03x01 - Renaissance Art

Renaissance Art

25/07/2007 10:22:00

Renaissance Ideals • Social movement that came to be known as Humanism o A secular way of thought o Did not stand in opposition to religion o Opposes the church in certain points o Human perfectibility  Humans had the capacity to perfect their existence and their own destiny • The Liberal Arts o Humanists believed in seeking knowledge for its own sake  They looked back to the texts of ancient Rome and ancient Greece  Renewed interest in Greek language and translation  Emphasis on clarity and persuasiveness of the ancient Greek thinkers o Renewed interest of philology and rhetoric  Study of Language and expression o Strong civil component to humanism as a movement  Civic humanism  Life of action  People could do both  As a scholar and intellectual you are acting for the service of the common good  Believe that men is borne in order to be useful to man

Not only an interest in public service also a renewed interest in diplomacy and statesmanship Renaissance Science o two approaches to science  text-based knowledge  rooted in the study of classical scientists • Hippocrates and Galen o Hippocrates was medically based o Galen brought improvements in the medical as well.  He believed that the human body was composed of four humors  Each of them were related to the four basic elements  and that wellness comes fro the balance of these humors  if sick then the balance needed to be restored  to restore the balance they would bleed people to restore the balance  Experiment-based knowledge  Dissection became a way to study the human body  this gave scientists a deeper and better understanding of the human body and the location of its organs  a major leap in the understand of the human body Politics o Civic Humanism extended to political realm o Machiavelli  while in exile he wrote The Prince 

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 strong army and good laws  he was attempting a humanist study of politics and gov’t The Italian City-States • “Center of the Christian World” by the end of the 16th century • the Byzantine empire is pretty much done by this time o taken over the by the ottomans, Muslims • Italy is not the center, but it is the wealthiest and most powerful nation at this time • its central location made it an ideal place for commerce • it became more powerful because of the schism and the weakening of the papal power o it allowed the smaller nations to become more powerful in their own terms (Italian city states) • the city-states were wealthy enough to rely on mercenaries for most of their fighting • The Five Powers o even though there were more than 5 city-states there were 5 more powerful than the rest o Naples  The only city-state ruled by a hereditary monarchy  this system created turmoil and conflict over succession  it is not resolved until it was overtaken by Spain o Papal States  Example of authority and weakness  powerful, stretching through central Italy  different regions were often powerful and managed a deal of autonomy despite of papal rule

the pope had to play a game of patronage between the nobles to maintain his own rule o Florence  First became very powerful because it supported the papacy  but its political power was driven de facto in the longer term by its economic power  the economy derived from banking and wool  cultural center during the renaissance o Milan  Similar to Naples but not ruled by a hereditary monarchy  it was, however, ruled for over 200 years by the Visconti family o Venice  the most powerful of the city-states  derived from trade  long been one of the most prosperous commercial cities in Europe if not the most prosperous  venitian merchants negotiated a privilege position with the Byzantine empire  the trade companies set up trading posts on the Adriatic and throughout different parts of Byzantium  it gave them an advantage over other traders  they also maintained the best and most powerful fleet of the city-states that could double as a navy if needed  ruled by a hereditary elite, called the great council  the council was about 2,500. Sons would go the “Gold Book” and from the council they elected a senate  senate was about 250 people  from the senate they elected people for smaller council with specific tasks 

they also elected the Doge that had power for life, he was the decider. With the conjunction of the senate  the terms of the senate and other comities lasted for one year • one person could not gain too much power  Venice changed directions in the middle of the 15th century when the ottoman fleet began to threaten the naval supremacy  Venice did not abandon their fleet but shifted their gear to land based conquest Florence: Spinning Cloth into Gold o The textile industry was the most powerful and lucrative industries in southern Europe but competed with the Finnish and British industries o Banking was unmatched  they did not simple exchange and handled money  they also underwrote and financed other business ventures  banks would purchase wool and sell them to textile companies  they maintained a stake in other businesses and industries  the most powerful banks were run by the Medici family  they became to dominate the gov’t. o Cosamo  He used his banking to influence the gov’t  he gains alliances with the ruling parties in Florence  he then manages to convince the gov’t to use emergency powers to limit the eligible voters to eventually only his supporters were able to vote  He later passes the gov’t to his son  he emerged as the de facto ruler of Florence  he never took over the council but it was understood he was in charge 

