11.2: Renaissance

Map of Italian and Northern Renaissance cities. Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...issancemap.jpg

11.2.2 European Renaissance, Italian and Northern

Beginning in the 1300’s, a reawakened interest in classical art and knowledge emerged in the city-states of northern Italy inspired by humanist ideas. The era would witness an explosion of artistic and intellectual innovation and creativity.

The term Renaissance literally means "rebirth", and is recognized as the period in European civilization immediately following the Middle Ages. Lasting from approximately 1300 to 1600, this era marks the transition from medieval to modern times in Europe. It emerged first in the city-states of Italy, in particular, Florence, Rome, and Venice, and eventually spread north. The primary characteristic was a reawakened interest in the classical art and knowledge of the Greeks and Romans. Though the Western Roman Empire had suffered collapse during the Middle Ages, some Latin manuscripts survived within the monasteries, while scholars in the Eastern Roman empire, or Byzantium, had also managed to preserve classical writings. In addition, the Arab world was instrumental in helping to preserve and pass on classical texts.

According to a text from the period, the ideal Renaissance young man should be educated in the Greek and Roman classics, be charming, polite, and witty, be able to dance, write poetry, sing and play music. He should be physically graceful and strong and be a skilled rider, wrestler, and swordsman. Upper-class women were also expected to be well educated in classical literature and to be able to write well, paint, make music, dance, and be charming. The main difference in the expectations for men and women, however, was that a woman was not expected to seek fame as men did, and they were generally expected to inspire great poetry and art, not create it. All things considered, most Renaissance women had less political, economic, and social influence than medieval women, even though they were certainly better educated.

Renaissance interest in classical learning led to a new movement known as humanism, which focused on secular, or worldly, themes rather than on the religious ideas that had concerned medieval thinkers. Humanists believed in the idea of individualism that stressed the dignity and worth of the individual person and the importance of individual achievement.

Humanists encouraged the enjoyment of worldly goods and pleasures. Though most people remained devout Catholics, they believed a person could love and enjoy life without offending God, an attitude that would have shocked most people in medieval times. Medieval thinkers had often appeared to be consumed with guilt over sin and were constantly focused upon the need to obtain God's forgiveness for their "wicked" ways. Humanists, on the other hand, celebrated everything human. An individual's desire for fame and wealth was no longer considered sinful, but actually encouraged. People began to show greater interest in this world than in life hereafter.

Thus, a love for classical learning, the belief in self-improvement and achievement through many activities, especially education, and the enjoyment of secular pleasures are three important characteristics of the era. These three characteristics would be clearly reflected in the highly accomplished art of the period. Some more biased observers of the Renaissance would claim that the level of artistic achievement realized during this period has never been surpassed.

Italy’s Advantages

While England and France were locked in the Hundred Years War, Italy had three advantages that fostered the Renaissance there: thriving cities, a wealthy merchant class, and the classical heritage of Greece and Rome.

Italy was strategically located on the Mediterranean Sea where, ever since the Crusades, trade between Asia and Europe had increased. Italian cities emerged as centers of banking, commerce, and handicrafts. The Popes in Rome collected revenues from throughout Europe, and individual city-states ran their own affairs, collecting taxes and raising their own armies. While cities were emerging in northern Italy, the rest of Europe remained mostly rural. It is in cities where people have better opportunities to exchange new ideas, creating an ideal breeding ground for an intellectual revolution.

Merchants became the wealthiest, the most powerful class, and dominated politics. Unlike nobles who inherited their social rank, they had to rely on individual merit and wit. This idea helped spur the Renaissance value of individualism. Renaissance popes beautified Rome by spending large amounts of money on art. The wealthy merchant class and religious leaders became patrons of the arts by financially supporting artists. By having their portraits painted or by donating public art to the city, the wealthy demonstrated their own importance.

Another reason that the Renaissance began in Italy is that artists and scholars drew inspiration from the ruins of Rome that surrounded them. They were impressed by the achievements of pre-Christian artists, thinkers, writers, and engineers. Like the Greeks, Renaissance thinkers believed in the power of human reason, observation, and experience to explain the world rather than simply relying on traditional Church teachings.

