THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE:

The Birth of Modern Thinking

UNIT SUMMARY:

After the Middle Ages, the Renaissance began in Europe and led to great changes in thinking that resulted in spectacular advancements in art, science, engineering, exploration, and government. This period is considered to be the beginning of modern times and forever altered the way we look at the world.

The word ‘renaissance’ means rebirth. This unit is going to discuss the ways in which Europe was reborn after the Black Death killed much of its population and the political system of Feudalism ended. Change does not always happen fast in history, but after the Renaissance began in Italy, it has been ever since!

During this unit you will focus on five different aspects of the Renaissance and use the information you gather to help prepare for the unit assessments at the end. Our focus will include:

• Ways in which European thinkers looked back to the ancient cultures of Greece and Rome to inspire new ways of thinking about the world.

• How the idea of humanism changed the way European thinkers looked at learning, religion, and nature.

• The impact of major Italian city-states (Florence, Venice, Milan, Rome) on supporting the arts and sciences.

• New inventions like the printing press and ways of spreading information that changed the way people learned.

• Learning about important people like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Gutenberg, Shakespeare, and Copernicus focusing on their greatest achievements.

The Renaissance Begins

What changes in Europe led to the Renaissance?

Introduction

Toward the end of the Middle Ages, a great flowering of culture called the Renaissance began in Italy. The Renaissance inspired interest in art and education throughout Europe.

Renaissance is a French word that means “rebirth.” Historians use the word to describe the rebirth of widespread interest in classical art and learning that occurred in Europe from about 1300 to about 1600 C.E. “Classical” refers to the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome. Although there was no sudden end to the Middle Ages, the Renaissance changed many aspects of people's lives over time.

Medieval European society was based on feudalism. Most people lived on feudal manors. The Roman Catholic Church encouraged people to think more about life after death than about daily life on Earth. Few people, except for the clergy, were educated.

By the Late Middle Ages, changes were occurring that paved the way for the Renaissance. Trade and commerce increased, cities grew larger and wealthier, and newly wealthy merchants and bankers supported the growth of arts and learning. In addition, a renewed interest in ancient cultures started a flood of new ideas. Greek and Roman examples inspired new styles of architecture, approaches to the arts, and ways of thinking.

Beginning in Italy, a philosophy called humanism developed. Humanists believed in the worth and potential of all individuals and balanced religious faith with belief in the power of the mind. This thinking contributed to the burst of creativity during the Renaissance.

In this lesson, you will explore how the Renaissance differed from the Middle Ages and classical times. Then you will examine some changes in European life that led to the Renaissance.

What Was the Renaissance?

The Renaissance began in Italy in the 1300s and spread to other parts of Europe in the 1400s and 1500s. Let's look more closely at this “great rebirth” of interest in classical art and learning.Then we will explore the link between the Renaissance and the classical world.

Renewed Interest in the Classical World

The Renaissance began with the rediscovery of the classical world of ancient Greece and Rome. After the fall of Rome in the 5th century C.E., classical culture was never entirely forgotten. Clergy of the Roman Catholic Church helped keep knowledge of ancient times alive by copying documents that survived from the classical period. However, this knowledge reached relatively few people during most of the Middle Ages.

In the Late Middle Ages, merchants and Crusaders returned with goods and ideas from the East, including classical learning that had been preserved in the Byzantine Empire. Europeans also read classical works that came to them from Muslim scholars.

This flow of ideas led to a rediscovery of Greek and Roman culture. Scholars started collecting and reading ancient manuscripts from monasteries, and artists and architects studied classical statues and buildings. The renewed interest in classical culture led to the great flowering of art and learning that we call the Renaissance.

Exploring the Rebirth of Classical Ideals Through Art

We can trace the link between the classical world and the Renaissance by looking at art. Let's explore some of the characteristics of art from classical, medieval, and Renaissance times.

Classical Art

The classical period lasted from about 500 B.C.E. to 500 C.E. The classical artists of Greece and Rome created sculptures, pottery, murals, and mosaics to show the importance of ordinary people and civic leaders, as well as gods and goddesses.Here are additional characteristics of classical art:

• Artists valued balance and harmony.

