Unit 1: Renaissance and Reformation

The Italian Renaissance

1350-1650 | Translated as the Rebirth

Patronage: The arts and literature are suddenly in high demand due to the wealth associated with knowledge and the prestigiousness and class behind Roman and Greek culture.

Why did Italy begin the Renaissance?

  • Center of trade and banking

  • In the middle of the Mediterranean Sea

  • Cities are competing with each other to try and have the best culture and demonstrate their wealth

  • Home of the Catholic Church

  • Where Ancient Rome was

Values of the Renaissance:

  1. Humanism: The belief humans are good

  2. Individualism: Everyone’s different and each people decides for themselves what they want to do and who they are

  3. Secularism: No focus on religion

  4. Classicism: Greco-Roman Studies

Transmission of Ideas:

  1. Trade

    • Medici in Florence, Sforza in Milan

  2. Printing Press invented by Johannes Gutenberg (1454)

  3. War

    • France and Holy Roman Empire, fought in the Hapsburg-Valois War

    • Charles V sacks Rome in 1527

Petrarch

1304-1374 | Father of Humanism

  • Recovered and translated some of Cicero’s Works

  • Writers of antiquity were worthy of emulation

  • “Liberal Arts” would reveal much about human nature

Classical Studies

Humanism: In order to become a fully cultivated human being, one must study the liberal arts.

Secularism: Doesn’t require a focus on religion. This allowed renaissance writers, painters, and educators to study classics. They were more focused on what they did on earth than the next life.

Michelangelo

  1. David: An Italian sculpture that is meant to be the perfect human being. Located in the Piazza Della Signoria (Duomo Square).

  2. Sistine Chapel: The chapel in the Vatican City where the voting of the pope occurs. His greatest work, he had to be on bedrest due to the strain put on his neck after he painted it.

    • The Creation of Adam: Believes either that Michelangelo is criticizing humankind for leaving God, or that god is a creation of mankind due to the brain shape around him.

    • The Last Judgement: Shows Heaven and Hell.

      • Shows his enemy as the Devil.

      • Shows himself as a flayed skin, since he is gay and he doesn’t follow a lifestyle that the pope doesn’t agree with. He is Christian but not Catholic.

    • La Pieta

      • Virgin Mary holding Jesus after being nailed to the cross.

      • Michelangelo increases the price of the statue at the last moment, and signs it to make sure that nobody can take his credit.

Donatello

Painted in the private chambers of the pope, Donatello painted the School of Athens, that includes all the great classical thinkers of the time. Evidence of Secularism because it’s one of the first art pieces in Vatican City that is non-religious.

Leonardo Da Vinci

  • Mainly a scientist, would perform anatomical studies.

    • Homo Universalis

  • He would write his notes backward and upside down, due to his paranoia that someone would take his work.

  • The Last Supper

    • Jesus and his disciples at their last supper.

  • Mona Lisa

    • Very small, 12 × 13 in.

    • Unfinished, found when he passed away

    • 22 layers of paint

    • Lisa Del Giaconda, a wealthy daughter of a merchant

Brunelleschi

  • Cathedral of Florence

    • The largest building in Florence

    • The first dome in Italy since the Romans

    • Brunelleschi created nearly 38 machines in order to build, is the first modern architect and project manager.

The Northern Renaissance

Christian Humanism: Interpreted Italian ideas about and attitudes toward classical antiquity, individualism, humanism, and blended it with Christian ideals.

  1. Interested in an ethical way of life.

    a. calmness, stoical patience

    b. stressed use of reason as foundation for ethical way of life

    c. Sir Thomas More - Utopia

        i. Private property promoted all sorts of vices, civil disorders.

        ii. key to reform was the reform of all the social institutions

  2. Desiderius Erasmus: Education of a Christian Prince, the Praise of Folly

    i. Education is the means of reform, key to moral, and intellectual improvement

Jan Van Eyck

The Marriage of the Arnolfini

  • Emphasis on realism

  • Very delicate hand

  • Lots of symbolism

  • One of the most detailed painters, drew literal reflections in the mirror

Albert Duhrer

  • Known for wood cuts and illustrations

Peter Breughel

  • Known for paintings of common people

  • Very detailed

The Battle Between Carnival and Lent

The glory of Catholicism vs. being punished for your sins

Flemish Proverbs

  • Different sayings of the Netherlands

  • Focus on people instead of God or royalty

Children’s Games

  • Focus on ordinary life

Peasant’s Wedding

  • A common person’s wedding, not luxurious

  • Non-idealized beauty

Massacre of the Innocents

  • Dutch peasants are massacred by the soldier of

  • Hapsburg Wars

    • Charles V (leader of the Hapsburg and Holy Roman Empire)

      • Conquers them in 1555

      • Catholic population

      • Passes on the empire to his family

        • Phillip II (son)

          • Burgundy

          • Netherlands

          • Belgium

          • Spain

          • Portugal

          • New World properties of Spain

          • Spanish Hapsburg

          • EXTREMELY catholic

        • Ferdinand (brother)

          • Holy Roman Empire

          • Northern Italy city-states

          • Austrian Hapsburgs

        • France is not happy since they are sandwiched

    • Spanish Hapsburgs:

      • The Reconquista (kicks out Muslims and Jews)

        • Led by Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabelle of Castille

        • 1492