1. Italian Renaissance
Introduction
 Those who survived the war and plague of the Middle Ages began to question the institutions of the
Middle Ages. They were unable to prevent the war and to relieve the suffering brought by the plague
 Some people question the Church, which taught Christians to endure suffering while they awaited their
rewards in heaven.
.
Renaissance – Period of continuing the creativity of art and writing that was adopted from Greco-Roman
culture
 Giorgio Vasari – Italian art historian who wrote of the rebirth (riniscita) of art in Italy during the 15 th
and 16th centuries, and coined the term “renaissance”
 Dramatic Rebirth of civilization in Western Europe  2 erroneous concepts:
1. Idea that the Middle Ages had few cultural accomplishments to their credit
2. Sometime around 1350, a sudden rebirth of literature, art, and scholarship began in Italy
 These views overlook the accomplishments of Middle Ages
o Romanesque and Gothic architecture, first universities, and scholastic philosophy first
emerged during this period
ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
o Involved an intensification of:
o classical civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome
o classical literature, thought, art, and architecture
o intensified the secular spirit in Western Europe
ITALY’S ADVANTAGES THAT MADE IT BIRTHPLACE OF RENAISSANCE:
1. Thriving cities
2. Wealthy Merchant Class
3. Greco-Roman heritage
CITY STATES
 Florence
o major center of handcraft industry, specializing in textiles, especially woolens
o important banking center
o Independent republic ruled by small oligarchy
o THE MEDICI
 Family that dominated Florence most of the 15th century
 extensive interests in industry, trade, and especially banking
 Giovanni di BICCI de’ Medici – first of the Medici to gain an influential role in the
politics of Florence
 Cosimo de’ Medici – Giovanni’s son, ruled the city, after Giovanni’s death.
 founded the Platonic Academy in Florence – center of Greek philosophy study
 Piero de’ Medici – Cosimo’s son, who succeeded Cosimo
 Lorenzo the Magnificent – famous of the Medici, and Cosimo’s grandson
 His brother, Giuliano, was assassinated by a rival family of the Medici.
o Decline of Florence
 Savonarola, a Franciscan friar, gained power in Florence

2.  He exercised a strict and puritanical rule over the city
 Florentines overthrew the dictator after 4 years, and the Medici returned to
power after Savonarola’s death, but the great age of Florence had passed.
 Milan
o Located in Northern Italy
o Important center of the overland trade between Italy’s seaports, especially Venice, and
Northern Europe, on the other side of the Alps
o Gained wealth from agriculture and industry, especially the production of silk and armor
o THE VISCONTI
 Family who ruled Milan from 1227 – 1447
 Gian Galeazzo Visconti – Became Milan’s ruler and furthered the city’s development as a
commercial center
o THE SFORZAS
 Following the death of the last Visconti, Milan temporarily was ruled under republic
 Francesco Sforza, the son-in-law of the last Visconti ruler, became duke and established
himself as Milan’s ruler.
 He is a son of a condottiere, a professional soldier of fortune who commanded
mercenaries
 Ludovico il Moro (Ludovico the Moor) – most famous of the Sforzas
 dominated Milan after Francesco
 both Francesco and Ludovico are patron of the arts
o Decline of Milan
 Milan experienced a substantial political and economic decline in the early 16th century
 City became part of Spanish empire at the end of decline
 Venice
o a great commercial city
o Located at the northern end of the Adriatic Sea
o reputed to have one of the most effective governments in Europe
o Government:
 Oligarchy – comprised the Great Council, who elected (for a lifetime term):
 Doge (duke) – figurehead ruler, subject to the control of the inner circle of the
oligarchy who comprised the Council of Ten
 chief executive of Venice
 Trade
 prosperity of Venice was based on trade, particularly with the largely Moslem
lands at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea
 By 15th century,  Venice held a near-monopoly on the sale of spices, and luxury
goods from the East to the rest of Europe.
 Political power was the exclusive preserve of the male descendants of the wealthy
merchants who:
 had serve as the councilors of the city-state
 names were inscribed in the Golden Book
 Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
o French House of Anjou ruled Naples
o Sicily was controlled by Spanish Kingdom of Aragon
o Kingdom of Two Sicilies = when Aragon acquired Naples, he combined the two kingdoms
o it never became powerful enough to threaten the independence of other Italian states

