AP Euro Renaissance ID Terms - Mr. Farquar

Renaissance

- The "rebirth" of classical culture that occurred in Italy between 1350-1550
- Following the Middle Ages, a movement that centered on the revival of interest in the Greco-Roman Classical life
- Classical antiquity was revived
- Individuals worked towards perfection, and a shift toward secularism occurred, even though religious sentiment was still important in Renaissance society
- Within this new sense of secularism, it became acceptable to enjoy the pleasures of worldly life, while human dignity, self-worth, and individual potential were highly regarded
- It is important to note that this phenomenon and its achievements were mainly the results of efforts by the elite upper-class

Medici

- Aristocratic Italian family of powerful merchants and bankers who ruled Florence in the 15th century
- Held power through philanthropy
- Patrons of the arts who helped make Florence the home of the Italian Renaissance
- Florence's preeminent banking family that took control of the oligarchy, in which they maintained republican forms of government for appearances
- Expanded from cloth production into commerce, real estate, and banking
- At its peak, in the fifteenth century, this family was the greatest bank in Europe, banking for the papacy, and controlled wool, silk, mining, and dyeing industries
- At the end of the fifteenth century, this family's bank suffered a dramatic decline due to poor leadership and a number of bad loans, which was exacerbated when the French expelled this family from Florence and confiscated their property

dowry

- A gift of money or property paid at the time of marriage by the bride's parents to her husband or by a husband to his wife (expected by all families)
- Size of the gift could indicate whether a bride was moving up or down in society
- If the sum of money was large, a daughter could marry a man of higher social status and move up in society
- If the daughter married a man of lower social standing, the sum of money her family provided would be smaller because the reputation of her family would raise the status of her husband's family

papal states

- A group of territories in central Italy ruled by the popes from 754 until 1870
- Were originally given to the papacy by Pepin the Short and reached their peak in 1859
- Located in central Italy
- Central Italian lands that were typically under the political control of the popes
- When the popes moved to Avignon, individual cities and territories, including Urbino, Bologna, and Ferrara, became independent from the authority of popes, which would lead future Renaissance popes of the fifteenth century to dedicate most of their energy toward re-establishing control of these lands

ambassador

- An official representative of a country's government
- An official representative of a country sent to foreign courts to reside there and oversee political and economic affairs
- Italy begins to use these after the Treaty of Lodi to avoid war
- The beginnings of modern diplomacy
- The roles of these resident diplomatic agents changed during the Renaissance because of the political scene in Italy
- These diplomats traveled between the Italian city-states to draw out valuable information, and this new type of diplomacy, including residential stays in foreign countries, spread throughout the rest of Europe
- Rights for these diplomats and the proper procedures for them to follow in other states developed
- The purpose of these diplomats was to do whatever may best serve the preservation and enlargement of their countries, and they could use whatever methods necessary to best benefit their own political interests

Niccolo Machiavelli

- A Florentinian secretary who partook in numerous diplomatic trips, on which he saw the workings of statecraft first-hand
- His political prime took place during a period of tribulation and devastation in Italy because of the French invasion of 1494, but in 1512, when the Medici family was reinstalled as the prominent power in Florence, he was exiled from Florence
- Once he was forced to give up his life's work of politics, he reflected on political power and wrote books, including The Prince

"The Prince"

- Contains a secular method of ruling a country and advocated for a strong central government—"End justifies the means." exemplified the Renaissance preoccupation with political power
- Written by Niccolo Machiavelli and published in 1513
- This was one of the most famous treatises on political power in the Western world
- Using his knowledge of ancient Rome and Italian political problems, Machiavelli wrote of the best way for Italian city-states to acquire and expand in hopes of restoring order in Italy
- In this book, Machiavelli staunchly opposed traditional political theories that called upon rulers to act upon Christian moral principles, and he advised rulers to consider the self-centered nature of people, who would be looking to deceive and gain power, and in return be prepared to abandon moral considerations and to do wrong if necessary to protect one's power and state
- Important ideas in the book: The desire to acquire, might make right, it's better to be feared than loved, the outward display of virtue is important, avoid becoming hated, don't load up your council with sycophants (yes men), be self-reliant, need to be cruel when it's necessary, be flexible but appear steadfast, give your people arms, don't be afraid to be dishonest, be a fox and a lion, when you make peace in a war either 1) crush the enemy so badly they can't get revenge or 2) make a lax peace so your enemy does not harbor ill will and desire revenge