• Figures were lifelike but often idealized, or more perfect than in real life.

• Figures were nude or draped in togas, or robes.

• Bodies looked active, and motion was believable.

• Faces were calm and without emotion.

• Scenes showed either heroic figures or real people doing tasks from daily life.

• In paintings, there was little background or sense of perspective.Perspective is a visual technique used to make people and objects look closer or farther away and to give realistic depth to a scene.

Medieval Art

The medieval period lasted from about 500 to about 1300 C.E. Medieval artists created stained glass windows, sculptures, illuminated manuscripts, paintings, and tapestries, all of which were primarily used to teach religion to people who could not read or write. Here are additional characteristics of medieval art:

• Most art was religious, showing Jesus, saints, and people from the Bible.

• Important figures in paintings were shown larger than others around them.

• Figures looked stiff, with little sense of movement.

• Figures were fully dressed in stiff-looking clothing.

• Faces were serious and showed little expression.

• Painted figures looked two-dimensional, or flat.

• Paint colors were bright.

• Backgrounds were mostly one color, often blue or gold.

Renaissance Art

The Renaissance lasted from the 1300s to the early 1600s. Artists used new techniques to create sculptures, murals, drawings, and paintings. The aim of much Renaissance art was to show the importance of people and nature, not just religious ideas. Here are additional characteristics of Renaissance art:

• Artists showed religious and nonreligious scenes.

• Art reflected a great interest in nature.

• Figures looked lifelike and three-dimensional, reflecting an increasing knowledge of anatomy.

• Figures were shown in action.

• Figures were either nude or clothed.

• Scenes showed real people doing everyday tasks.

• Faces expressed what people were feeling.

• Colors were shown responding to light.

• Paintings were often symmetrical, or balanced, with the right and left sides having identical elements.

• Full backgrounds showed perspective, adding depth.

If you compare classical, medieval, and Renaissance styles, you can see that Renaissance artists were inspired more by classical art than by medieval art. Like classical artists, Renaissance painters and sculptors depicted subjects that were not always religious. They tried to capture the way things look in the real world by making people appear more lifelike and engaged in everyday activities.

Renaissance art reflects a rebirth of interest in the classical world. What changes brought about this revival of classical culture?

The Growth of Humanism

The interest in learning during the Renaissance was spurred on by humanism. This way of thinking sought to balance religious faith with an emphasis on individual dignity and an interest in nature and human society.

Humanism first arose in Italy as a result of the renewed interest in classical culture. Many early humanists eagerly hunted for ancient Greek and Roman books, coins, and other artifacts that could help them learn about the classical world.

One of the first humanists was an Italian poet named Francesco Petrarch, who was particularly interested in old books. He searched for them all over Europe and encouraged his friends to bring him any they found. Eventually, he created a large collection of ancient Latin and Greek texts, which he made available to other scholars.

Scholars from all over Europe traveled to Italy to learn about the new humanist ideas inspired by classical culture. In addition to reading classical history and poetry, they studied such subjects as art, architecture, government, and language. They began to ask probing questions. What did classical artists find most beautiful about the human body? How did the Romans construct their buildings?

In their studies of classical culture, humanists discovered a new way of looking at life. They began to create a philosophy based on the importance and dignity of each individual. Humanists believed that all people have the ability to control their own lives and achieve greatness. In education, they stressed study of the humanities—a group of subjects that focus on human life and culture, which includes grammar, rhetoric (the study of persuasive language), history, poetry, and ethics (the study of moral values and behavior).

Humanists tried to put ancient ideas into practice. Architects, for example, studied Greek and Roman ruins and designed buildings with pillars, arches, and courtyards like those of classical buildings.

The humanists did not simply imitate classical achievements, but rather they tried to improve on the work of the ancient Greeks and Romans. In universities, scholars began to teach methods of observation and experimentation. Renaissance scientists proposed new ideas about the stars and planets. Artists and students of medicine closely studied human anatomy. Poets wrote about both religious subjects and everyday experiences. Writers produced works of history and studies of politics.