3. RENAISSANCE POPES IN ROME
1. Nicholas V
 previously served the Medici family of Florence as librarian
 established Vatican Library with its original collection of 1200 volumes
2. Pius II
 humanist scholar under the Latinized name of Aeneas Silvius
 devoted himself to efforts to preserve ancient Roman structures that had fallen into ruin
3. Sixtus IV
 became active in tumultuous politics of Renaissance Italy
 hopes to both make the Papal States more powerful and to advance his family’s fortunes
 expanded the Vatican Library
4. Alexander VI
 member of the Spanish Borgia family
 Spent large sums to support the army of his son Cesar Borgia, who was trying to create a family
domain in central Italy
5. Julius II
 nephew of Sixtus IV
 became known as Warrior Pope
 led papal armies into battle against both French and Venetians
6. Leo X
 a Medici, used papal money to help his family in struggles of Florence
 excommunicated Martin Luther
How did Renaissance scholars return to the learning of the Greeks and Romans?
1. Artists and scholars of Italy drew inspiration from the ruins of Rome that surrounded them.
2. Western scholars studied ancient Latin manuscripts that had been preserved in monasteries.
3. Christian scholars in Constantinople fled to Rome with Greek manuscripts when the Turks conquered
Constantinople in 1453.
Classical and Worldly Values
1. Humanism
 Intellectual movement that focused on human potential and achievements
 Humanists studied classical texts to understand ancient Greek values, instead of Christian teaching (as
old medieval scholars used to do)
 Humanists influenced artists and architects to carry on classical traditions, and they popularized the
study of subjects common to classical education.
 Humanities – subjects such as history, literature, and philosophy.
2. Worldly Pleasures
 Humanists suggested that a person might enjoy life without offending God.
 Basic spirit of Renaissance society was secular – worldly rather than spiritual and concerned with the
“here and now”.
3. Patrons of the Arts
 Patrons of the Arts are Church leaders, merchants, and wealthy families during Renaissance who
beautified Rome and other cities by spending huge amounts of money for art, and financially
supporting artists. Being a patron demonstrated their own importance.
4. Renaissance Man/Woman
 Renaissance writers introduced the idea that all educated people were expected to create art.
 Renaissance Men – Man who excelled in many fields; also called “universal man”

4.  Baldassare Castaglione – wrote a book called “The Courtier” that taught how to become a Renaissance
man. He is an important advocate of the humanities that emphasized the study of classical languages
and literature.
 According to “The Courtier”:
o Characteristics of Renaissance Man:
 gentlemanly behavior
 should know Both Greek and Latin
 has fluent writing style in both classical language and vernacular
 charming, witty, and well educated in the classics
 should dance, sing, play music, and write poetry
 skilled wrestler, rider, and swordsman
o Upper-class women also should know the classics and be charming, but they are not expected
to seek fame.
o Upper-class women were expected to inspire art but rarely to create it (they had little influence
in politics).
 Isabella d’Este – Upper-class Renaissance woman who exercised power
o Born into the ruling family of Ferrara
o with her sister Beatrice, she studied humanities and learned to speak Latin and Greek with her
sister Beatrice
o Married Francesco Gonzaga, the ruler of Mantua, another city-state
o Also a patron of the arts, which considered her to be “first woman of the world”
o Skilled in politics, she defended Mantua when her husband was taken captive in war, and won
his release.
ITALIAN RENAISSANCE ART AND ARCHITECTURE
 Instead of the medieval way using religious subjects to convey a spiritual ideal, Renaissance artists
often portrayed religious subjects with the use of realistic style from classical models/
 Perspective – shows three dimensions on a flat surface. Medieval artists abandoned the technique, but
Italian artists rediscovered it.
o Based on optical illusion
o As parallel lines stretch away from a viewer, they seem to draw together, until they meet a spot
on the horizon called a vanishing point.
o Example: Marriage of the Virgin (1504), by Raphael
 Realistic Painters during the Renaissance:
o Michelangelo Buonarroti
 He believed himself to be a sculptor while he was a painter
 Used a realistic style when depicting the human body
 Created figures that are forceful and showed heroic grandeur
 Painted nine scenes from the Old Testament dealing with the period from the Creation
to the Flood
 As a sculptor: nude statue of David, and a powerful portrayal of Moses.
 Moses statue was intended to be a part of the tomb of Pope Julius II
 Sculpted several pietas (statues of Mary holding the body of dead Jesus)
 Most famous “Pieta”, is located in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome
 Painted “Last Judgment”, on the wall behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel
 His other achievements: Dome of St. Peter’s, paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine
Chapel
o Donatello