individualism

- A key characteristic of the Italian Renaissance that emphasized focusing on and perfecting the individual
- Human dignity was highly regarded, and the recognition of individual potentiality led people to well-roundedness and achievements in many areas of life
- A movement and philosophy that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of everyone
- The idea that everyone has dignity and potential
- Emphasis on and interest in the unique traits of each person
- Popular thought during the Renaissance

secularism

- Concerned with material, worldly, temporal things and less with spiritual and religious things
- The idea that morals and education should be based on life on earth not to accommodate religion
- A movement away from total religious dominance
- A key characteristic of the Italian Renaissance that allowed people to embrace worldly pleasures instead of only focusing on their afterlife with God

humanism

- An intellectual movement in Renaissance Italy based on the study of the Greek and Roman classics
- A Renaissance intellectual movement in which thinkers studied classical texts and focused on human potential and achievements
- Optimism and creativity encouraged liberal arts
- An intellectual movement, in which grammar, rhetoric, poetry, moral philosophy, ethics, and history were all deeply examined, based upon the study of Classical literary works from Greece and Rome

Petrarch

- Often called the father of Italian Renaissance humanism (1304-1374)
- The first intellectual to characterize the Middle Ages as a period of darkness, promoting the mistaken belief that medieval culture was ignorant of classical antiquity
- Used both vernacular language and Latin
- Obsessed with Classical culture
- Coined the term "dark ages", believed thinking is important
- He rejected his family's desire for him to become a lawyer and took up a literary career instead
- To foster Renaissance humanism, he characterized the Middle Ages as a period of darkness because scholars were ignorant of Classical antiquity, and he set off on a quest to uncover forgotten Latin manuscripts of classics
- He inaugurated the humanist emphasis on the use of pure Classical Latin for scholarly works, with Cicero as a model for prose and Virgil for poetry

civic humanism

- A new facet of humanism beginning in the fifteenth century that was closely tied to community spirit and pride
- Intellectuals began to view their role as intellectuals as one where their study of the humanities should have been put into use for the service of the state, including serving as well-educated chancellors, councillors, and advisers
- An intellectual movement of the Italian Renaissance that saw Cicero, who was both an intellectual and a statesman, as the ideal and held that humanists should be involved in government and use their rhetorical training in the service of the state
- Instead of giving up themselves to pursue intellectual study, individuals owe a service to their society and government
- Critical to the success of a republic
- You can still learn and improve yourself but you can and must use your power to help society

Neoplatonism

- A philosophy that replaced Aristotle in dominance as it was more optimistic
- Taught at the Florentine Academy
- Man is the middle of the Universal hierarchy and uniquely divine in our ability to think
- Said that non-romantic love binds the entire universe together
- Marsilio Ficino's synthesis of Platonic philosophy and Christianity, which included (1) the idea of a hierarchy of substances, or great chain of being, from the lowest form of physical matter, plants, to the purest spirit, God, in which humans occupied a middle position and were the link between the material world and the spiritual world, with their highest duty to ascend toward their union with God, and (2) the theory of spiritual or Platonic love that theorized people are bound together in their common humanity by love in the same way the universe is held together by bonds of sympathetic love
- A revival in the Italian Renaissance, associated with Marsilio Ficino, who attempted to synthesize Christianity and Platonism

