Renaissance

ORIGINS OF THE RENAISSANCE

The Renaissance means rebirth. It originated in Italy (esp. in Florence) – inspired by classical tradition ( = ancient Greece and Rome)

Italy in 14th C – politically divided :city states in the north (signorias, eg. Florence, Genoa, Venice etc.),

Kingdom of Naples, Kingdom of Sicily, the Papal States.

 In Florence the Renaisance spread very quickly thanks to the patronage of the Medici family (Cosimo and Lorenzo de Medici).

Western civilization re-discovered the long-forgotten ancient writings thanks to the Arabs who kept and studied them and through the assimilation of culture in Spain these texts were re-introduced to Christian Europe. Another route of restoration of the knowledge of the classical culture was through the Byzantine Empire, esp. Constantinople.

The era of Renaissance is divided into three specific periods:

o trecento (14th C)

o quattrocento (15thC)

o cinquecento (16thC)

The Renaissance is also a significant period in literature

o Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) – The Divine Comedy

o Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374) – Sonnets for Laura,

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RENAISSANCE

- inspiration by classical culture (ancient Greece and Rome)

Study of the God was replaced with study of the human – the philosophy of humanism _ new approach to nudity

The Renaissance did not exclude faith in God. However, a  lot of people were not satisfied with the behaviour of priests and the Pope. They were also against the idea that the Bible was written only in Latin. They wanted to translate the Bible into national languages so as every person can study the texts. Protestantism was born. Nevertheless, people believed in the God who was celebrated by many artists (the Sistine Chapel)

- inspiration by nature

harmony – calocagathia

ARCHITECTURE

- used knowledge from science (physics, mathematics) – e.g. geometry, symmetry

- characteristic features – columns (Roman, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian), domes, painted ceilings,details of great precision, light structures, perpective

- building were  comfortable to live in

- Filippo Brunelleschi (architect, Florence)

SCULPTURE

- sculptures used to decorate buildings, gardens, squares etc.

- themes – religion, mythology, portraits

- Donatello (1386-1466) – the first to show naked human body (David)

PAINTING

Use of perspective

- Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) – The Birth of Venus

HIGH RENAISSANCE ARTISTS

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

- universal, versatile genius (painter, architect, musician, mathematician,

engineer, inventor)

- the “Renaissance Man” =

- Last Supper, Mona Lisa (La Gioconda), Lady with an Ermine

- worked in Florence, Milan and later in exile at the French court of

Louis XII and Francis I

- invented the idea of a flying machine, war machines, a parachute etc.

- studied and drew human anatomy

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)

- painter, sculptor, architect, poet

- Florence

- decorated the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome - frescos (The Creation of Adam)

- the statue of David

Raffael Santi (1483-1520)

-painter (madonnas), architect

- influenced by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarrotti

NORTHERN RENAISSANCE

- after 1500 Renaissance spread north of Italy – north of the Alps – Central Europe, Western Europe,

Britain

- Francois Rabelais, Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare

HUMANISM

- interest in a person

- the idea “ad fontes”= back to the sources

- study of classical Latin (Cicero) and the works of Greek and Roman authors

- letters, autobiography, travelogues, dictionaries, translations, textbooks

- Giovanni Boccaccio (Decameron), F. Petrarca, Thomas More

- Niccolo Machiavelli – politician and political writer (The Prince)

add your own examples of artists