Useful Renaissance Links

http://www.learner.org/interactives/renaissance/

http://www.renaissanceconnection.org/index2.cfm

http://www.mrdowling.com/704renaissance.html

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12765b.htm

http://www.pbs.org/empires/medici/renaissance/

http://www.cwu.edu/~robinsos/ppages/resources/Costume_History/renaissance.htm

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/497731/Renaissance

The Dawn of A New Age

About 1450, European scholars became more interested in studying the world around them. Their art became more true to life. They began to explore new lands. The new age in Europe was eventually called "the Renaissance." Renaissance is a French word that means "rebirth." Historians consider the Renaissance to be the beginning of modern history.

The Renaissance began in northern Italy and then spread through Europe. Italian cities such as Naples, Genoa, and Venice became centers of trade between Europe and the Middle East. Arab scholars preserved the writings of the ancient Greeks in their libraries. When the Italian cities traded with the Arabs, ideas were exchanged along with goods. These ideas, preserved from the ancient past, served as the basis of the Renaissance. When the Byzantine Empire fell to Muslim Turks in 1453, many Christian scholars left Greece for Italy.

The Renaissance was much more than simply studying the work of ancient scholars. It influenced painting, sculpture, and architecture. Paintings became more realistic and focused less often on religious topics. Rich families became patrons and commissioned great art. Artists advanced the Renaissance style of showing nature and depicting the feelings of people. In Britain, there was a flowering in literature and drama that included the plays of William Shakespeare. 

Learning and the Arts began to flourish during the Renaissance

•  Crusaders returned to Europe with a newfound understanding of the world.

•  The invention of the printing press encouraged literacy and helped to spread new ideas.

•  Wealthy families and the church had amassed enough wealth to become patrons.

•  The development of financial techniques such as bookkeeping and credit allowed merchants to prosper.

Humanism

Beginning in the late 1300s, a group of scholars centered in the Italian city-state of Florence began to look to the past for inspiration. These scholars were later called humanists because they stressed human innovation instead of spiritualism. The humanists studied the classics – the works of the ancient Greeks and Romans. In the works of the classics, Renaissance scholars found a way of thinking similar to their own time. They believed this outlook had not been explored since the fall of Greece and Rome.

The humanists recreated classical styles in art, literature, and architecture. Humanists believed that by studying the classics, they could better understand people and the world. The humanists believed in reason. Reason is the ability to think logically. The scholars promoted the investigation of nature, they sought to be clear and articulate in their speaking and writing, and they promoted the responsibility every citizen has to his or her community. In 1459, Battista Guarino wrote, "To each species of creature has been allotted a peculiar and instinctive gift. To horses galloping, to birds flying, comes naturally. To man only is given the desire to learn." The Renaissance humanists valued human experience and believed in the dignity and worth of the individual.

The humanists emphasized the importance of human values instead of religious beliefs. Renaissance humanists were often devout Christians, but their promotion of secular, or non-religious values, often put them at odds with the church. Today we refer to the study of literature, philosophy and art as the humanities. The civilizations of Greece and Rome ended long ago, but those civilizations continue to influence us through the humanities.

Johann Gutenberg

A good cook can take leftovers and turn them into a delicious meal. Like a good cook, Johann Gutenberg took what had already been discovered, and created a small invention that changed history. Gutenberg created a machine that allowed him to move small blocks of letters in such a way that written material could be printed

and mass-produced. Few people outside the clergy could read before Guttenberg invented the printing press, but once books became less expensive, literacy spread through Europe.

Block printing existed long before Gutenberg. The Chinese had been carving wood blocks to print books as early as 868, but their process had one major drawback; a new set of woodcuts had to be made for each book. Producing one book was difficult; producing a variety of books was not practical.

Writing ink dates from about 2500 BC in Egypt and China. The earlier cultures took soot from fires and mixed it with sap. Later civilizations used the dark blue indigo plant. Gutenberg used an oil-based printing ink that would last longer than other inks used in his time.

We don't know much about Gutenberg because he was not famous during his lifetime. He was born in Germany about 1400, and worked as a goldsmith. In 1448, Gutenberg developed engraved signatures for each number, letter, and punctuation mark. He then built the molds to hold the signatures in place, and borrowed money to purchase a press. Gutenberg published the first mass-produced book: a 1,282 page Bible. To this day, more copies of the Bible have been printed than any other book.

Copies of Gutenberg's invention spread throughout Europe, but the German goldsmith did not get rich from his invention. Patents did not yet exist, so anybody could build a printing press without compensating Gutenberg for his inspiration. Some religious and government officials denounced the invention of printing because they feared that it would spread bad ideas. But they were a minority. By 1500 there were 1,700 printing presses in Europe. The presses had already produced about 20 million volumes of 40,000 different books.

The Medicis

In the 15th century, the leading families of Florence decided they needed a strong

person in charge to lead them against the growing threat of rival cities. They chose Cosimo de Medici, a wealthy banker, to take control of the government. Cosimo maintained the appearance of republican government, but he appointed his relatives and people he could control to important positions. When Cosimo died in 1464, his son and grandson continued his policies. The Medici maintained control by exiling people who disagreed with them and encouraging other Italian cities to form alliances with Florence.

