The Spirit of the Renaissance

What do you see?Describe the different objects in the room.What do you think this man does for a living?In what ways does this room show influences of ancient Greek and Roman culture?

Vittorio Carpaccio, 1503

In this picture we see a painting of a humanist in his study, probably the Cardinal Bessarion, a man who was dedicated to both scholarship and public service and was considered by people of the Renaissance to be a model humanist.

After the crusades (1095-1291), Greeks began visiting Italy to maintain connections that had been made, and often, to escape expansion of the Muslim world into the Hellenic world. This cultural exchange brought about a reintroduction of classical Christian and pre-Christian thought to Italy.

Italian scholars eagerly learned Greek and Latin so they could study the ancient writings.Early Renaissance scholars discovered writings by an ancient Roman scholar, Quintilian (35-96 A.D.). Quintilian argued:• The goal of education was to

create a well-rounded, moral citizen

• Educated citizens should make society a just and better place

• Individuals have unlimited potential

Quintillian’s view of a moral education emphasized the potential of an individual. This became the dominant educational philosophy of the Renaissance.

Humanism: A belief that there is good in everyone, and that all people can achieve great things.

Notes on the Spirit of the Renaissance:

Why did people become interested in Ancient Culture?

• The knowledge of ancient Greece and Rome was rediscovered by scholars.

• The Crusades made Europeans eager to learn more about the world around them.

• Scholars thought ancient Greek and Roman writings would help solve problems.

(53 words)

Humanist – a new type of scholar whose rediscovery and study of the literature, art, and civilization of ancient Greece and Rome sparked a system of thought that centers on humans and their values, abilities, and worth.

Medieval scholars studied commentaries on ancient writings without ever reading the ancient works themselves.

Humanists of the Renaissance wanted to study the ancient writings themselves, to discover the real meanings of the writers.Humanists believed this would make them well-rounded individuals, better able to participate in government and society.

Francesco Petrarch was the first great Renaissance humanist. He was born in Florence in 1304. He learned to read Greek and Latin and his great love was the discovery of ancient texts. His favorite writings were by the Roman statesman Cicero and the early Christian writer St. Augustine. He wrote lengthy letters to these ancient thinkers in which he presented his own modern views about their ancient ideas.

Notes: The Spirit of the Renaissance:

A Belief in Human Potential It was believed that each person could achieve great

things. It was claimed that people educated in the classics

could create a better world Human achievement on earth, rather than the

attainment of heaven, was emphasized.A new Type of Scholar called a Humanist was created:

Humanists devoted themselves to studying ancient writings

They tried to learn about many subjects, such as Latin, Greek, history, mathematics, rather than focus on just one subject.

Petrarch, a Florentine, was the first great humanist.

(ugh. 98 words!)

But the fascination with Roman and Greek cultures went beyond the writings. Artists studied Roman and Greek art for inspiration. Donatello, a sculptor, created statues that copied the Roman ideal of the human body.

Augustus of Prima Porta, statue of the emperor Augustus, 1st century

St. George c. 1416-17

Davidc. 1444-46

Architecture, too, was inspired by the Greeks and the Romans.

This is an interior shot of the Pantheon in Rome. It was built between 118 -128 A.D. Each of the niches held a statue of a Roman God or Goddess.

The Parthenon in Athens, Greece. Built between 477 – 438 B.C.

St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome. Building started in 1546, and was finished in 1590. Do some of these elements look familiar?

Prior to the building of St. Peter’s, the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence was built. Brunelleschi’s dome was started in 1420 and was completed in 1436. This was the first 'octagonal' dome in history to be built without a temporary wooden supporting frame, and was one of the most impressive projects of the Renaissance.

The building of such a masonry dome posed many technical problems. Brunelleschi looked to the great dome of the Pantheon in Rome for solutions. The dome of the Pantheon is a single shell of concrete, the formula for which had long since been forgotten. A wooden form had held the Pantheon dome aloft while its concrete set, but because of the height and breadth of the Florentine dome, there was not enough timber in Tuscany to build the scaffolding and forms. Brunelleschi used a double shell, made of sandstone and marble. Brunelleschi built the dome out of bricks, due to its lighter weight compared to stone, and with nothing under it during construction.

Brunelleschi's solutions were ingenious. The spreading problem was solved by a set of four internal horizontal stone and iron chains, serving as barrel hoops, embedded within the inner dome: one each at the top and bottom, with the remaining two evenly spaced between them. A fifth chain, made of wood, was placed between the first and second of the stone chains. Since the dome was octagonal rather than round, a simple chain, squeezing the dome like a barrel hoop, would have put all its pressure on the eight corners of the dome. The chains needed to be rigid octagons, stiff enough to hold their shape, so as not to deform the dome as they held it together.

Notes:

The Spirit of the Renaissance included:

A Fascination with Classical Cultures Artists used ancients art as models Donatello created statues that copied the

Roman ideal of the human body Brunelleschi designed buildings with classic

motifs Revolutionary innovations were made

(44 words)

Renaissance Man

During the Renaissance, humanists, artists, and upper-class citizens developed their talents to the fullest as they strove to reach the ideal of a well-rounded person: educated, witty, artistically creative, and skilled in many fields.

They believed in the worth and importance of the individual in the world in which they lived, rather than the medieval focus on the afterlife.

The epitome (best example) of a Renaissance Man was Leonardo da Vinci (born April 15, 1452, died May 2, 1519). He was a painter, inventor, scientist, observer, and engineer

In 1466, at the age of fourteen, Leonardo was apprenticed to Verrocchio, whose workshop was "one of the finest in Florence“. By 1472, at the age of twenty, Leonardo qualified as a master in the Guild of St Luke, the guild of artists and doctors of medicine.

Baptism of Christ,

1472 – 1475Verrocchio &

Leonardo

Studies of the action of running water.

Studies of a horse

Anatomical Studies of the arm

In 1502, Leonardo produced a drawing of a single span 720 foot bridge. This bridge was intended to span in inlet at the mouth of the Bosporus known as the Golden Horn. It was believed at the time that such a bridge was impossible.

In 2006, after a smaller bridge based on daVinci’s design was built in Norway in 2001, the Turkish government decided to construct daVinci’s bridge across the Golden Horn.

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/doing-davinci-missing-tank-door.html

Leonardo’s Tank: Design flaw:

Could it actually work?

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/doing-davinci-tank-test.html