The influence of classical ideals changed ideas about government. Humanists separated the state and its right to rule from the Church and, in doing so, helped lay the foundation for modern thinking about politics and government.

Humanist ideals also changed people's thinking about social standing. In feudal times, people were born into a certain status in society. If someone was born a peasant, he or she would always have less status than a noble. In general, Renaissance thinkers prized individual achievement more than a person's class or family.This emphasis on individualism was an enormous shift from medieval thinking.

The humanists' new ideas sometimes brought them into conflict with the Catholic Church. The Church taught that laws were made by God and that those who broke them were sinful. It encouraged people to follow its teachings without question to save their souls.For the Church, life after death was more important than life on Earth. In contrast, humanists believed that people should use their minds to question everything. Most tried to balance religious faith and its emphasis on the afterlife with an active interest in daily life, but some directly challenged teachings that were important to the Church. An Italian humanist, Giordano Bruno, paid for his ideas by being burned at the stake.

The Growth of Trade and Commerce

One reason for the flowering of culture during the Renaissance was the growth of trade and commerce. Trade brought new ideas as well as goods into Europe. A bustling economy created prosperous cities and new classes of people with the wealth to support art and learning.

Increased Contact Between East and West

Starting in the 11th century, the Crusades strengthened contacts between western Europe and Byzantine and Muslim cultures. Merchants brought goods and ideas from the East that helped to reawaken interest in classical culture. In the 13th century, the Mongol conquests in Asia made it safer for traders to travel along the Silk Road to China. The tales of the Italian traveler Marco Polo sparked even greater interest in the East. Food, art, and luxury goods, such as silk and spices, moved along the trade routes linking Europe to Africa and Asia.

Cities, such as Venice and Genoa in Italy, were centrally located on the trade routes that linked western Europe with the East. They became bustling, prosperous trading centers that attracted merchants and customers, as did cities in northern Europe, such as Bruges and Brussels. Trade ships carried goods to England, Scandinavia, and present-day Russia by way of the English Channel and the Baltic and North seas. Towns along the routes connecting southern and northern Europe, such as Cologne and Mainz in Germany, provided inns and other services for traveling merchants.

A New Economy

The increase in trade led to a new kind of economy. During the Middle Ages, people bartered, or traded, goods. By the Renaissance, people were using coins to buy merchandise, which created a money economy. Coins came from many places, so money changers were needed to convert one type of currency into another.

As a result of all this activity, craftspeople, merchants, and bankers became more important in society. Craftspeople produced goods that merchants traded across Europe, while bankers exchanged currency, loaned money to merchants and rulers, and financed their own businesses.

Some merchants and bankers grew very rich, and their abundant wealth enabled them to make their cities more beautiful. In addition to helping found universities, wealthy patrons commissioned (ordered and paid for) new buildings and art. Prosperous Renaissance cities grew into flourishing educational and cultural centers.

The Influence of Italian City-States

The Renaissance began in northern and central Italy. One reason why it began there was the prosperity of Italian city-states.

In the Late Middle Ages, most of western Europe was made up of fiefs ruled by nobles, who in turn were ruled by monarchs. In Italy, however, growing towns developed into independent city-states. Each city-state consisted of a powerful city and the surrounding territory, which might include other towns.

The Italian city-states conducted their own trade, collected their own taxes, and made their own laws. Some, such as Florence, were republics that were governed by elected councils.

In theory, the power in republics belonged to the people, but in reality, it often lay in the hands of rich merchants. During the Middle Ages, guilds of craftspeople and merchants became very powerful. During the Renaissance, groups of guild members, called boards, often ruled Italian city-states. Although boards were supposed to change members frequently, wealthy families often gained long-term control. As a result, some city-states were ruled by a single rich family, such as the Medici (MED-uh-chee) family in Florence.

Trade made the Italian city-states dazzlingly wealthy. Italy's central Mediterranean location in the middle of the trade routes connected distant places with the rest of western Europe. People from all over Europe came to northern Italy to buy, sell, and do their banking.

