RENAISSANCE

The Printing Press

An invention that transfers text or graphics from a woodblock or type to paper using ink. Invented by Johann Gutenberg in Europe in about 1450, it made mass production of books possible.

Johann Gutenberg

German who was the first in Europe to print using movable type; invented the Printing Press.

Italian Renaissance

Means rebirth, a period of European history that began in the urban society of the city-states of Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, it focused on the study of ancient Greek and Roman texts, emphasized humanism as well as secularism and individualism.

Antiquity

Ancient times; the return to Greek and Roman texts (especially during the Renaissance).

Humanism

A Renaissance intellectual movement in which thinkers studied classical texts of ancient Greece and Rome and focused on human potential and achievements; interest in understanding the natural world.

Secularism

Non religious; concerned with worldly rather than spiritual matters.

Individualism (Renaissance)

To be more concerned with the material world vs. the eternal world; celebrated one's uniqueness to reach full potential without being first rooted in Christian humility; departed from the Christian aversion to pride; expressed through portraits, self-portraits, biographies, and autobiographies.

Renaissance City States

Italian territories governed under the leadership of wealthy merchant families.

Urban society

A system in which cities are the center of political, economic, and social life. Renaissance Italy was largely this.

Renaissance nobility

Land-holding aristocrats expected to be of high character, perform military duties, educated in classics and art; were born into the nobility; 2-3% of the population.

Renaissance merchants

Were rich and powerful due to trade, and heavily involved in the artistic and cultural achievements of the period; patrons of the arts.

Renaissance trade

Fueled the Renaissance as new ideas and merchandise were sought; resulted in a time of great prosperity and exchange of ideas.

Florence

A renowned city-state in the Tuscan region of northern Italy; the center of the Italian Renaissance; led by the powerful merchant Medici family.

Milan

Italian city-state in crossroads of northern Italy near Alps; manufactured weapons and silk.

Venice

An Italian city-state on the Adriatic Sea; center of trade.

The Medici Family

Powerful banking family who ruled Florence in the 1400s, great patrons of the arts.

Patronage / patronage of the arts

A person who provides financial or other support for artists, wealthy merchant families, most notably The Medici Family, were great patrons of the arts during The Renaissance as was the Church.

Renaissance art characteristics

Use of oil paint, realistic portrayal of the subject, reflects accurate human anatomy, mastered perspective, employed symmetry.

Perspective

Renaissance painting technique that creates the illusion of depth; objects in the foreground appear larger than those in the background.

Fresco

Painting done on fresh, wet plaster with water-based paints.

Leonardo Da Vinci

Painter, sculptor, architect, inventor, and mathematician; a true Renaissance man; Mona Lisa & Last Supper (1452-1519).

Raphael

Italian Renaissance painter; he painted frescos, esp. of madonnas (Virgin Mary), and his most famous being The School of Athens. (1483-1520).

Michelangelo

Italian Renaissance painter, architect, and sculptor who painted the ceilings and walls of the Sistine Chapel & created the sculpture of David (1475-1564).

Brunelleschi

Florentine architect who was the first great architect of the Italian Renaissance (1377-1446).

Jan van Eyck

Flemish painter during Northern Renaissance who pioneered modern techniques of oil painting; painted Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride (1390-1441).

Albrecht Durer

German painter during the Northern Renaissance; often used woodcutting and Italian Renaissance techniques like proportion, perspective, and modeling. (Adoration of the Magi) (1471-1528).

Renaissance Man

An intellectual during the Renaissance who was well-rounded and an expert in many topics, including the arts and science, Leonardo DaVinci is the quintessential Renaissance Man.

Niccolo Machiavelli

A political theorist; wrote The Prince; asserted that a ruler must be willing to rule without Christian morality; do whatever is necessary in the best interest of the state; the ends justify the means.

The Prince

Written by Machiavelli, argued that people are self-centered; and described that power is more important, believed it's better to be feared than loved; a secular approach to gaining and maintaining power.

Machiavellian

Unprincipled, cunning, crafty, deceitful, willing to be immoral.