The Renaissance Reformation and the Scientific Revolution

The Renaissance, Reformation,and the Scientific Revolution

Francisco PesanteHUM-102

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Objectives

• Identify key examples of art, music,architecture, philosophy, and literature thatreflect developments in world events andcultural patterns during the Renaissance.

• Identify key elements of the Reformation andthe Scientific Revolution.

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The Age of the Renaissance

Renaissance Artists:Disciples of Nature, Masters of Invention

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The Age of the RenaissanceDisciples of Nature, Masters of Invention• Flowering of visual arts• Embraced the natural world• Equaled only by the classical antiquity

– Artistic-scientist that desired to understandthe natural world (operations andfunctions) and imitate its visual appearance.

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The Age of the RenaissanceDisciples of Nature, Masters of Invention• Flowering of visual arts• Embraced the natural world• Equaled only by the classical antiquity

– Art was largely religious, but its style wasmore lifelike than ever (in contrast with themore abstract and symbolic art of theMiddle Ages with liturgical and devotionalends).

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Renaissance Art andPatronage• Wealthy patrons

commissioned paintingsand sculptures to embellishtheir homes, palaces or tocommemorate secular andcivic achievements. Ex.Portrait paintings likeBattista Sforza, Duke ofUrbino (p.28). It glorifiedthe individual, describingthe physical and urban life.

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The Age of the RenaissanceRenaissance Art and Patronage• Merchant princes, petty despots and a

growing numbers of middle-class patrons andurban centered guilds brought prestige totheir business and families by art; a markupon society to immortalizing themselves forposterity (artistic expressions as an extensionof the ego, in an age of individualism).

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The Age of the RenaissanceThe Early Renaissance (1400-1490)• Artist as heroes.• Giorgio Vasari’s (1511-1574), The Lives of the

Most Excellent Painters, Architects, andSculptors.

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The Age of the RenaissanceThe Early Renaissance (1400-1490)• Giorgio Vasari’s (1511-1574), The Lives of the

Most Excellent Painters, Architects, and Sculptors.– About Leonardo da Vinci “…He might have been a

scientist if he had not been so versatile. But theinstability of his character caused him to take up andabandon many things. In arithmetic, for example, hemade such rapid progress during the short time hestudied I that he often confounded his teacher by hisquestions. He also began the study of music andresolved to learn to play the lute, and as he was bynature of exalted imagination, and full of the mostgraceful vivacity, he sang and accompanied himselfmost divinely, improvising at once both verses andmusic. He studied not one branch of art only, but all…”

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The Revival of the ClassicalNude

• Donato Bardi (1386-1466) –Donatello– David (1432): The first

freestanding, life-sized nudesculpture since antiquity.Exalts the body as a estheticaland sensual seat of pleasure.

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The Revival of the ClassicalNude

• Donato Bardi (1386-1466) –Donatello– David (1432): Not an

imitation, but reveals thegreat inspiration of Greek andRoman canons (anatomicalproportions, gentlecontraposto stance).

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Antonio Pallaiuolo (1431-1498)• Hercules and Anataeus

(son of Zeus and son ofMother Earth)

• Mythological theme.

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Antonio Pallaiuolo (1431-1498)• Quest to understand

the mechanics of thehuman body (studies ofanatomy).

• Glorification of humanaction and energy (vs.Christian morality).

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Early RenaissanceArchitecture• Filippo Brunelleschi

(1377-1446). Dome ofthe Florence cathedral.

• Example of cross-sections

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Filippo Brunelleschi• Reinterpretation of the

Greco-Roman themesand principles.

• The largest, since thatof the Pantheon ofRome.

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Filippo Brunelleschi• Two octagonal shells.

Each incorporated eightcurved panels joined bymassive ribs that soarupward from theoctagonal drum, toconverge at an elegantlantern through whichlight enters the interior.

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Filippo Brunelleschi- Successful in hoistingstone and newmasonry techniques,while using theclassical principles ofsymmetry andproportion inarchitecture design(and visual clarity).

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Leon BattistaAlberti: Santa MariaNovella basilica

• Pattern of geometricshapes ordered by aperfect square.

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Leon Battista Alberti:Santa Maria Novellabasilica

• Harmonic proportionsbased on numericalratios

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• The Renaissance Portrait– Desire to immortalize oneself by way of

one’s physical appearance– To publicize one’s greatness in the classical

manner.

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The Renaissance Portrait• Leonardo da Vinci’s

Mona Lisa (1505)– Outdoor setting– Pyramidal shape ot the

sitter (the wife of theFlorentine bankerFrancesco delGiocondo).