Hermeticism

- An intellectual movement beginning in the fifteenth century that taught that divinity is embodied in all aspects of nature
- It included works on alchemy and magic as well as theology and philosophy
- The tradition continued into the seventeenth century and influenced many of the leading figures of the Scientific Revolution
- Belief that human beings had been created as divine creative power, but had freely chosen to enter the material world, and thus buried our divinity
- We must purify our souls through virtu to achieve it again, and those who have both God and truth are called Magi
- Another product of Florentine intellectualism in the late fifteenth century
- This philosophy regarded human beings as divine beings endowed with divine creating power but had chosen to enter the material world
- Under this idea, humans could recover their divinity through a regenerative experience or purification of their soul
- Once regenerated, these beings would become true sages or magi who had knowledge of God and truth, as well as an intimate knowledge of nature and how to employ it for beneficial purposes

liberal studies/liberal arts

- Studies that were regarded as the key to true freedom because they would allow individuals to reach their ultimate potential
- These studies were used to attain and practice virtue and wisdom and developed the highest gifts of body and mind to empower scholars
- These studies included history, moral philosophy, rhetoric, grammar and logic, poetry, mathematics, and astronomy, and music
- The purpose of which was to produce individuals who followed paths of virtue and wisdom and possessed rhetorical skills to persuade others to do the same
- The seven areas of study that formed the basis of education in medieval and early modern Europe
- Following Boethius and other late Roman authors, they consisted of grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic or logic (the trivium) and arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music (the quadrivium)
- A term applied to pursuits that were more exercises of the mind than practical skill
- Popular under humanism
- Includes: grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, politics, philosophy

Francesco Guicciardini

- Major political writer of the Italian Renaissance
- Founder of modern analytical historiography
- Author of the Storia d'Italia (History of Italy)
- Historian who achieved the high point of historiography in the beginning of the sixteenth century with his History of Italy and History of Florence, that represented the beginning of "modern analytical historiography," which included the analysis of the complexity of historical events
- 1483-1540
- Achieved the high point of Renaissance historiography in his works History of Italy and History of Florence at the beginning of the sixteenth century
- The beginning of "modern analytical historiography"
- Analyzed political situations precisely and critically

Johannes Gutenburg

- A man from Mainz who played an important role in completing the development of movable type printing in 1448, one of the most important technological innovations of Western civilization
- His Bible, completed in 1455 or 1456, was the first true book in the West produced from movable type
- German printer

Masaccio

- He used light and dark imagery to illustrate different feelings and emotions
- Dramatic art
- Known for the fresco cycle in the Brancacci Chapel in Florence
- Imitating nature, re-creating lifelike figures and movements as well as a convincing sense of three-dimensionality
- Nudity
- An Italian painter who picked up Giotto's imitation of nature and painted a number of frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel that were regarded as the first masterpieces of the Early Renaissance
- He painted monumental figures to portray a more realistic relationship between landscape and the figures, which was the first visual representation of the laws of perspective, fostering a new painting style
- Continued the work of medieval artist Giotto by imitating nature in his paintings
- His cycle of frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel has long been regarded as the first masterpiece of Early Renaissance Art
- Introduced a new realistic style of painting through his use of monumental figures and landscape, and visual representation of the laws of perspective

Donatello

- Spent time in Rome studying and copying the statues of antiquity and mastered the essence of what he saw
- Famous statue of David, displaying revolutionary achievements in Renaissance sculpture and architecture
- A sculptor who modeled his statues after Roman antiquity and mastered the recreation of what he saw
- He created a bronze statue of David
- Italian Renaissance artist known for sculptures in marble, bronze, and wood
- Early Renaissance artist, naturalism, made a bronze David
- Realism - represent anatomy correctly, individualism, first nude sculpture

Donatello's "David"