5.  Made sculpture more realistic by carving natural postures and expressions that reveal
personality
 Did a large bronze equestrian statue of Venetian condottiere Gattamelata, which stands
in a square in Padua
 First equestrian statue by a Western European artist since Roman times
 Revived a classical form in his BRONZE statue of David (Sir Erin’s favorite), a boy who,
acc. to Bible, became a great king.
 First European sculpture of a large, freestanding nude since ancient times
o Leonardo da Vinci
 a painter, sculptor, inventor, and scientist
 his work was mainly religious, but he dealt it with secular and humanized fashion
 first Italian artist to use oil paints, which has been developed by the Flanders
 A true “Renaissance Man”
 He was interested in how things worked
 Studied how a muscle moves and how veins are arranged in a leaf, drew
sketches of parachutes, submarines, diving helmet, airplane, machine gun, etc.,
on his large notebook
 He incorporated his findings in his art
 Painted the “Mona Lisa”, “The Virgin of the Rocks” and “The Last Supper”
 Mona Lisa  shortened form of Madonna Lisa (Madam, or My Lady Lisa)
 Mona Lisa is thought to be the portrait of Lisa Gherardini, who at 16, married
Francesco del Giocondo, a wealthy merchant of Florence who commissioned the
portrait
 The Last Supper – in the refectory of a Dominican friary in Milan
 In “The Last Supper”, Leonardo portrayed the dramatic moment when Jesus told
his apostles that one of them would betray him.
 Virgin of the Rocks – experimentation of light and shadow
 He wrote backwards in his notebook, and only 17 of his paintings survived
o Raphael Santi/Sanzio
 Younger than Michelangelo and Leonardo, and he learned from studying their works.
 One of his favorite subjects was the Madonna and the child. He often portrayed their
expressions as gentle and calm
 Well known for his Madonnas, humanized portrayals of Virgin Mary with Baby Jesus
 e.g. “Sistine Madonna”
 Famous for his use of perspective (“Marriage of The Virgin”)
 He painted a series of frescoes on the walls of a number of rooms in Vatican Palace,
which is known as the Raphael Room, and he filled the walls of Pope Julius II’s library
with paintings
 One of these was the “School of Athens”. It conveys the classical influence on the
Renaissance.
o shows the scholars of ancient Greece (Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, and
Socrates) were highly honored
 Another one: “The Triumph of Religion”; it reflects the artist’s strong interest
both in classical antiquity and the Christian religion,
 Painted famous Renaissance figures such as Michelangelo, Leonardo, and himself, as
classical philosophers and their students
o Giotto
 contemporary of Dante

6.  first artist of the Italian Renaissance
 Trained in Byzantine Style, which had dominated medieval Italian art
 His subjects are usually Jesus, Virgin Mary, and the saints
 portrayed in a stylized manner against gold and black backgrounds, and then
backed out from this idea
 He portrayed his subjects in a more truly human fashion and placed them in realistic
settings, often landscapes.
 Invented chiaroscuro in his paintings
 Famous for his frescoes
 Series on the life of St. Francis of Assisi for the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi
 Series of frescoes in the Arena Chapel in Padua
 Official architect of Florence during the last years of his life
 designed the campanile (bell tower) of the city’s cathedral
o Masaccio
 Florentine painter
 effectively used light and shade to create greater sense of perspective
 example: The Holy Trinity – fresco in the Dominican church of Santa Maria
Novella in Florence
o Sandro Botticelli
 Florentine Painter
 known for his graceful painting s marked by a use of vivid colors
 his best-known works were inspired by classical mythology
 examples: The Birth of Venus, Primavera
 Primavera – allegory representing the coming of spring
 also painted religious subject matter, including “The Adoration of the Magi”
o Lorenzo Ghiberti
 He is known for the bronze doors of the baptistery in Florence, depicting Old Testament
scenes. This work made a powerful impression on Michelangelo, who described the
doors as worthy of being the gates of paradise
o Filippo Brunelleschi
 first major architect of the Italian Renaissance
 designed several churches in Florence (Santo Spirito and San Lorenzo)
 designed Pitti Palace in Florence
 Most famous for the octagonal done of the cathedral of Florence.
o Donato Bramante
 worked for Pope Julius II, who gave him the task of rebuilding St. Peter’s Basilica
 Both Raphael and Michelangelo served for a time as architects of St. Peter’s after his
death, but Michelangelo did not live to see the basilica completed.
o Bellini Brothers
 Gentile and Giovanni Bellini, members of a family of painters
 Giovanni’s best known paintings include “The Agony in the Garden”, “St. Francis in
Ecstasy”
o Giorgione
 pupil of Giovanni Bellini
 One of his most Famous paintings is “Tempesta”, a mysterious portrayal of a seminude
woman in a stormy landscape
o Jacopo “Tintoretto” Robusti
 Tintoretto = “little dyer”, which was his father’s trade