Some Italian city-states developed specializations. Florence became a center for cloth making and banking. Milan produced metal goods and armor. The port city of Genoa was a trade center for ivory and gold from northern Africa. Venice, the most powerful city-state, had hundreds of ships that controlled the trade routes in the Mediterranean Sea. Silk, spices, and perfume from Asia flowed into Venice.

The city-states' wealth encouraged a boom in art, literature, and learning. Rich families paid for the creation of statues, paintings, beautiful buildings, and elegant avenues. They built new centers of learning, such as universities and hospitals. From the city-states of Italy, Renaissance ideas spread to the rest of Europe.

The Renaissance Spreads Through Europe

As you have read, the Renaissance began in Italy. From there, it spread to France, Germany, Flanders (modern-day Belgium), Holland, England, and Spain.

The diffusion of Renaissance ideas occurred through trade, travel, and education. Italy was the gateway to Europe for much of the trade from Asia, Africa, and the Greek-speaking cities of the east. Traders moved through Italy to the rest of Europe, bringing a rich flow of new ideas along with their goods.

Visitors to Italy also helped spread Renaissance ideas. People from all over Europe traveled to Italy to learn, as well as to trade. Scholars went to study humanism and medicine, while artists studied Italian painting and sculpture to learn new styles and techniques.

When these travelers returned home, many of them founded art schools and universities. Artists taught others what they had learned in Italy, and scholars began to teach the new ideas of experimentation, observation, and logic.

The spread of ideas was made even easier by the invention of the printing press, a machine that pressed inked type or plates onto paper to create many copies of a work. You may recall that the Chinese had learned to make paper and to print using wooden blocks, and the Koreans had invented a kind of movable type.Gradually, knowledge of papermaking and examples of Asian printing reached Europe.

In about 1450, a German named Johannes Gutenberg dramatically improved on existing printing methods when he invented a printing press that used movable type—characters that could be rearranged and used over again. Unlike the Chinese, who used wooden blocks, Gutenberg cast his type in metal, which was much more durable.

Before Gutenberg's invention, most books were written and copied by hand. It could take four or five months to copy a 200-page book. The new press could produce 300 pages in a single day. As a result, books and short works, called pamphlets, could be made much more quickly and cheaply.

The number of printers in Europe increased rapidly. People used printed matter to communicate new ideas, discoveries, and inventions. And, since printed material was more widely available, more people learned to read.

Advances in Literature

During the Renaissance, literature also changed with the rebirth of interest in classical ideas and the rise of humanism. The topics that people wrote about changed, as did their style of writing and the language in which they wrote.

New Topics and Styles of Writing

In medieval times, literature usually dealt with religious topics. Most writers used a formal, impersonal style and wrote in Latin. Their work could be read only by a few highly educated people.

In contrast, Renaissance writers were interested in individual experience in the real world. Writing about secular, or nonreligious, topics became more common. Writers used a more individual style and expressed thoughts and feelings about life. Most importantly, by the end of the Renaissance, most writers were writing in their own languages (vernacular), instead of in Latin. As a result, far more people could read their work.

Dante and The Divine Comedy

The first well-known writer to create in a native language was Dante Alighieri (DAHN-tay ahl-ee-GAIR-ee) of Florence. He wrote his best-known work, The Divine Comedy, in Italian in the early 1300s. This long poem describes Dante's imaginary journey through the afterlife. With the spirit of the ancient Roman poet Virgil as his guide, Dante witnesses the torments of souls condemned to the Inferno, which according to Christian belief is the place of punishment after death for one's sins. Virgil also takes Dante to Purgatorio, which according to Catholic tradition is a place where souls await entry into heaven. Then a beautiful woman named Beatrice shows Dante Paradiso, or heaven, which according to Christianity is a place of eternal life.

The Divine Comedy is a social commentary containing characters who were real people. The inhabitants of the Inferno include people of whom Dante disapproved, whereas people he admired appear in Paradiso.

Dante's work became a model for other Renaissance writers, such as Petrarch and Boccaccio. They described people's lives with a new intensity of feeling. Like Dante, they wrote using the vernacular, or common language, so their words reached many more people.

