The Italian Renaissance Vitruvian man, Leonardo da Vinci, ca. 1492.

The Italian Renaissance

Vitruvian man, Leonardo da Vinci, ca.

1492

“This century,” wrote philosopher Marsilio Ficino, “like a golden age has restored to light the liberal arts, which were almost extinct: grammar, poetry, rhetoric, painting, sculpture, architecture, music.” What a glorious time to be alive, he thought.

As Ficino recognized, a new age had dawned in Western Europe. Europeans called it the Renaissance, meaning “rebirth.” It began in the 1300s and reached its peak around 1500.

Began with a new interest in the cultures of ancient Rome and Greece

I. The Italian Renaissance

It was a time of reawakening after the disorder and disunity of the Medieval World

I. The Italian Renaissance

Began in Italy - cities became centers of trade and manufacturing

I. The Italian Renaissance

Florence came to symbolize energy and brilliance of Italian Renaissance

I. The Italian Renaissance

A wealthy merchant class promoted cultural rebirth

I. The Italian Renaissance

Emphasis was on education and individual achievement

I. The Italian Renaissance

Wealthy patrons played a major role by sponsoring artists

I. The Italian Renaissance

The Medici Family of Florence were among the richest bankers and merchants in Europe

I. The Italian Renaissance

Bottecilli's "The Adoration of the Magi" (1476) with the Medici family and friends

Lorenzo Medici was a patron and supported poets, philosophers, and artists

I. The Italian Renaissance

A time of creativity and change –

politicalsocialeconomiccultural

II. What was the Renaissance?

A change in the way people viewed themselves and their world

II. What was the Renaissance?

Auguste Rodin - The Thinker

Renaissance thinkers explored the human experience in the here and now

II. What was the Renaissance?

It also supported a spirit of adventure

II. What was the Renaissance?

Focused on worldly subjects rather than only religious issues

III. Humanism

Based on study of classical culture: grammar, rhetoric, poetry, and history

III. Humanism

Believed education should stimulate the individual’s creative powers

III. Humanism

Renaissance art reflected humanist concerns

IV. The Arts

The Birth Of Venus by Sandro Botticelli (1485)

Artists developed techniques, such as perspective, for painting in a realistic way

IV. The Arts

Architects adopted columns, arches, and domes from the Greeks and Romans

IV. The Arts

The Pantheon in Rome

Roman Aqueducts

Three of the most celebrated artists were Leonardo da Vinci

IV. The Arts

Mona LisaSelf-portrait Sketch of a man

Michelangelo

DavidThe Creation of Adam

The Pieta

Raphael

Raphael’s School of Athens was famous for depicting figures of the Classical past with the features of his Renaissance contemporaries

The Crucifixion

Renaissance writers included Castiglione and Machiavelli

IV. The Arts

CastiglioneNiccolò Machiavelli