Unit Two

Unit Two

Western Civilization

THE RENAISSANCE₂

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:

1. ECONOMIC GROWTH: How has the evolution of economic systems, as well as technological developments, impacted world civilization?

2. SOCIAL ADVANCEMENTS: How has the growth and evolution of Social Classes influenced

world civilization?

3. THE ARTS: How do the Arts reflect the evolution of Western culture?

4. HISTORIOGRAPHY: How has the course of time impacted the changing views of history and historical events?

OVERVIEW:

The Renaissance, the rebirth of the learning and culture of classical Rome and Greece, began in Italy in the 13th and 14th centuries and reached its climax, the High Renaissance, in the 15th and 16th centuries in the rest of Europe. It spread rapidly from Italy to central and northern Europe and then to the rest of the world. It was a complex period. Still we can identify two key elements about it: 1) It was above all a re-discovery and enjoyment of the individual and his involvement in this world. Though religious faith remained strong for the vast majority of people the Church was no longer man's primary concern. The Christian Church no longer exercised absolute control over people as it had in the Middle Ages. Individuals began to appreciate the natural world around them more and more. This secular world, or non-religious world, was becoming more important. Salvation was still important, but the Renaissance was to teach that mankind did not have to suffer during his time here on earth. This world with all its pleasures was after all God’s gift to humanity, therefore, within reason, we could enjoy the delights of this world. The real question of the era was the line between what was acceptable enjoyment and what was excessive. 2) The Renaissance was also a re-discovery of writings and ideas of ancient Greece and Rome. During this period the architecture, art, literature, and values of the Classical World were resurrected and studied. As more and more of the physical world of the Ancients was re-discovered the reality of that world was made available for scholars and others to investigate. This interest led to a new attitude about life, which called for more freedom of thought, and an increased curiosity about man and his world. This attitude would come to be called Humanism and it would permeate the age.

The art of an era reflects the history, culture, and society of which it is a part. The men and women of the Renaissance created a brand new art form, and in some cases a radically different

one. Therefore, the art of the Renaissance, that is its painting, sculpture, architecture and music, will be surveyed. You will be expected to identify the Classical, Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance form of each of these areas as they appear in the Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Worlds.

The city of Florence was one of the key Renaissance cities. In looking at it we shall see some key reasons for the growth of the Renaissance and some of its important characteristics. We will also try to identify what was medieval about Florence and what was a new part or re-birth about Florence.

In the 1400’s the Renaissance began to spread from southern Europe to western and northern Europe. The basic ideas and ideals of the Renaissance as we have discussed them were pretty much the same. Still the Northern Renaissance, as it would come to be called, did have its own flavor. As we shall see, the Northern Renaissance was much more intellectual and less cultural. It was much more at home with the Gothic world than it was with the Classical art period. Finally, the Renaissance and the Reformation were concurrent and that fact influenced both of their development and impact upon Western civilization. Here are some of the content questions for this unit:

CONTENT QUESTIONS:

1. What was the Renaissance? What were the characteristics attributed to it?

2. How does the city of Florence reflect the qualities of the Renaissance?

3. What was Humanism?

4. What caused the Renaissance in the cities of northern Europe?

5. What were the art forms of the Classical, Medieval, and Renaissance Worlds?

KEY TERMS:

     Johannes Gutenberg                          Jan van Eyck

     Desiderius Erasmus                           Northern Humanism

     Vernacular                                        Christine de Pizan



               Giorgio Vasari

               Signoria            Contotierri

               Lorenzo Valla      Vernacular Literature

               Duomo            “David”

               Sistine Chapel      “Pieta”

Renaissance Humanism

Historiography Liberal arts

Florentine Renaissance Petrarch

Madrigal Dante Aligheri

William Shakespeare Christian Humanism

Albrecht Dürer Sir Thomas More

Leonardo da Vinci Jacob Burckhardt

Niccolo Machiavelli Secularism

Brunelleschi Donatello

Northern Renaissance l'uomo universale

Brunelleschi Giotto

Romanesque Gothic

Boccaccio Francolis Rabelais

Perspective Raphael

Corinthian columns Venice

The Prince Praise of Folly

“Last Supper” “Madonna”