Leading Figures of the Renaissance

In what ways have various leading figures of the Renaissance affected modern society?

Introduction

The period in Europe known as the Renaissance began in Italy around 1300. From the 14th through the 16th centuries, Europe crackled with energy. Cities expanded while trade and commerce boomed. As artists and writers were experimenting with their crafts and creating wonderful works of art and literature, new ways of thinking led to many important inventions and scientific discoveries. Rulers and wealthy patrons supported the work of artists, scientists, and explorers.

Why was there so much creative energy during the Renaissance? One reason was that many people from all over Europe were traveling to Italy for trade and would spread Renaissance ideas after returning home. Another reason was the Renaissance idea that people should be educated in many areas. People who studied art or music, for example, were also interested in science. To this day we still use the term “Renaissance person” to describe someone who is skilled and knowledgeable in many fields.

Leonardo da Vinci is often considered to be the ideal Renaissance person. Leonardo trained mainly as a painter, but he was also a scientist, engineer, musician, and architect. In addition to designing fortifications, waterways, and machines, he studied and drew plants, animals, and people. He also sketched ideas for inventions that were far ahead of his time.

Leonardo is just one of the influential Renaissance figures you will study in this lesson. You will learn how contributions made by these leading figures affect society today. Additionally, you will learn how the Renaissance spread from its birthplace in Italy throughout Europe.

Leonardo da Vinci, Renaissance Person

Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) was born in a village near Florence in Italy. His wide range of interests and accomplishments made him a true Renaissance person.

Personality and Training

Leonardo trained in Florence under a master sculptor and painter. All his life he studied many subjects, including painting, sculpture, music, math, anatomy, botany, architecture, and engineering.

Leonardo spent much of his life in Florence and Milan where he worked as an artist, engineer, and architect for kings, popes, and wealthy commoners. He had a special love for animals and sometimes bought caged animals at the market and set them free.He also was a vegetarian, which was quite unusual at the time.

Talents and Achievements

Leonardo was gifted in many fields. He was an accomplished painter, sculptor, architect, and engineer.

Leonardo's notebooks show him to be one of the greatest creative minds of all time. Like Albrecht Dürer, he closely studied proportions and made precise drawings of people, animals, and plants. He also sketched out ideas about geometry and mechanics, the science of motion and force. He designed weapons, buildings, and a variety of machines. Many of the inventions he imagined, such as a helicopter and a submarine, were centuries ahead of their time.

Leonardo's paintings are among the world's greatest works of art. One of his masterpieces, the Mona Lisa, is a painting of a woman with a mysterious smile and is among the most famous paintings in the world. Like his other works, it displays a remarkable use of perspective, balance, and detail. The rich effects of shade and color reveal his close study of light. Students of his art also detect how principles of geometry helped him organize the space in his paintings.

Leonardo's work inspired other great artists, such as Michelangelo. With his many interests and talents, Leonardo is a perfect example of the spirit of the Renaissance.

Michelangelo, Italian Sculptor and Painter

Michelangelo (1475–1564) was one of the leading artists of the Renaissance. He was born in a small village near Florence and grew up to be one of the greatest painters and sculptors in history.

Personality and Training

Historians say that Michelangelo had a difficult childhood. His mother died when he was six years old, and his father was stern and demanding. Perhaps this troubled early life contributed to Michelangelo's famously bad temper. Although he was very religious, he was known to use fierce words when he was angry. He was also intensely ambitious.

When Michelangelo was 13, he became an apprentice to a painter in Florence. At 15, he began studying with a sculptor who worked for the powerful Medici family. Michelangelo lived for a time in the Medici household, where he met many leading thinkers, artists, and writers.

Talents and Achievements

Michelangelo was gifted in both sculpture and painting. His art combines Renaissance ideals of beauty with emotional expressiveness.

Michelangelo's sculptures show his amazing talent for carving lifelike figures from blocks of marble. When he was just 24, he carved his famous La Pietà, which shows Mary tenderly holding the body of Jesus across her lap. (A pietà is a depiction of Mary, the mother of Jesus, mourning over her dead son.)