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The RenaissancePortrait

• Mona Lisa (1505)– Soft golden tones

highlights the figure,models out ofgradations of light andshade.

– An elusive modelwhose eyes and mouthare delicately blurred.

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• Mona Lisa (1505)– Shaved eyebrows and

plucked hairline arehallmarks of fifteenthage century femalefashion and resistsclassification of ageand gender.

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• Mona Lisa (1505)– Objects of fascination

and mystery forgenerations ofbeholders.

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The Age of the Renaissance• Early Renaissance Artist-Scientist

– Empirical study of the physical world. A goal tocapture by art the “real” look of nature. To masterit, we have to understand it.

– Medieval time: The world was regarded as animperfect reflections of the divine order.

– The Painting as a window on nature.– Linear perspective: the translation of a three

dimensional space onto a two-dimensionalsurface.

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Early Renaissance Artist-ScientistLinear perspective:• Encouraged by research in

optics , Brunelleschiformulated the first laws: allparallel lines in a given visualfield appear to converge at asingle vanishing point on thehorizon.

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The Age of the RenaissanceEarly Renaissance Artist-ScientistLinear perspective: Started by Alberti(1435), and advanced by Leonardoand Durer, it satisfied theRenaissance need for exact andaccurate description of the physicalworld.It also impose a fixed relationshipbetween the image and the eye ofthe beholder, making the latter theexclusive point of reference;metaphorically placing the individualat the center of the macrocosm.

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The Age of the RenaissanceLeonardo da Vinci as Artist-Scientist• Studied the anatomical and

organic functions of plants,animals, and humanbeings.

• Studied the properties ofwind and water andinvented hundreds ofingenious mechanicaldevices (armored tanks,diving bell, flyingmachine…)

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The Age of the RenaissanceLeonardo da Vincias Artist-Scientist• Thousands of drawings

accompanied by mirror-image script.

• Anatomical drawingsonly equaled by Flemishphysician AndreasVesalius (1543).

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The Age of the RenaissanceLeonardo da Vinci asArtist-Scientist• His notebooks weren’t

published until 1898 (noreal impact on science,but his creations were agreat example ofimagination and timelesssource of inspiration)

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The Age of the RenaissanceLeonardo da Vinci as Artist-Scientist• Vitruvian man.

Correspondence betweenhuman proportions andideal geometric shapes .Metaphor for theRenaissance view of themicrocosm as a mirror ofthe macrocosm.

• Empirical experience fordiscovering the generalrules of nature.

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The High Renaissance (1490-1530)• Individualism reached heroic

proportions• Visual Illusionism techniques (lineal

and aerial perspectives; light andshade)

• Classical principles of clarity,symmetry, and order.

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The Age of the RenaissanceArchitecture of the High Renaissance:• Michelangelo and Heroic Idealism

– Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)– Architect, poet, painter, engineer and

sculptor.

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Architecture of the HighRenaissance:• Michelangelo (21)• Pieta: A tomb

monument at Old SaintPeter Cathedral in Rome

• Pyramidal shape forsupport and symbolicpurpose.

• Composition: unity ofdesign.

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Architecture of the HighRenaissance:• Michelangelo (27)

– David (1504). Largerthan life statue madeout of Carrara marble.• Rulers of Florence

placed it in the entranceof the city hall. A defiantpresence David (whichdiffers from that ofDonatello).

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Architecture of the HighRenaissance:• Michelangelo (27)

– David (1504). Largerthan life statue madeout of Carrara marble.• Its proportions violated

the classical canons:encompass the ideals ofterribilita and virtu.

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The Age of the RenaissanceArchitecture of the High Renaissance:• Michelangelo (37)

–Sistine Chapel (1512).

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Sistine Chapel (1512)• 5,760 square feet, 70 feet height.• The Creation and Fall of Humankind (9 scenes

and hundreds of accompanying scenes of heprophets).

• God and Man as partner in the divine plan.– Metaphor of potential divinity of man: creation

and creativity, contained In its sonnets.

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Architecture of theHigh Renaissance:Michelangelo (72)

• Dome of the NewSaint Peter’sCathedral in Rome(1547)

– Architecturaldesign.

– 450 height.

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Protest and Reform:The Waning of the Old Order

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Protest and ReformLuther and the Protestant Reformation

• The territories of Germany, under Charles V (1500-1558) Holy Roman Empire.

