Renaissance – a “rebirth” of what? - The renaissance was a rebirth of classical antiquity. 

1. Petrarch - was considered the father of the renaissance and humanism as he laid the intellectual framework of it. Rediscovery of classical texts roman and greeks

2. Jacob Burckhardt - A swiss Historian who believed the renaissance was a complete change with birth of new and never seen before ideas and was an immense improvement of the middle ages.(Renaissance art represented a break with the past)

3. Classical antiquity - a period in history lasting from around the 8th century BCE to the 5th century CE centered around the cultures of Greece and Rome. Was the ancient Greeks and Romans ideas that sparked humanism.

4. Hanseatic league - A commercial and military association that establishes settlements and commercial bases in many cities.

5. L’uomo universal (aka…Renaissance Man) - A universal idea(social) of the well rounded personality

6. Medici family - The medici family was an important banking family in Italy that ruled Florence and helped fund the Italian renaissance.

7. Spain - Reconquista - Guaranteed the orthodoxy of christianity by turning all people (Jews and Muslims) to christianity. 

8. Italian balance-of-power - Florence, Venice, Milan, Papal states, The Kingdom of Naples. This Balanced power among the 5 states, and stuff like patriotism and competition for power prevented political centralization. Diplomacy was invented. Milan invited the French king to intervene which caused Italy to become a battleground as France, Spain, and the HRE fought. In 1527 HRE sacked Rome.  

9. Niccolo Machiavelli - One of the most prominent writers who wrote about the prince where he argued that a ruler's main goal should always be to preserve power at all costs. He said it is good to be feared and loved but if you could choose one you should rather be feared. He believed human beings were all self centered so the ruler must wield power to their nature. Meaning if brutality was necessary it would happen, or if he had to be kind and nice he must do that also to maintain complete stability. 

   1. The Prince

10. Individualism - Emphasize the triumphs of the individual as opposed to the community. The potential of man and what a person should be. Recognition for art was not a big thing as people wanted self glory.

11. Humanism - The focus on the unlimited potential of human beings as an end in themselves and took inspiration from classical antiquity which were ancient Greek and Roman. Studied not to find God, but to find human nature and to reconcile pagan writings with Christian thought.

    1. Civic humanism - Applying humanism to the public sphere. (all the work that a person does to shape their mind ought to be applied to the political and economic realities of the state in which they live) Baldassare Castiglione emphasized this idea.

    2. Liberal arts curriculum - Reformed education using rhetoric, grammar, logic, history, and moral philosophy to shape up our brain.

12. Secularism - The decoupling of religious belief from society (led to many nude sculptures and paintings)

(The printing press allowed all these ideas to be spread)

13. Pico della Mirandola - Speaks of the unlimited potential the human possesses. He also believed that people can move up and down the social system as he believes humans have potential to be an animal, angel, plant, or a heavenly being.

    1. Oration on the Dignity of Man

14. Johannes Gutenberg - invented one of the most important inventions being the printing press which used old chinese ideas of the woodblock carving, and the movable type. He innovated not carving it of metal and came up with a more simple language to not scare the common people away. This had many impacts including economical, political, religious, intelectual, social, and technological. It allowed new ideas and education to be spread, and most importantly allowed people to speak their peace of mind against the church. 

15. Renaissance ART:   

    1. Artistic techniques to know:  perspective, chiaroscuro, sfumato, contrapposto, pyramid configuration, oil on canvas vs. fresco

Perspective - Was technique to add depth to a given scene or painting by creating an illusion of distance between characters and things in the painting.

Chiaroscuro - The use of light or shadow by creating a high contrast between light and dark.

Sfumato - Was the technique of blending colors together.

Contrapposto - Was a pose that sculptures like David did where the man would put all their weight on the front leg.

Pyramid configuration - The geometrical configuration and arrangements of figures.

Oil on canvas - Was a painting using oil or egg tempera on a canvas

Fresco - Was paintings done on walls or ceilings especially in churches 

2. Artists to know:  Giotto, Masaccio, Botticelli,  Donatello, Da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Van Eyck, A. Durer

EARLY RENAISSANCE PAINTERS.

Giotto- was regarded by many as the founder of renaissance art, and accurately drew life.

Masaccio - Founder of early Renaissance painting. 1st to paint a human figure as a real human being. Also mastered perspective.

Botticelli - Decorative linear style was a throwback to Byzantine art. His “Birth of Venus” marks rebirth of Classical Mythology

Donatello - Recaptured classical sculpture style of contrapposto “David was 1st free-standing nude sculpture since Classical era.