Two other magnificent sculptures by Michelangelo are his David and Moses. Michelangelo's David—standing 17 feet tall—combines great beauty with the intense look of a youth who is about to go into battle. Michelangelo's Moses shows the strong, powerful figure of Moses holding the Ten Commandments, which, according to the Bible, he received from God.

Michelangelo is perhaps best known for painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the pope's chapel in Rome. He labored for almost four years on a high platform to complete this work. The curved ceiling, covered with brilliantly colored scenes from the Bible that contain over three hundred figures, continues to awe visitors to Rome today.

William Shakespeare, English Poet and Playwright

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was born in the English town of Stratford-upon-Avon. He was a major figure of the English Renaissance and is widely considered to be the world's greatest playwright and one of its finest poets.

Personality and Training

As a boy, Shakespeare studied Latin and classical literature in grammar school. Although he never went to a university, his plays show a broad knowledge of many subjects, from history and politics to music and art.

In his early twenties, Shakespeare became an actor with a theater company in London and learned about drama by performing and writing plays. Many of his plays were first presented at London's Globe Theatre where Queen Elizabeth, among many others, enjoyed his work.

Shakespeare had a reputation for being quiet and a bit mysterious, but his writings show that he was curious and keenly observant. He thought deeply about life and its sufferings, yet he also had a sense of humor and found much to laugh at in life.

Talents and Achievements

Shakespeare was a skilled actor, but he was an even greater poet and playwright. He had an enormous talent for expressing thoughts and feelings in memorable words. His plays show that he had a deep understanding of human behavior and emotions. Above all, he had the skill to present his understanding through vivid characters and exciting drama.

Shakespeare's poetry is widely admired, especially the 14-line poems called sonnets. However, he is best known for his 38 plays,which include comedies, tragedies, and histories. Many of his plays are still performed around the world, and several have been made into television series or movies. Among the most popular are Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, All's Well That Ends Well, and The Merchant of Venice.

Shakespeare's plays cover a broad range of subjects, including romance, politics, prejudice, murder, and war. His plays remain popular in part because he wrote about timeless, universal themes such as love, jealousy, power, ambition, hatred, and fear.

Shakespeare has had a deep influence on later writers and has also left a lasting mark on the English language. Many common sayings come from Shakespeare, such as “Much ado about nothing.” People often quote his witty, wise lines, sometimes without knowing that they owe their clever or graceful words to Shakespeare.

Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish Scientist

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) was born in Torun, Poland. He is often called the “father of modern astronomy.”

Personality and Training

When Copernicus was ten years old, his father died, so his uncle, a Catholic bishop, became his guardian. He made sure that Copernicus received a good education.

As a young man, Copernicus attended the University of Krakow in Poland before heading to Italy to study medicine and Church law. In Italy, he rented rooms from an astronomy teacher and soon became fascinated by astronomy.

Copernicus's scientific work would show that he was highly creative. He was also a free thinker, unafraid to question accepted beliefs.

Talents and Achievements

Copernicus was skilled in mathematics and observation. He based his thinking on what he truly saw, rather than on what he thought he should see.

Like other people of his time, Copernicus had been taught that Earth was at the center of the universe. According to this idea, the sun, stars, and planets travel around Earth.

As Copernicus studied the motion of the planets, he became dissatisfied with this explanation and proposed the revolutionary idea that Earth and the other planets orbit the sun. When Earth rotates, or turns, on its axis, it makes the sun and other objects in the heavens seem to move across the sky around Earth.

In 1514, Copernicus printed a booklet that outlined his theory. Then he began years of work on a full-length book titled On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres. (Celestial means “heavenly.”)

Copernicus dedicated his book to the pope. However, the idea of Earth traveling around the sun went against the Roman Catholic Church's belief that God had placed humans at the center of the universe. In 1616, the Church forbade people to read Copernicus's book.

Despite the Church's disapproval, Copernicus's theory had a major influence on a few key scientists, and it was eventually proved to be correct. Today, the Copernican theory is part of the basis of modern astronomy.