• Criticism of the Church immorality and luxuries(indulgences and Saint Peter’s Cathedral building)

• Martin Luther (1483-1546), former Augustinian monkand doctor of theology, spoke against the Church.Critical from the inside structures of the Church.

• Salvation could be gained only by faith in Christsacrifice (by God’s grace, not earthly good works orwill).

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Protest and ReformLuther and the Protestant Reformation• Ninety-Five Theses (1517). Posted in Wittenberg church, printed

and widely circulated. It contains his critics of Church abuses:

1. When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said "Repent", He called forthe entire life of believers to be one of repentance.

2. The word cannot be properly understood as referring to the sacramentof penance, i.e. confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy.

5. The pope has neither the will nor the power to remit any penaltiesbeyond those imposed either at his own discretion or by canon law.

27. There is no divine authority for preaching that the soul flies out of thepurgatory immediately the money clinks in the bottom of the chest.32. All those who believe themselves certain of their own salvation bymeans of letters of indulgence, will be eternally damned, together withtheir teachers.

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Protest and ReformLuther and the Protestant Reformation

• Criticism was directed for a reformation. Not thedestruction of the Church.

• Critic of the Church doctrines. The only validsacraments: Baptism and Holy Communion (discardingthe other five). To monasticism and clerical celibacy.Unwilling to accept the pope (spiritual heir to SaintPeter) as the religious authority. 1520 Pope Leo Xexcommunicated Luther. Charge him of heresy.

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Protest and ReformThe Spread of Protestantism

– Translation by Luther of the Old and NewTestament to German.

– Encouraged religious devotion without thepapal authority.

– The printing press was used to circulatethroughout Europe his “protestant” sermonsand letters.

– Enlightened Christians could arrive at truth byway of Scripture (to interpret the Bible bythemselves).

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Protest and ReformThe Spread of Protestantism• Led to the appearance of new Protestant sects:• John Calvin -1509-1564- led a religious

government in Geneva, Switzerland. Developer ofthe “Doctrine of Predestination”.

• Near Zurich born the Anabaptist – like Quakerand Baptist-, who called for the abolition of mass,separation of state and church, and the defenseof individual responsibilities and personalliberties).

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Protest and ReformThe Spread of Protestantism• In England, King Henry VII (1491-1547) break

with the Roman Catholic Church andestablishing in 1526 the Church of England ,with its own church leadership (based on theChurch denial to annul his marriage withCatherine of Aragon).

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Protest and ReformThirty Years War (1618-1648)• The religious unity of Western Christendom

was shattered.• Ended by the Treaty of Westphalia (1648)• Death toll: 5 million Christians.• Internal reform of the Catholic Church• The principle of national sovereignty was

established in the West.• Protestantism spread throughout the

Northern Europe.51

Protest and ReformSixteenth-Century LiteratureMore’s Utopia• Sir Thomas More (1478-1535). Chancellor to King

Henry VIII. Christian humanist that denouncedthe evils of materialism (consumerism), andchampioned religious tolerance and charity. Heopposed the actions of the king and wasexecuted for treason.

• Writer of a classical political satire on Europeanstatecraft and society in Utopia (no place).

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Protest and ReformSixteenth-Century LiteratureMore’s Utopia• An egalitarian state in which goods and

property are shared, war and personal vanitieswere held in contempt, learning is available toall citizens, and freedom of religion isabsolute. Each citizen were responsible forestablishing social justice.

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Protest and ReformSixteenth-Century Literature• The Wit of Cervantes

– Written in vernacular, Don Quijote satirize theoutworn values of the Middle Ages as personifiedin a legendary Spanish hero. One of the firstexample of prose fiction in Western culture. Abouta chivalrous knight in an age of statecraft.

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The Aristocratic Style in France

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• Absolutism: a political theory asserting thatunlimited power may be vested in one ormore rulers, confirming a longstandingtheocratic tradition.

• The political model for the nation-statesduring the 17th and 18th Century.


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Louis XIV (1638-1715) andFrench Absolutism

– Ruled from 1643-1715 hedictated the political,economic, and culturalpolicies of the country.

– Governed as the directrepresentative of God. Noshared participation on thepower by the nobility, theChurch, the EstatesGeneral (representativeassembly) or his subjects.

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Louis XIV (1638-1715) andFrench Absolutism

– He achieved to bringFrance to a political andeconomic preeminencein Europe.

– Subdue the FeudalNobility and Church.

– Offered tax exemptionsand positions in theroyal court.