7.  Major works = “The Miracle of St. Mark”, and “Christ Before Pilate”
o Tiziano Vecellio (A.K.A. Titian)
 most famous of the Venetian painters of the Renaissance
 extremely prolific, producing an average of one painting a month
 stands out for the richness of his colors, especially purple and above all, red
 painted “The Assumption of the Virgin” in the Church of Santa Maria dei Frari in Venice
 painted “Rape of Lucretia”
 Painted portraits of many of the great figures of the age (King Francis I of France, Holy
Roman Emperor Charles V, and King Philip II of Spain)
o Andrea Palladio
 influenced by the Roman style
 his influence can be seen in 18th century Georgian architecture both in England and
America
o Sofonisba Anguissola
 First woman artist to gain international reputation
 Portraits of her sisters and of prominent people such as King Philip II of Spain
o Artemisia Gentileschi
 Trained with her painter father and helped with his work.
 Painted pictures of strong, heroic women
ITALIAN RENAISSANCE LITERATURE
 Renaissance writers:
o produced works that reflected their time
o also used techniques that writers rely on today (began trends that modern writers still follow)
o wrote either for self-expression or to portray the individuality of their subjects
 Some known Renaissance Writers:
o TUSCAN TRIUMVIRATE (Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio)
 serious literary works began to be written in Italian instead of Latin
 consists of the first 3 writers: Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio
 named as Tuscan Triumvirate because of their association with Florence, major
city in the region of Tuscany
 their work helped the Tuscan dialect the standard form of the Italian language
o Dante Alighieri
 Wrote in vernacular (native language, for Dante’s case it is Italian) instead of Latin
 first author of the Italian Renaissance
 best known for the Divine Comedy, an epic poem written in Italian
 Divided into three parts, it tells his journey through Inferno (Hell), Purgatory, and
Paradise (Heaven)
 Beatrice, Dante’s idealized woman, is his guide through paradise
 Virgil (Roman poet) represents reason and the values of classical civilization,
while Beatrice represents love, faith, and divine revelation
o Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)
 One of the earliest and most influential humanists
 Father of Renaissance Humanism
 Wrote both in Italian and in Latin
 In Italian – he wrote sonnets – 14-line poems. His sonnets are about a mysterious
woman named Laura, who was his ideal.

8.  In classical Latin, he wrote letters to important friends. His Italian works were of greater
merit than his Latin works.
o Giovanni Boccaccio
 Petrarch interested him in the search for ancient manuscripts
 Learned Greek, which Petrarch had not done
 He is best known for “Decameron”, a series of realistic, sometimes off-color stories. The
stories are supposedly told by a group of ten worldly young people waiting in a rural
villa for 10 days to avoid the Black Death sweeping through Florence.
 Decameron presents both tragic and comic views of life.
 Boccaccio uses cutting humor to illustrate the human condition
 He also presents his characters in all of their individuality and their folly
o Baldassare Castaglione – see former page/s
o Benvenuto Cellini
 famed goldsmith, silversmith, and an important writer
 unabashed egotist
 wrote Autobiography, which characterized his sexual and other exploits
o Lorenzo Valla
 Applied methods of linguistic and historical analysis to demonstrate that the Donation
of Constantine, a document written in the 4th century, was an 8th century forgery
 Acc. to this document, Roman Emperor Constantine had given Pope Sylvester I
the right to rule over central Italy.
 The pope’s claim to central Italy was based on Donation of Pepin, an eight-
century Frankish king.
o Niccolo Machiavelli
 wrote “The Prince”
 “The Prince” examines the imperfect conduct of human beings
 the books takes the form of a political guidebook
 Machiavelli examines how a ruler can gain power and keep it in spite of his enemies. He
begins with the idea that most people are selfish, fickle, and corrupt.
 He said that a prince must be strong as a lion and shrewd as a fox (trick his enemies and
his people for the good of the state, and gain the trust of others).
 concerned with what was morally right and politically effective
 pointed out that most people think it’s praiseworthy in a prince to keep his word and
live with integrity
o Vittoria Colonna
 Born of a noble family
 Married the Marquis of Pescara he spent most of his life away from home on military
campaigns
 exchanged sonnets with Michelangelo and helped Castiglione publish “The Courtier”
 Her poems express personal emotions
Resources:
Birdsall Viault’s Modern European History
McDougal-Littell’s World History: Patterns of Interaction
Marvin Perry’s History of The World