HIGH RENAISSANCE PAINTERS

Da Vinci - A true “Renaissance man” Artist, sculptor, inventor, architect, scientist, engineer “whose every movement was grace itself, and whose abilities were so extraordinary that could readily solve every difficulty.” Most famous works: “Mona Lisa”, “The Last Supper”, The

Notebooks (thousands of sketches)

Raphael - He was adored… “so gentle and so charitable that even animals loved him” Rafael was mainly influenced by Leonardo da Vinci His art most completely expressed all the qualities of the High Renaissance: Pyramidal composition, chiaroscuro, full-bodied, dynamic figures and the contrapposto pose Most famous works: “School of Athens,” “Madonna's”He was constantly compare in d to and competed with Michelangelo for commissions (He was favored because of his lovely personality)

Michelangelo - “The divine M” Painter, sculptor, architect. Did more than anyone to elevate the status of the artist. Most famous works: “The Creation of Adam” and the “Last Judgment” both in the Sistine Chapel, “Pieta”, Rome’s St. Peter’s Basilica

NORTHERN RENAISSANCE PAINTERS

Van Eyck - Had made the last supper and crucifixion of Christ 

Albercht Durer- The greatest of German artists. A scholar as well as an artist. His patron was the Emperor Maximilian I. Also a scientist, Wrote books on geometry, fortifications, and human proportions. Self-conscious individualism of the Renaissance is seen in his portraits.

16.  “New monarchs” (aka…‘Renaissance Kings’)

    1. France:  Charles VII and Louis XI “spider king” - Controlled nobility by forming a circle of advisors. To control the economy the gabelle tax (salt tax) and the Taille tax (tax on the land levied on common land). The Concordat of Bologna gave Charles VII effective power over the church. Also the Pragmatic sanction limited the church power favoring the general council over the pope.

       1. gabelle and taille 

       2. Concordat of Bologna

    2. England:  War of the Roses brought Henry VII to power (1^st Tudor monarch) - Controlled nobility by establishing the Court of Star Chambers to torture nobles. Control of the economy used diplomacy so they did not use parliament for money. Avoided as many wars as possible as he did not use parliament. Nobles also had their own armies. Did not have control over the church. By removing taxes people liked him a lot.

       1. Court of Star Chamber 

       2. Use of middle class advisors

    3. Spain:  Ferdinand and Isabella - One of the most ruthless and powerful rulers. The nobility in this empire were not involved in the Royal council. Had immense trade and exports. Unified kingdoms by marriage and unified spain. Also financed Colombus. Had the strongest and most royal European army. Had royal police to enforce a law called Hermandades. They also had full control over the church, and had the Spanish inquisition who tortured any non catholic (Muslims and Jews) until they converted or they killed them. They also appointed bishops.

       1. Used marriage and Catholic Church to unify Spain

       2. Expulsion of Jews & Moors (Muslims), Spanish Inquisition

17. Ottoman Turks:  The ottoman turks had destroyed constantinople and the ideas of constantinople spread to Italy causing the renaissance

    1. fall of Constantinople (1453)

18. Problems in the Catholic Church:

    1. John Wyclif – Lollards - John Wyclif was a theologian who attacked the practices of pilgrimages, the veneration of saints, and the series of rituals and rites that developed in the medieval church. His followers were the Lollards.

    2. Jan Hus – burned at the stake - Was a Czech reformer who believed in the elimination of the worldliness and corruption of Clergy, and the elimination of the excess power of the Papacy within the Catholic church. He was later arrested, condemned as a heretic, and burned at the stake. A revolutionary upheaval occurred in Bohemia which caused the Hussite wars which racked the HRE until a truce in 1430.

    3. Nepotism, corruption, ignorance, pluralism with related problem of absenteeism

Nepotism - The use of family ties to promote oneself or family members in the ranks.

Pluralism - When clergy or church leaders owned multiple churches and services.

Absenteeism - When clergy did not attend the weekly communion of their church and this was a result of pluralism.

19. Writers - Thomas More, Erasmus, Valla, Castiglione, Machiavelli, Boccaccio

Valla - Was the poster boy for philological studies, he had identified several stages in the development of latin and was able to discern different dates of documents. (sense pleasures were the highest good)

Castiglione - Wrote the courtier which served as a guide for how young men should behave in courtly society arguing that an educated man should be skilled in all the humanistic disciplines, they should write and speak with eloquence, be physically strong, and MOST OF ALL mentally awake.

Niccolo Machiavelli - One of the most prominent writers who wrote about the prince where he argued that a ruler's main goal should always be to preserve power at all costs. He said it is good to be feared and loved but if you could choose one you should rather be feared. He believed human beings were all self centered so the ruler must wield power to their nature. Meaning if brutality was necessary it would happen, or if he had to be kind and nice he must do that also to maintain complete stability. 

Erasmus- (the poster boy of christian humanism) Christian Humanist Wrote the book in praise of folly which was a satire that undermined political and social institutions that also criticized the corruption of religious hierarchies. He believed that the solution to this was to imitate Christ and that people should not fall into the brainwash of priests who have no knowledge of anything. 

Thomas Moore - Argued – people are not born bad – society corrupts them Argued that reform of social institutions could reduce or eliminate corruption and war

Boccaccio - Wrote the decameron and had Acquisitive, sensual, worldly society.