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Versailles: Symbol of Royal Absolutism 59


Versailles: Symbol of Royal Absolutism• Artistic patronage shifted form Italy to France• The Capital was moved from Paris to Versailles

(36k persons and 20 years).• Royal residence and symbol of absolute

supremacy• It followed the rules of: symmetry, clarity,

geometric regularity, theatrical display…

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The Aristocratic Style in FranceVersailles: Symbol of Royal Absolutism• With 7mi^2 of gardens with parks, lakes, pools

and forest.• Three level building• House his families, his mistresses and servants

(over 1,000)• Performance of ballet, operas, plays…• Housed the French royal collection of painting

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The Age of the BaroqueJohann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)• Eisenach, Holy Roman Empire• Source of Inspiration: Luther’s teachings and

hymns• Organ virtuosi• Consultant in baroque organ construction• Choir director of the Lutheran Church of Saint

Thomas in Leipzig.

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The Age of the BaroqueJohann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)• Twenty children from two wifes (Five of them

became famous musicians)• Cantata

– Multimovement work with text in verse, sung bychorus, soloist and instruments.

• Cantata #80– Based on Lutheran Church hymn “A Mighty

Fortress is Our God”.

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The Scientific Revolution

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Scientific Revolution in Europe (1600-1750).It owe much to scientific and technologicaldevelopment back from Egypt, China and Islam:• Euclidian geometry (Greece: plane and solid

figures)• Windmill (Egypt)• Magnetic compass (China)• Painting press (China)

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• Combined the tools of mathematics andexperimentations.

• New instruments measure more preciselynatural phenomena, to test scientifichypotheses, and to predict the operations ofnature.

• Scientia existed separate and apart fromdivine power and authority.

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• Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) detailed inrecords the planetary movement in whichwere substantiated the heliocentric theory.The five known planets moved around the sunin elliptical path. It advanced the idea of auniverse in motion. It followed a century laterthe path opened by Copernicus On theRevolution of the Heavenly Spheres (1543).

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The Scientific Revolution• Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) experimentation

concerned with motion and gravity. Heexperimented dropping different-sized weightsfrom the Tower of Pisa, to determine the relativespeed of the mass. Proving the earth’s gravityattracts all objects, regardless of its shape, size ordensity, at the same rate of acceleration.

• He perfected the telescope, revealing a newworld by observations of the Moon, Saturn’s ringsand the moons of Jupiter. It was a crucialinstrument to turn the heliocentric theory in afact.

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Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)• It conflicted with the orthodox Christian belief

(either Catholic or protestant), having inresponse a trial by the Catholic Inquisition.

• Eppur si muove

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The New Learning

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The New LearningBacon and the Empirical Method

• Empirical method: a manner of inquiry thatdepended on direct observation andexperimentation.

• Natural phenomena, provided evidence fromwhich one might draw general conclusions(inductive reasoning).

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The New LearningBacon and the Empirical Method

• Francis Bacon (1561-1626), Novum Organum.Human as masters and possessors of Nature,guided by scientific study and precise method.His work was of great importance for thefurther foundation of the Royal Society ofLondon (1645).

Natural philosophy vs. religionObjectivity and experimentation vs. superstition

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The New LearningDescartes and the Birth of Modern Philosophy

• René Descartes (1596-1650). Founder ofmodern Western philosophy and father ofanalytic geometry.

• How one knows what one knows (apart fromwhat theology had to say). Instead of thesenses , he valued abstract reasoning andmathematical speculation (our senses coulddeceive us).

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The New LearningDescartes and the Birth of Modern Philosophy

René Descartes (1596-1650)• Championed de deductive reasoning, by

establishing general premises and movedtoward the establishment of particular truth.

• Cogito, ergo sum• “Except for our own thoughts there is nothing

absolutely in our power”.

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The New LearningNewton’s Scientific Synthesis• Isaac Newton (1642-1727)• Kepler’s law of celestial mechanics + Galileo’s

terrestrial law of falling bodies =• Principia (1687) Theory of universal

gravitation described every physicalmovement in the universe. Replaced Aristotledescription of the physical world (4th a.D.)

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References:• Fiero, G. K. (2011). The humanistic tradition,

Book 3 & 4: The European renaissance, theReformation, and the global encounter (6th.Ed). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

• Sherman, D & Salisbury, J. (2008).Civilizaciones de occidente. Vol I hasta 1715.México: McGraw Hill.

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The Renaissance Reformation and the Scientific Revolution

Documents

all9the age

age of individualism

masters of invention3the

branch of art

key examples of art

renaissancethe revival

renaissancedisciples

symbolic art of themiddle