flow of goods into area

• This trade provided wealth to make Renaissance possible

City-States

• Italy was divided into small city-states, ruled by a powerful family

• Most powerful were the Medici’s from Florence

Lorenzo “the Magnificent”

• Represented the Renaissance ideal• Patron of the arts

Renaissance Art

• Portrayed religious themes against classical Greek or Roman backgrounds

• Used perspective that allowed artists to create more realistic art

Leonardo da Vinci

• Curious and inventive• Dissected corpses to learn how bones and

muscles work• Interested in botany, anatomy, music,

architecture, and engineering• Made sketches of airplanes and submarines

centuries before they were built

Mona Lisa

The Last Supper

Michelangelo

Michelangelo

• Sculptor, engineer, painter, architect, and poet

• Been called a “melancholy genius” because his work reflected his life long spiritual and artistic struggles

• Greatest project was the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome

Statue of David

The Pieta

The Pieta

• Captures the sorrow of the Biblical Mary as she cradles Jesus

Sistine Chapel

Sistine Chapel

Sistine Chapel

• 4 years to complete• Partially crippled after

St. Peter’s Cathedral

Raphael

Raphael

• Younger than Da Vinci and Michelangelo, studied their work

• Used own style, blending of Christian and classical styles

• Best known for his portrayals of the Madonna

Madonna

School of Athens

School of Athens

• Imaginary gathering of great thinkers and scientists

• Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates among others

• Included Michelangelo, Leonardo, and himself as well

Renaissance Writers

• Castiglione

• The Book of the Courtier

The Book of the Courtier

• Ideal Man good at games but not a gambler, plays musical instruments, and knows literature and history but is not arrogant

• Ideal Woman graceful and kind, lively but reserved, beautiful, “for outer beauty is the true sign of inner goodness”

Machiavelli

• Niccolo Machiavelli

• Wrote guide for how rulerscould maintain power

The Prince

• Stressed that the end justifies the means

• Urged rulers to use whatever means necessary to achieve their goals

• Getting results was more important than keeping promises