1. Italy: Birthplace of the Renaissance

2. Standard(s) and EQs
SSWH9 The student will analyze change and continuity in the Renaissance and Reformation.
EQ: What factors led to Italy being the birthplace of the Renaissance?

4. Italy: Birthplace of the Renaissance
The word Renaissance means “rebirth.”
Occurred between 1300 and
Began in Northern Italy (a natural gateway between east and west) and spread to the rest of Europe.
Revival of the classical traditions of the Greeks and Romans.

5. Why did the Renaissance begin in Italy?
Italy had a tremendous amount of overseas trade.
Thriving cities (urban areas where ideas can be freely shared).
There was a wealthy merchant class as a result of new banking and manufacturing.
Access to the classical heritage of Greece and Rome

6. Characteristics of the Renaissance
The Renaissance was an age of recovery from disasters of the 14th century. (Black Death)
Challenged medieval intellectual values and styles.

7. As a result of this new view of human beings, people began to place an emphasis on individual ability.
Cultural reawakening.
Society focused on the secular or worldly rather than the spiritual

9. The Italian States
The major Italian city-states were Milan, Venice, and Florence.
Italian traders conducted business with merchants from the Islamic world to as far away as England and the Netherlands.
Milan was the richest of the trading cities.
All three major city-states were run by powerful merchant/aristocrat families.

10. The Medici Family Banking family who ruled the city-state of Florence.
Cosimo de Medici won control of the government by giving large loans to the ruling council.
Lorenzo the Magnificent ruled following his father’s death as a dictator but kept up the appearance of an elected government.

11. Humanism
An intellectual movement based upon the study of the classics of Greece and Rome.
Focused on humankind as the center of intellectual and artistic endeavor. Emphasized human potential and achievements
Humanists studied the liberal arts -- grammar, rhetoric, poetry and philosophy.

12. Encouraged citizens to take an active role in their government.
Had a profound effect on education.
Renaissance writers introduced the idea that educated people were expected strive to master almost every area of study.
A man who excelled in many fields was praised as a “universal man.” Later ages called such people “Renaissance men.”

13. Standard(s)
SSWH9 The student will analyze change and continuity in the Renaissance and Reformation.
Why Florence?
Who were Machiavelli, Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo?
What is humanism?
EQ: In what ways did art change during the Renaissance?
Vocabulary: perspective, vernacular, secular, patron, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael Sanzio, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Machiavelli, utopia
Warm Up: Interact with History p. 470

14. Literature
Many authors choose to abandon the use of Latin in literature and focused on the local vernacular to write their works.
In the 14th century Dante Alighieri and Geoffrey Chaucer helped make vernacular language more popular.
The Divine Comedy
Guide was Roman classical poet Virgil
Greco-Roman themes & writing in the vernacular

15. Francesco Petrarch
“Father of Humanism”
Explored the glories and personal achievements of man
Emphasized secular not religious subjects
Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales

16. Education in the Renaissance
The Renaissance saw the development of printing in Europe.
Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press played a major role in the advancement of education during the Era.
The printing of books encouraged scholarly research and the desire to gain knowledge.

17. Art and Architecture
Stressed more secular subjects in literature & art
More realistic portrayals of people & nature
Painting turned to realism from medieval formalism and stiffness

18. Led by painter Giotto
New Techniques
Perspective
New colors
Oil paints (more luster to paintings)
Return to Greco-Roman styles

19. Leonardo da Vinci Personified the ideal “Renaissance Man”
Not only a jack-of-all-trades, but also a master of many
Military engineer, anatomist, botanist
Self-taught

20. Raphael Famous for his many paintings of the Madonna
Fresco The School of Athens
Depicts Plato and Aristotle surrounded by philosophy and science

21. Michelangelo 4 different popes commissioned works by him
Sistine Chapel commissioned by Pope Julius II
10,000 square feet, 343 figures (1/2 of which are 10 feet in height)
Took 4 years to complete

22. David
18 feet tall
Perfect example of the Renaissance artists devotion to harmony, symmetry, and proportion

23. Architecture
Gothic Style gave way to Greco-Roman style incorporating domes & columns
Brunelleschi
Florence Cathedral considered pinnacle of Renaissance architecture
Modified a design to support the expansive weight of the dome

24. Patronage Patrons Wealthy and educated merchants
Commissioned art & sponsored cultural activities
Cosimo de Medici and his son Lorenzo
Greatest of all patrons
Church also source of commissions
Papacy launched a building program culminating in St. Peter’s Basilica

25. Renaissance and Politics
Niccolo Machiavelli
Served as a diplomat for Florence.
Wrote The Prince on political power.
Emphasized realistic discussions of how to seize and maintain power
The end justifies the means
Being feared is more important than being loved if a leader has to choose between the two.
Many writers of the time stressed ethics and Christian moral principles.
Machiavelli was the first to abandon morality as the basis of political activity.
Concerned with being politically effective rather than morally right.

26. Being feared is more important than being loved if a leader has to choose between the two.
Many writers of the time stressed ethics and Christian moral principles.
Machiavelli was the first to abandon morality as the basis of political activity.
Concerned with being politically effective rather than morally right.