The best known of the Medicis was Cosimo’s grandson, Lorenzo, who was known as “Lorenzo the Magnificent.” Lorenzo was not only a shrewd banker and clever politician; he was also a scholar and a poet. Under Lorenzo’s leadership, Florence became one of the most beautiful and prosperous cities in Italy, as well as a center of the Renaissance.

Italian Social Classes

The people of Renaissance Florence, like most city–states of the era, were composed of four social classes. The nobles owned much of the land, and lived on large estates outside the city walls. They behaved according to the rules of chivalry and distained the merchants.

The merchants were the newly rich, who gained wealth in industries like wool processing, boat making and banking. The merchants sought to protect their wealth by controlling the government and marrying into noble families. They became patrons of great artists in order to gain public favor. The middle class of Florence was composed of shopkeepers and professionals

At the lowest level were the workers, who did not have job protection and were very dependent on their employers. Workers who violated rules could have their wages withheld or could be discharged from their jobs. As difficult as their lives were, however, these urban workers were better off than the peasants who lived in rural areas.

Renaissance Art

The Renaissance patrons wanted art that showed joy in human beauty and life's pleasures. Renaissance art is more lifelike than the art of the Middle Ages. Renaissance artists studied perspective, or the differences in the way things look when they are close to something or far away. The Renaissance artists painted in a way that showed these differences. As a result, their paintings seem to have depth.

An artist from Florence named Giotto was one of the first to paint in this new style. Giotto lived more than a century before the beginning of the Renaissance, but his paintings show real emotion. The bodies look solid, and the background of his paintings show perspective. The art produced during the Renaissance would build upon Giotto's style.

Leonardo da Vinci was born in 1452 in the village of Vinci. His name means Leonardo of Vinci. Leonardo began his career working for a master painter in Florence. By 1478, Leonardo left his master and set up his own workshop. People have been trying to guess the secret behind the smile of Leonardo's Mona Lisa ever since he painted it about 1505. Leonardo's Last Supper shows clearly the different feelings of Jesus and his followers.

Leonardo's fame grew—but not just for his painting. Leonardo was truly a "Renaissance Man," skilled in many fields. He was a scientist and an inventor as well as an artist. He made notes and drawings of everything he saw. Leonardo invented clever machines, and even designed imitation wings that he hoped would let a person fly like a bird.

Michelangelo Buonarroti of Florence was one of the greatest artists of all time. Like Leonardo, Michelangelo was a "Renaissance Man" of many talents. He was a sculptor, a painter, and an architect. When Michelangelo carved a statue of Moses, he included veins and muscles in the arms and legs.

Michelangelo was a devout Christian, and the church was his greatest patron. He designed the dome of St. Peter's church in Rome. Nearby, Michelangelo's paintings cover the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the building where new popes have been selected for more than five hundred years. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel illustrates the Book of Genesis, with scenes that span from the Creation to the Flood. The project was very difficult. Working alone, Michelangelo had to lie on his back atop high scaffolding while he painted the vast ceiling.

The ideas and techniques of artists such as Giotto, Leonardo and Michelangelo were copied and improved on by other artists and inventors. In time, the Renaissance that began in Italy would spread through Western Europe.

The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is one of the world’s most famous paintings, but not everyone was happy with Michelangelo’s work. Cardinal Biagio de Cesena noted that the crowd of more than 300 human figures would be more appropriate in a wine shop than in a papal chapel. Michelangelo responded to this criticism by adding a portrait of Biagio among the figures of the damned in the scene of the Last Judgment.

The Renaissance Spreads

The rebirth of the Italian cities attracted visitors from all over western Europe. Merchants and bankers hoped to make their fortunes in the Italian city-states. Artists and students sought knowledge and fame. When these travelers returned home, they brought Renaissance ideas with them. In time, the ideas of the Renaissance influenced people far from the Italian peninsula.

William Shakespeare is the best-known writer of the Renaissance. His plays mixed humor with drama, and showed the strengths and weaknesses of people. Audiences flocked to see his presentations of Roman emperors, British kings and queens, and Italian teenagers.

Pieter Bruegel was a Dutch painter who wanted to show people as they really were. Breugal studied Italian art, but he developed his own style. Many of his paintings show peasants working, dancing, and eating.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli was one of the most influential writers of the Renaissance. He believed Italy could not be united unless its leader was ruthless. In 1513, he wrote The Prince, where he advised rulers to be kind only of it suited their purposes. Otherwise, he warned, it is better to be feared than loved.

“You must know there are two methods of fighting, the one by law, the other by force; the first method is of men, the second of beasts; but because the first is frequently not sufficient, one must have recourse to the second. Therefore it is necessary for a prince to understand how to use the methods of the beast and the man . . . A prince . . . ought to choose the fox and the lion; because the lion cannot defend himself against traps and the fox cannot defend himself against wolves. Therefore, it is necessary to be a fox to discover the traps and a lion to terrify the wolves. Those who rely simply on the lion do not understand this.”

-- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince (1513)