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the Medici family liked the arts  financed Michael Angelo o Lorenzo (Cosamo’s son)  Led Florence through great prestige and territorial conquests  when he died Florence became less powerful  and the influence of the Medici family could not be replaced End of Italian Hegemony [1450 – 1527] o Italian City States at the Height of Power  Trade and manufacturing  technology  one of the dominants of the printing press  double entry book keeping  detailed navigational charts which gave to other countries  the telescope and the compass  Christopher Columbus came from Genoa and Bespuchy got its start as a merchant in Florence  Venetian glass had a great reputation and Florentine silk o Political and Military Unrest  Peace of Lodi [1454]  The city states began to stabilize relationships with one another  Venice and Milan then Florence and Naples  non-aggression treaty for about 40 years 

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the constant threat from the other city states made them paranoid o Italian Decline  Mehmed II  Conquered Constantinople [1453] and Athens a few years later  Venice lost its naval supremacy  instead of unity to meet the new threat they were too busy fighting one another to do much about it  [1494] Wars of Italy  Naples, Florence, and the Papal states side with Milan  Milan appealed to France and not Venice for an alliance  This disrupted the alliance with the papal states  Milan is now in war with the papal states and other European powers  Naples falls to Spain, Venice loses its territorial gains, and in 1527 just before the wars German mercenaries sack Rome  These invasions allow the conquerors to take the cultural gains and translates them northward and outward of Europe “Northern Renaissance” • “Intellectual Reformation” o some of the seeds of the protestant reformation • Print Revolution o Johannes Gutenberg  Creates the printing press  He refined the technique that was already in the making  Paper making and goldsmith 

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they had to shape hard metal into a type font

o Spread  it did not spread very quickly  the metal made it very expensive to buy  book publishers were the only ones that could afford them and most of them went bankrupt because of the lack of demand  people preferred the old type of books  once it caught on it spread very rapidly  by the 1490s, about 40 million books had been produced o Impact  Distribution  easier to distribute locally and nationally  codes of laws could spread more easily  Standardization  it standardize laws  languages, correct forms of spelling and usage  Intellectual Community  international community of intellectuals  they could share their writings and those they wished to debate Christian Humanism o Directly influenced by civil humanism o took the revival of ancient greek and acient texts and applied it to the Christian doctrines

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o the establishment of biblical authority  translate the Greek, or the latin, or the ancient Hebrew translation to get the most original translation as possible o equality of sex, and of education  schools for women across Europe  opened convents were they could receive a broader humanistic education o Juan Luis Vives, 1523 wrote “Intruction of a Christian Woman” o also a response to what they saw as the state of the church  far too stale in its practices  the bible at the time was over 1,000 years old  discourage questioning and focused on memorization  at this time they start to ask questions, and have a greater puristic nature that they thought the church had lost Humanist Movement o International movement o emperor and kings sought humanists as advisors in the royal court o humanists saw a staleness in the church and a backwardness of the faith of the people  the worship of relics and pilgrimages which they considered superstitious  they wanted a stronger connection between the peolpe and the crhistian texts o Utopia [1516]  Moore, invents an imaginary world where people disdained money and focused on community  he wrote is as a contrast of the state of the church and society at the time o Polyglot [1522]

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 Chrisitna humanists wrote it  trilinguan bibble of latin, Greek, and Hebrew  became a standard thelogical text Erasmus [1466 – 1536] o Dutch monk, traveled across Europe o wrote “In Praise of Folly” 1509  harsh critizism of the church  the church had become too intolerant  adopted the practice of shooting down any questions against it o Translated “New Testament and St. Jerome” 1516 This movement sets the stage for the protestant reformation

25/07/2007 10:22:00

25/07/2007 10:22:00