The Italian Renaissance

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The Italian Renaissance
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Italian Renaissance

• Immortal works of the European experience
• Scholarly writings shaped intellectual and
  cultural history of the modern world

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HUMANISM

• Reviving works of antiquity
• Studying philosophy (human condition)
• Humanities could civilize mankind

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HUMANISM

• Participation in civic affairs
• Morality within a political community
• Asserting ones uniqueness and individuality
• (know thyself)

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INDIVIDUALISM
Assertion of ones own uniqueness Intrinsic
value of the individual (politically, socially,
economically, artistically)
Leonardo Study of Grotesque Heads c. 1490
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THE 3 FATHERS

• Petrarch
• Dante
• Boccaccio

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Francesco Petrarcha (1304-1374)

• Deeply loved antiquity and the classics
• Studied Cicero
• Known for his love sonnets to Laura (truly
  immortal works)

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Francesco Petrarcha (1304-1374)

• Laura
• Over 300 poems written in her honor
• They never met
• They never spoke
• Was another mans wife

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Francesco Petrarch

• Considered the first true humanist
• Wisdom Virtue
• Preferred the classics rather than scholasticism
• Studied Latin
• But remember..

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Humanism and Religion

• ..he devoutly accepted Christianity
• .acknowledged power of the Catholic Church
• believed in papal supremacy and monarchs

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Dante Alighieri

• Combined paganism and Christianity in his works
• Divine Comedy (1321)

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Dante

• The Divine Comedy
• Clearly depicts power of medieval thought
• Butsymbolizes the Aeneid (Virgil)
• Journey of the Christian soul

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Dantes Divine Comedy

• Heaven, Hell, Purgatory
• Levels of hell (depending on the sin committed)

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Dantes Beatrice

• Only met her twice
• Never actually spoke to each other
• Fell in love with the idea of her
• emerald eyes
• Was his guide through heaven in the Divine Comedy
  (represented beauty, grace, purity)

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Giovanni Boccaccio

• Fell in love with Fiammetta
• Known for the Decameron
• Both secular and Christian values
• Wrote in vernacular

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Masaccio

• Narrative Power
• Light and dark
• Decorative detail
• Real life

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Giotto

• Realism
• Humanization
• Less artificiality
• He was the bridge from medieval to Renaissance

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Donatello

• Human nature
• Self awareness
• Depth

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Brunelleschi

• PERSPECTIVE

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Ghiberti

• Ingenuity
• Detail

The Baptistery Doors in Florence
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Ghiberti, A Panel of the Baptistery Doors
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Sandro Botticelli (1444-1510)
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Renaissance Art
Veronese The Marriage at Cana DETAIL OF Guests at
Table 1562/63
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• Interested in expression
• First to use classical mythology
• BUT infused with Christian theology
• Medieval/pagan combo
• (flowing drapery, seminude, nymph like, flowers
  grow around Tuscany)

Botticellis Graces