The City of Florence

Florence was Italy's leading cultural center during the Renaissance. The city was the birthplace of the great poet Dante Alighieri (ahl-ee-GAIR-ee). The famed painter and sculptor Michelangelo grew up there, as did the brilliant thinker and artist Leonardo da Vinci. Other Florentines, such as the sculptor Donatello and the painter Botticelli, also achieved great works of art, wealth, and fame during the Renaissance. What factors helped Florence to become such a wealthy city? One answer is its location. Renaissance Italy was divided into city-states, one of which was Florence. The city's location on the Arno River made it an important center for trade and commerce. Florence became the hub of woolen-cloth trading for all of Europe. In the early 14th century, Florence also became Europe's banking center. About 100,000 people lived inside the city walls.

Renaissance Florence was dominated by a single family known as the Medici, who had acquired their wealth through banking. With their help, Florence became the banking center of Europe. Banking, along with the wool trade, created wealth that supported intense cultural activity in Florence. The city and its rich residents could afford to be patrons of talented artists and thinkers. The Medici family, for example, spent lavish sums on art. Their home was a gathering place for artists, such as Michelangelo, philosophers, and poets.

Over time, Florentines inspired still more creative activity. People learned from one another, and they sometimes competed to produce even greater works of art. Florentines were also influenced by ideas from other places since the city drew travelers from many parts of the world. Some came to do business. Some came to study art with Florence's master artists. Others came to learn at the city's schools and libraries. These visitors brought new ideas, goods, and technologies to the city.

Florentines were also inspired by the freedom of ideas that was at the core of humanism. Humanists prized the individual and tried to look with fresh eyes at nature and human society. You will see the influence of humanism throughout this section as you study examples of Renaissance advances.

Advances in Architecture and Engineering

Like humanist scholars of the Renaissance, architects and engineers were also influenced by classical ideas. Renaissance architects studied Greek and Roman ruins, modeling their own buildings on what they learned. They were particularly attracted to rounded arches, straight columns, and domed roofs.

Renaissance Architecture and Engineering

Renaissance architects also added their own ideas to classical building styles.During the Renaissance, wealthy families built private townhouses known as palazzi (pahl-AH-tzee), which is Italian for “palaces.” Many had shops on the ground floor and homes above. Most palazzi were built around a private courtyard, which might contain statues or other works of art. Public spaces were often influenced by humanist ideals. For example, humanists valued good citizenship. Architects designed public buildings with outdoor plazas where citizens could gather in settings that were grand, yet welcoming.

Innovations in engineering made new kinds of architecture possible. One of the most impressive architectural feats of the Renaissance is Santa Maria del Fiore, the great cathedral in Florence. Florentines started building this eight-sided cathedral in 1296, but they had to leave an opening for the dome because, at the time, they did not know how to build a sufficiently large dome that would not collapse. It took a Renaissance architect, Filippo Brunelleschi (feel-EE-poh broon-el-ESkey), to solve the problem.

Building Florence's Dome

Brunelleschi had studied ancient ruins in Rome and had also learned about the mathematics involved in constructing buildings. The dome he designed for the cathedral required true engineering genius. It used no internal support beams or columns. Instead, eight huge stone arches met at the top of the dome and leaned against each other. Hoops of iron, wood, and brick wrapped around the arches, keeping them in place.The magnificent dome, which was completed in 1436, rose more than 300 feet above the city. Santa Maria del Fiore, also known as the Duomo, still stands today, more than five hundred years later. From its top you can see most of the city of Florence.

Advances in Painting

Wealthy patrons made Renaissance Florence a thriving center of art. The Medici family spent huge amounts of money on fine palaces, paintings, and statues. The Palazzo Medici was filled with works of art commissioned, or ordered, by the family. Patrons such as the Medici family created opportunities for talented painters, who made a number of advances in style and technique. Renaissance painters were influenced by the renewed interest in classical culture and the spread of humanism. They wanted to depict real people who were posed in lifelike ways and whose faces expressed emotions. Additionally, they wanted to include realistic settings. The result was a new style of painting.

The Use of Perspective

One key advance made by Renaissance painters was the use of perspective, which created the appearance of depth on a flat surface. Renaissance artists used several techniques to achieve depth. One was the size of objects. The smaller a painted object, the farther away it appears to be. The larger an object, the closer it appears to be. Painters also learned that a feeling of depth could be created by lines that came closer together as they receded into the distance. They discovered that careful shading could give figures and objects depth to make them look three-dimensional. Adoration of the Magi, a famous painting by Sandro Botticelli, demonstrates some of these techniques.

The Influence of Science and Mathematics

Science and mathematics also helped artists make other advances. The Florentine artist Masaccio used geometry to figure out how to divide the space in a painting to make scenes appear more lifelike. Some artists studied anatomy by observing bodies and how they moved. Their studies helped them to portray the human body more realistically. Renaissance science gave painters new materials, such as oil-based paints, which were made by mixing powdered pigments with linseed oil. This type of paint was thicker and dried more slowly than the older, egg-based paint, so artists did not have to work so quickly. Oil paint also allowed artists to paint over previous work and to show details and texture in new ways.

Advances in Sculpture

Like painters, Renaissance sculptors were influenced by the humanist interest in realism. Also inspired by ancient Roman statues dug up from ruins, sculptors began carving figures that looked like real people. For the first time since the days of ancient Greece and Rome, sculptors made freestanding statues that could be viewed on all sides. This was very different from the sculptures of medieval times, so the new statues caused a sensation. They seemed to symbolize the humanist ideals of nature, realism, and the importance of the individual.