- A statue which is a resemblance of David and the Goliath
- The statue shows many forms of antique art
- Nude poses, text on the bottom enshrined in the statue, and no facial emotions
- Made of bronze and early Renaissance
- The first known life-size, freestanding, bronze nude statue in European art since the Classical age
- Apart with the severed head of Goliath at the foot of the statue, this statue in Florence may have celebrated Florentine heroism in the triumph over Milan in 1428, and this statue radiated a simplicity and strength that reflected the dignity of humanity

Filippo Brunelleschi

- Florentine architect, painter, goldsmith, sculptor who was the first great architect of the Italian Renaissance; built first dome over Cathedral of Florence
- Rediscovered linear perspective
- Drew much inspiration from the architectural monuments of Roman antiquity and poured insights into the creation of new architecture; helped finish the Cathedral of Florence (the Duomo)
- Style evident in the Church of San Lorenzo containing classical columns, rounded arches, and coffered ceiling (atmosphere did not overwhelm worshippers like Gothic cathedrals, but comforted as a space meant to fit human, not divine, measurements)
- Accompanied Donatello to Rome and drew inspiration from Classical architecture to create domes in Florence
- He devised new techniques and machinery to complete the Duomo cathedral between 1420 and 1436 with a 140-foot opening
- He was also commissioned by the Medici to design the Church of San Lorenzo, which was inspired by Roman models and contained columns, rounded arches, and a coffered ceiling to create an environment that did not overwhelm the worshipper as Gothic-style cathedrals did

High Renaissance

- A period beginning in the late 15th century
- It produced some of the most well-known religious and secular artwork of the period from such figures as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo
- Linear perspective, super buff sculptures
- A new artistic environment created by the end of the fifteenth century by Italian painters, sculptors, and architects, who had mastered the new techniques of scientific observation and had moved on to individualistic forms of creative expression
- This stage between 1480 and 1520 was marked by increasing importance of Rome as a cultural center and was characterized by the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo
- The revival of Classical architecture, including columns, domes, and sanctuaries, was also a key feature of this time
- Shift to this period of the Renaissance is marked by the increasing importance of Rome as a new cultural center of the Italian Renaissance
- Artists had mastered the new techniques for a scientific observation of the world around them and were now ready to move into individualistic forms of creative expression

Leonardo da Vinci

- Italian painter, sculptor, engineer, scientist, and architect who dominated the High Renaissance
- Represents a transitional figure in the shift to High Renaissance principles
- Stressed the need to advance beyond realism and initiated the High Renaissance's preoccupation with the idealization of nature (the ideal form)
- A transitional figure in the shift to High Renaissance principles, he carried on the fifteenth-century experimental tradition by studying everything possible to clearly understand how nature worked but advanced beyond such realism to the High Renaissance's infatuation with the idealism of nature
- A well-known Italian Renaissance artist, architect, musician, mathemetician, engineer, and scientist. Known for the Mona Lisa and Last Supper
- Applied science to everything including art and music

"Last Supper"

- Painting by Leonardo da Vinci, successful use of one-point perspective, everything points towards Christ's head
- Painted by Leonardo da Vinci in Milan as a brilliant example of fifteenth-century trends through its organization of space and use of perspective to depict objects three-dimensionally on a two-dimensional medium, but also had more than these qualities, including the idealization of Philip and the profound embodiment of psychological dimensions, such as each apostle's personality, relationship to Jesus, and a person's inner life
- da Vinci's painting, a brilliant summary of fifteenth-century trends in its organization of space and use of perspective to depict subjects three-dimensionally in a two-dimensional medium each apostle reveals his personality and relationship to Jesus through gestures and movement

Raphael

- Blossomed as a painter at an early age and regarded as one of Italy's best painters
- Acclaimed for his numerous madonnas, in which he attempted to achieve an ideal of beauty far surpassing human standards
- A prodigious Italian painter who was acclaimed for his numerous madonnas, which attempted to achieve an ideal of beauty far above human standards, and his frescoes in the Vatican Palace, including the School of Athens
- (1483-1520) An Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance
- He painted frescos, his most famous being The School of Athens. Achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur

"School of Athens"

- A fresco by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael that depicts a congregation of philosophers, mathematicians, and scientists from Ancient Greece
- One of Raphael's Vatican Palace frescoes that revealed a world of balance, harmony, and order, which were principles of Classical art
- Raphael's fresco revealing a world of balance, harmony, and order—the underlying principles of the art of the classical world of Greece and Rome

Michelangelo

- An accomplished painter, sculptor, and architect, a giant of the High Renaissance
- Influenced by Neoplatonism, especially evident in his figures on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, depicting the Fall of Man
- The beauty of his figures is meant to be a reflection of divine beauty
- An accomplished painter, sculptor, and architect of the High Renaissance who was fiercely driven by a desire to create and created a remarkable number of projects in return
- He was influenced by Neoplatonism, which was clearly evident in his figures painted upon the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, whose features were divinely beautiful
- (1475-1564) An Italian sculptor, painter, poet, engineer, and architect. Inspired by Classical culture
- He was from Florentine
- Famous works include the mural on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the sculpture of the biblical character David
- Designed the dome for St. Peter's Basilica

Michelangelo's "David"

- Giant sculpture from the High Renaissance that focused on balance, harmony, and the ideal form
- Very buff
- Lifelike, asymmetrical posture known as contrapposto and highly detailed anatomy
- One of Michelangelo's pieces within his search for ideal beauty was a 14-foot-high marble statue, the largest statue in Italy since the time of Rome, that proclaimed the beauty of the human body and the glory of human beings
- Manifestation of Michelangelo's search for ideal beauty
- A colossal marble statue commissioned by the Florentine govt in 1501
- The largest sculpture in Italy since the time of Rome, it inspires awe and proudly proclaims the beauty of the human body and the glory of human beings

Northern Renaissance

- More northern European artists, influenced by the prevalence of Gothic cathedrals with their stained-glass windows, focused more on illuminated manuscripts and wooden panel painting for altarpieces
- Limited available space in the works led northern painters to take great care to depict each object and become masters at rendering details
- Centered in Flanders, art in this movement was much more detailed because paintings were performed on limited space
- The painters of this
movement became masters at fine detailing that imitated nature, but did so by observation rather than mastery of laws of perspective and proportions, and emphasized the emotional intensity of religious feeling, creating masterpieces of devotional art
- An extension of the Italian Rebirth to the "nations" of Germany, Flanders, France, the Low Countries, and England
- It took on a more religious nature than the Italian Renaissance

Jan van Eyck

- Flemish painter who was a founder of a school of painting and pioneered modern techniques of oil painting which used layers to make surface effects and natural light (1390-1441)
- One of the hallmark painters of the Northern Renaissance, who was one of the first to use oil paint, which allowed for vibrant colors and fine details, and was the painter of Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride
- Among the first to use oil paint, enabling him to use a varied range of colors and make changes to create fine details
- His work is truly indicative of northern Renaissance painters, who, in their effort to imitate nature, did so not by mastery of the laws of perspective and proportion but by empirical observation of visual reality and the accurate portrayal of details

Albrecht Durer

- Northern artist of the later period who was greatly affected by the Italians
- Mastered the laws of perspective and Renaissance theories of proportion
- In his famous Adoration of the Magi, he incorporated both the Northern style of minute details and the Italian style to achieve a standard of ideal beauty through a careful examination of the human form
- A northern artist of the later fifteenth century who was greatly influenced by the Italians and mastered their laws of perspective and theories of proportion, on both of which he wrote detailed treatises
- In his Adoration of the Magi, he combined northern artists' attention to detail with the styles he learned in Italy to create a standard of ideal beauty
- Painter, printmaker, and writer generally regarded as the greatest German Renaissance artist
- Famous Northern Renaissance artist, he often used woodcutting along with Italian Renaissance techniques like proportion, perspective, and modeling (Knight Death, and Devil; Four Apostles)