A Revolution in Art

Before the Renaissance, art in Italy was greatly influenced by Byzantine styles. Religious paintings were typically flat and lifeless. In the 1300’s, the painter Giotto began creating an entirely new style that resulted in more depth and roundness to his figures. His figures showed emotion and gestures.

Masaccio and other artists experimented with ways to show three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface. They developed the rules of perspective to make objects appear to recede in the distance until they reached a vanishing point.

Cappella brancacci, San Pietro risana gli infermi con la sua ombra (restaurato), Masaccio" by Masaccio - book: John T. Spike, Masaccio, Rizzoli libri illustrati, Milano 2002. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...,_Masaccio.jpg

Donatello made sculpture more realistic by carving natural postures and expressions that reveal personality. With his statue, David, he created the first large, free-standing nude since ancient times.

The first version of David (1408–1409). Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence. Height 191 cm. https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/David_...(marmo)_01.JPG

Leonardo Da Vinci was a painter, sculptor, inventor, engineer, and scientist. Thus, he is often referred to as the ideal “Renaissance man.” To understand human anatomy, he dissected human corpses. His notebooks include designs for a parachute, machine gun, war machines, and flying machines.

The original design of the giant crossbow (Codex Atlanticus, f. 149a) https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonar...o_crossbow.JPG

Among his many masterpieces, Leonardo painted the Mona Lisa, which has been acclaimed as “the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world." The sitter’s mysterious smile and her unproven identity have made the painting a source of ongoing investigation and fascination.

Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci, from C2RMF retouched.jpg

Leonardo also painted The Last Supper, which captures the individual personalities and expressions of Jesus’ disciples after Jesus has announced that one of them will betray him.

Late 15th-century mural painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan

Like Leonardo, Michelangelo could be considered a true Renaissance man. He was a painter, sculptor, architect, and poet. Influenced by classical art, he created figures that are forceful and show heroic grandeur and power. By doing this, he explored the Renaissance theme of human potential. Three of his most famous works are his sculptings the Pieta and David and his fresco paintings showing biblical scenes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. A fresco painting is a painting made on fresh plaster.

The Pietà (1498–1499) is a work of Renaissance sculpture by Michelangelo Buonarroti, housed in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican. City. https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet%C..._out_black.jpg

The painter, Raphael, studied the works of both Leonardo and Michelangelo. One of his favorite subjects was the Madonna and Child. He also filled the walls of Pope Julius II’s library with several paintings, one of these being the School of Athens which conveys classical influence on the Renaissance. In the painting influential teachers, thinkers, and artists from ancient, classical, and Renaissance figures are brought together.

The School of Athens, or Scuola di Atene in Italian, is one of the most famous frescoes by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. It was painted between 1509 and 1511.

Renaissance Writers Change Literature

Renaissance writers increasingly wrote in the vernacular, the everyday language of one’s homeland. While most serious poets of the age wrote in Latin, Dante Alighieri wrote The Divine Comedy in Italian. For this reason, he is sometimes called the creator of modern Italian. His example encouraged other poets to write in their own vernacular languages, such as England’s Geoffrey Chaucer, Spain’s Cervantes, and the English poet and dramatist, William Shakespeare.

Machiavelli wrote The Prince, a guidebook in how to secure and maintain political power. He argued that most successful rulers were not those who acted according to laws or conscience, but those who were willing to do whatever was necessary to hold and maintain power. In other words, “the end justifies the means.” The Prince is considered critical to the emergence of modern political science. His ideas mark the movement toward a more secular perspective of governing as opposed to the religious-based teachings of the Medieval Church.

Renaissance writers were able to command a much wider audience because of a remarkable technological breakthrough, the printing press. Johann Gutenberg published the first full-size book printed with movable type around 1455. For the first time, books were cheap enough that many Europeans could buy them. This action encouraged the spread of new ideas, and more people began to learn to read.

Attribution: This page's content is modified from CK-12 6.1 The European Renaissance, Italian, and Northern.