The Work of Donatello

A Florentine artist named Donatello was one of the first sculptors to use the new, more lifelike style in his work, which expressed personality and mood. A good example is his life-sized statue of David, the young warrior in the Bible story of David and Goliath. In the 1500s, Giorgio Vasari, an architect and painter, wrote that Donatello's David is “so natural . . . it is almost impossible . . . to believe it was not molded on the living form.” This statue is thought to be the first freestanding statue since ancient times.

The Work of Michelangelo

Donatello's David influenced Michelangelo, another great artist of the Renaissance who is known for both for his painting and his sculpture. He was also a talented poet and architect. Of all these arts, he preferred sculpture because it seemed to bring his subjects to life. Michelangelo created his own majestic statue of David, which may be the world's most widely admired sculpture. Carved in white marble, Michelangelo's David stands about seventeen feet tall. The statue's expression shows the concentration and tension of a real youth on the verge of battle. Michelangelo's David was installed in the Piazza della Signoria, the plaza in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. It became the prized expression of Renaissance genius in Florence, and Michelangelo had an enormous influence on other artists.

Donatello's "David" Michelangelo's "David" Michelangelo's "Pieta"

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, 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.

Advances in Science and Mathematics

The Renaissance was not just a time of progress in the arts. Scholars and others also made great advances in science and mathematics. Before the Renaissance, most of what people believed about the natural world was based on ideas in ancient Greek and Roman texts. As the humanist spirit took hold, people started questioning old ideas and began carefully observing the world around them. Instead of relying on old books and theories, scientists began to perform experiments and analyze the results using mathematics and logic. This approach to research changed the study of science.

Leonardo da Vinci

One of the most creative Renaissance thinkers was Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo was an artist, a scientist, an engineer, and an inventor who studied under artists in Florence and did his early work there. Leonardo was endlessly curious about all aspects of the world around him, refusing to accept anything as true until he had proved it himself. In his notebooks, he made sketches and wrote about an amazing variety of topics such as geometry, engineering, sound, motion, and architecture. He studied anatomy, including the circulation of blood and the workings of the eye. He learned about the effects of the moon on Earth's tides. He was the first person to draw maps from an aerial, or above-ground, view. He designed bridges, weapons, and many other machines. Among his many farsighted ideas were an underwater diving suit and a helicopter.

Paving the Way of Modern Science and Mathematics

Other Italian scientists and mathematicians made breakthroughs as well. Girolamo Cardano solved complex equations in algebra and did pioneering work in probability, the science of chance. Galileo Galilei conducted important experiments about gravity, proving that a heavier object and a lighter object fall at the same rate. If the two objects are dropped from the same height, they reach the ground at the same time. Galileo also built the first telescope used to look into space. With his telescope, he was able to discover sunspots and the moons of the planet Jupiter. By emphasizing observation and experimentation, Galileo and other Renaissance scholars paved the way for modern science and mathematics.

Florentine Politics

The local government of Florence was housed in the Palazzo Vecchio, or Old Palace. Like other Italian city-states, Florence was ruled under a series of governing boards that were often controlled by rich families. The powerful Medici family controlled Florence for nearly three centuries.

The Medici Family

The Medici maintained their power in a number of ways. With their vast wealth, they built palaces and were able to maintain a strong army. They were involved in or controlled all aspects of life in the city. They were great sponsors of artists, writers, and musicians, whose works beautified Florence and made the city famous. The Medici also were constantly watchful for enemies who plotted against the family.

One of the most powerful members of the Medici family was Lorenzo the Magnificent. A leading patron of art and scholarship, Lorenzo ruled Florence for more than twenty years, from 1469 until his death in 1492. Two years later, a revolution forced the Medici into temporary exile until the family regained power in 1512.

A Book About Politics

A Florentine statesman and historian, Niccolò Machiavelli (mahk-ee-uh-VEL-ee), watched these struggles for power. During the Medici's exile, he reorganized the city's defenses. He also served as a diplomat and spent time observing the actions of other Italian rulers. Machiavelli used his experiences to write a book called The Prince, which is his account of how politics and government really work. Machiavelli advises rulers to make their states strong by doing what works best, rather than by doing what is good or moral. He said that they should even lie if it helps them to rule. In his view, the end, or purpose, justifies the means—the actions taken to achieve that purpose. Rulers, he wrote, should be feared rather than loved. The Prince seems to contradict humanist ideals about people's goodness. Its cold realism shocked many readers of the time. Yet in other ways, the book shows the influence of humanist ideas since it is the product of one individual's careful observation and thinking and is concerned with how things really work in the world. It also separates ideas about government from ideas about religion, making The Prince a very modern work.

Florentine Commerce and Trade

One reason why Florence became a cultural center was the wealth that trade and commerce brought to the city. A thriving banking industry developed. Over time, Florence became Europe's banking hub and grew richer than the largest kingdoms in Europe. Popes and kings alike borrowed money from its 80 banks.

There were two market centers in Renaissance Florence. At the Mercato Vecchio, or Old Market, people bought everyday items, such as food. The Mercato Vecchio was crowded and noisy since people from all over Europe came there to buy and sell goods.

The Mercato Nuovo, or New Market, was built in the mid-1500s as a center for the city's cloth and banking industries. City officials banned food and weapons there because they wanted it to be clean and orderly to show that commerce was highly valued in Florence.

The Mercato Nuovo became one of the largest financial marketplaces in Europe. People traveled from far and wide to get loans or to convert their money into florins, which could be exchanged for goods anywhere in 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.