The Spanish Inquisition

- A program ordered by the Spanish monarchy to investigate and eliminate heresy in the kingdom
- Mainly by the persecution of Jews and Muslims, especially from the 15th to 17th centuries
- Consolidated power through infamously brutal methods
- An intervention in Spain by forces sent by the pope to ensure the orthodoxy of converts and maintain uniformity of Catholicism
- Under the rule of Ferdinand and Isabella, it worked with cruel efficiency to guarantee the orthodoxy of the Jewish converts to Christianity
- Eventually expelled all professed Jews and Muslims from Spain
- Achieved the goal of absolute religious orthodoxy as a basic ingredient of the Spanish state

Council of Constance

- Succeeded in bringing the Great Schism to an end in 1417
- However, it faced the much more difficult task of dealing with the problems of heresy and reform in the Catholic Church
- Ended the Great Schism in 1417 and dealt with problems of heresy and reform, including arresting, condemning, and burning Jan Hus at the stake
- The council in 1414-1418 that succeeded in ending the Great Schism in the Roman Catholic Church, condemned John Wycliffe and Jan Hus and attempted to reform the church

Great Schism

- A split within the Catholic Church lasting from 1378 to 1417 in which bishops residing in Rome and Avignon both claimed to be the true pope and were joined by a third line of claimants in 1409
- Hurt the reputation of the Church
- A crisis in the Catholic Church that occurred when two popes, one in Avignon and one in Rome, claimed legitimacy and declared the other the anti-christ
- This event split Europe into alliances that endorsed either pope, primarily along political lines of how each country felt towards the countries both popes resided in, and decreased the prestige of the Church and papacy
- The crisis in the late medieval church when there were first two and then three popes
- Ended by the Council of Constance (1414-1418)

Jan Hus

- (1374-1415) The chancellor of the university at Prague leading a group of Czech reformers
- In his call for reform, he urged the elimination of the worldliness and corruption of the clergy and attacked the excessive power of the papacy within the Catholic church
- Arrested by the Council of Constance and burned at the stake for heresy in 1415—this began revolutionary upheaval in Bohemia and the Hussite wars until 1436
- A caller for reform who urged the elimination of the worldliness and corruption of the clergy and attacked the excessive power of the papacy within the Catholic Church
- The Council of Constance burned him at the stake after condemning him for heresy
- The most important 15th-century Czech religious reformer, whose work anticipated the Lutheran Reformation by a full century
- He was convicted by the Council of Constance for heresy
- He taught the Bible >>> the Pope

nepotism

- Favoritism shown to family or friends by those in power
- Manifested as the general practice for Popes to grant privileges to their nephews, who were in many cases their illegitimate heirs
- The practice of leaders promoting their family interest by providing high-ranking jobs to their family members, whether they were experienced or not
- The appointment of family members to important political positions
- Derived from the regular appointment of nephews by Renaissance popes

contrapposto

- An Italian term that means "counterpoise"
- Used in Renaissance sculpture to depict a human figure standing with most of its weight on one foot, so that its shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs in the axial plane
- A Renaissance art and sculpting technique that involved figures standing with their weight distributed to one leg, which was said to look more natural
- Italian term meaning "counterpoise"; an asymmetrical arrangement of the human figure in which the line of the arms and shoulders contrasts with, while balancing, those of the hips and legs
- Attempted to make sculptures look more lifelike and realistic

virtu

- The quality of being able to shape the world according to one's own will in accordance with the strive for personal excellence
- Skill, valor, and leadership
- An individualistic Renaissance philosophy that stressed the importance of people reaching their unlimited potential in all facets of life and all of their pursuits, because if one was good at many things, one would be good for society
- Refers to the meaning and the fame awarded by Machiavelli, Italian author and political thinker of the Renaissance
- In his classical work The Prince, he says that there are two opposing strengths that lead both the individual life as well as the whole society: the Virtue and the Fate