1. Italy: Birthplace of the Renaissance
The European Renaissance was a rebirth of learning and the arts that began in Italy in the late 1300s.

2. Causes of the Italian Renaissance
Italy had three advantages over the rest of Europe that helped lead to the Renaissance.
Thriving trade cities
A wealthy merchant class
Classical heritage of Greece and Rome.
Also, the rest of Europe was busy fighting the Hundred Years War.

3. Urban Centers
The trade and transportation that developed during the Crusades led to the growth of large city-states in northern Italy.
The Bubonic Plague struck these cities hard, killing up to 60% of the population. The large population decline led to economic changes. Because there were fewer workers, they could demand higher wages.

4. Merchants and the Medici
Milan, Florence and Venice all operated independently and collected their own taxes and raised their own armies.
The merchants were the most powerful and influential class, but their social rank was earned, not inherited like the nobles.
Individual achievement was a very important element of the Renaissance.
Merchants began to control city governments, building large palaces to function as town halls.

5. Venice and Florence
Doge’s Palace, Venice
Palazzo Vecchio, Florence

6. Medici Family
The city of Florence was controlled by the powerful Medici family.
They made their fortune in textiles and banking.
Cosimo de’Medici was the wealthiest European of his time.
He controlled Florence for nearly 30 years.
Cosimo de’Medici

7. Medici Florence
As rulers of Florence, the Medici family instituted a limited form of Republican government (though it was largely rigged to favor the Medici family)
They also supported classical art and architecture in order to beautify Florence, as well as show off their wealth and power

8. Classical Heritage
Renaissance scholars looked down on the art of the Middle Ages and began to turn their interest to the classic Greek and Roman styles.
In the 1300s, scholars began to study the ancient Latin manuscripts that had been preserved in the monasteries.
With the fall of Constantinople in 1453, many more classical Greek and Roman texts made their way into Italy.
Italian Scholars began to study ancient philosophers, which influenced the values of the Renaissance.

9. Classical Worldly Values
The study of ancient philosophy resulted in an idea called Humanism
Humanists focused on human welfare, enjoyment, potential, and achievement.
The basic spirit of the Renaissance is secular; concerned with the here and now as opposed to a better life after death.
Patrons of the Arts
Popes and merchants became supporters of the arts.
Art was seen as a way to demonstrate religious virtue, express a love of beauty, and show off wealth.
Renaissance Man
The ideal Renaissance individual was expected to study art, music, architecture, literature, philosophy, language, etc.

10. Machiavelli Advises Rulers
Political ideas were reshaped during the Renaissance.
Niccolò Machiavelli wrote a political guidebook entitled “The Prince” in 1513.
In “The Prince”, Machiavelli examines how a ruler can gain power and keep it.
He believed that for a ruler to succeed in a wicked world, a leader had to be as strong as a lion and shrewd as a fox.
He was not concerned with moral correctness, only political effectiveness.

11. Adoration of the Magi (1475)
Renaissance Art
Many Renaissance artists developed new techniques such as perspective.
Artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarotti embodied the ideals of the “Renaissance Man,” excelling at painting, sculpture, architecture, and engineering.
Adoration of the Magi (1475)
Sandro Botticelli

12. Perspective
In 1401, a competition was held to select an artist to design doors for the Florence Baptistry.
Lorenzo Ghiberti was chosen, and the resulting doors were the first work of art ever created to demonstrate true linear perspective.
Known as “The Gates of Paradise,” it took Ghiberti 21 years to complete the project.
Soon after, nearly all Renaissance art used perspective
The Florence Baptistry

14. Christ Handing the Keys to St. Peter (1481)
Pietro Perugino

15. The School of Athens (1509)
Raphael

16. Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci was deeply interested in how things work. He studied how muscles move, how veins are arranged in a leaf.
He was given permission to study dead bodies at a Florence hospital to better understand anatomy
Among his most famous works are the “Mona Lisa”, and the “Last Supper”. Only 17 of his paintings still survive.
He was also a skilled inventor, creating drawings of flying machines, steam engines, and robotic knights

19. Leonardo da Vinci’s Inventions

20. Michelangelo Buonarroti
Michelangelo was a true Renaissance Man, he excelled at almost every area of study. He was a painter, sculptor, poet and architect.
Most of his art was created for either the Medici family or the Catholic church.
Among his most famous works are the design of the dome at the top of St. Peters Basilica, his statue “David”. and his paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

21. The Sistine Chapel
In 1508 Michelangelo agreed to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (the Pope’s private chapel)
To paint the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo lay stretched on his back on a high scaffold.
His working conditions were very bad. He worked in scorching heat in the summer and had to work by candlelight.

23. Sistine Chapel Central Panel (1477)

24. (largest Christian church in the world)
St. Peter’s Basilica
(largest Christian church in the world)

27. Moses (1513)
The Deposition (1547)

28. The Pieta (1498)

29. Michelangelo's David (1501)

30. Conclusion
The Renaissance began in Italy due to its wealthy merchant class, large cities, and classical heritage.
The Renaissance is characterized by a revival of classical philosophy (humanism), a focus on individual achievement, and advancements in art and architecture.
Towards the end of the 15th Century, Renaissance ideas began to spread into the rest of Europe.

31. The End