Black Death Masaccio

Sandro Botticelli Savonarola

Tuscany Benvenuto Cellini

Genoa Trecento

Quattrocento Cinquecento

Baldassare Castiglione Michelangelo Buonarotti

M Mundus Novus Hernando Cortes

Conquistadores Benvenuto Cellini

TIME LINE:

1302 Boniface issues the bull Unam Sanctum

1309-1377 Pope in Avignon - “Babylonian Captivity”

1300-1325 Dante writes Divine Comedy

1347-1350 Peak of Black Death

1350 Boccaccio, Decameron

1378 Ciompi Revolt in Florence

1378-1417 The Great Schism

1383-1395 Chaucer writes Canterbury Tales

1390-1430 Christine de Pisan writes in defense of

women

1434 Medici family begins three century

domination of Florence

1454 Johann Gutenberg invents printing press

with movable type

1492 Columbus encounters the “New World”

1494 Charles VIII of France invades Italy

Savonarola begins control of Florence

1498 Da Vinci paints "LAST SUPPER”

Vasco da Gama reaches India

1499 Louis XII begins second French invasion of Italy

1513 Machiavelli writes The Prince

1515 Francis I begins third French invasion of Italy

1516 Erasmus compiles a Greek New

Testament

Thomas More, Utopia

1519 Hernan Cortez lands in Mexico

1528 Baldassare Castiglione publishes The

Courtier

1527 Sack of Rome by soldiers of the Holy

Roman Empire

1568 Elizabeth I of England begins reign

1603 Shakespeare writes first of his great

tragedies, Hamlet

1605 Cervantes publishes first part of Don

Quixote

SOURCES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH:

A. Bibliography:

Berenson, Bernard. The Italian Painters of the Renaissance. (1968).

Burckhardt, Jacob. The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy.(1860).

Durant, Will. The Renaissance. (1953).

Ferguson, Wallace. The Renaissance. (1940).

Harbison, Craig. The Mirror of the Artist: Northern Renaissance Art in its Historical Context. (1995).

Huizinga, Johan. The Waning of the Middle Ages. (1953).

Lawrence, Cynthia. Women and Art in Early Modern Europe. (1997).

Marcel, Brian. The Medici. (1969).

Setton, Ken. Ed. The Renaissance. (1970).

Snyder, James. The Renaissance In The North. (1987).

Time-Life Books, Ed. The World of ________(twenty different artists).

Turner, A. Richard. Renaissance Florence: The Invention of a New Art. (1997).

Vasari, Giorgio. Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects.

Viroli, Maurizio. Nicolo’s Smile; A Biography of Machiavelli. (1999).

Ventura, Piero. Venice: Birth of a City . (1987).

Walker, Paul Robert. The Italian Renaissance..(1995).

Welch, Evelen. Art in Renaissance Italy, 1350-1500. (2002).

B. Web Sites:

Florence - http://www.arca.net/florence.htm

The Medici - http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/People/medici.html

The Medici - http://www.arca.net/tourism/florence/medici.htm

The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy by Jacob Burckhardt -

- http://www.boisestate.edu/courses/hy309/docs/burckhardt/burckhardt.html

Renaissance In Florence - http://www.florence.ala.it/renaissance.htm

A Comprehensive Guide To The Florentine Renaissance –

http://www.geocities.com/annalemesheva/Florentine_Renaissance_.html

The Art of Florence - http://www.mega.it/eng/egui/hogui.htm

The Renaissance in the North(Lecture #5) –

http://class.et.byu.edu/mfg202/lecturenotes/lecture5.htm

Humanism – http://www.uml.edu/Dept/History/arthistory/Italian_Renaissance/8_9_c.htm

Humanism – http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/humanism.html

Annenberg/CPB Renaissance Project - http://www.learner.org/exhibits/renaissance/

A tremendous source for Renaissance and Reformation information and WEB sites

- http://my.execpc.com/~dboals/rena.html

End of Europe’s Middle Ages - a tutorial- http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/endmiddle/