lecture 1 introduction renaissance in italy f09

8/12/2019 Lecture 1 Introduction Renaissance in Italy F09

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Early Renaissance in Italy

Lecture 1

Introduction to

Renaissance


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The Renaissance

Frenchfor"rebirth"; Italian:Rinascimento,fromre"again"andnascere"beborn.

A cultural movementthat

spanned

roughly

the

14th

to

the

17thcentury,beginningin Florence inthe LateMiddleAges andlaterspreadingtotherestof Europe. Thereisageneral,butnotunchallenged,consensusthattheRenaissance

began

in Florence, Tuscany in

the

14th

century.

Varioustheorieshavebeenproposedtoaccountforitsorigins

andcharacteristics,

focusing

on

avariety

of

factors

includingthesocialandcivicpeculiaritiesof Florence atthetime;itspoliticalstructure;thepatronageofitsdominantfamily,the Medici; andthemigrationof Greekscholars and

textsto

Italy

following

the Fall

of

Constantinople

at

the

handsofthe OttomanTurks.


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CitiesandstatesbeyondcentralItaly,suchasthe Republicof

Florence

at

this

time,

were

also

notable

for

their

merchant Republics,especiallythe RepublicofVenice.

Therelativepoliticalfreedomtheyaffordedwasconducivetoacademicandartisticadvancement. Likewise,theposition

ofItalian

cities

such

as

Venice

as

great

trading

centers

madethemintellectualcrossroads.

Merchants broughtwiththemideasfromfarcornersoftheglobe,particularly theMiddleEast.

Venicewas

Europe's

gateway

to

trade

with

the

East,

and

a

produceroffine glass,whileFlorencewasacapitalofsilk.

Thewealth

of

such

business

brought

to

Italy

meant

large

publicandprivateartisticprojectscouldbecommissionedandindividualshadmoreleisuretimeforstudy.


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TheBlackDeath13481350

TheRenaissance's

emergence

in

Italy

was

most

likely

the

result

of

the

complex

interactionofmanyfactors.

DevastationcausedbytheBlackDeathin Florence,whichhit Europe between1348and1350,resultedinashiftintheworldviewofpeoplein14thcenturyItaly.

Italywas

badly

hit

by

the

plague,

and

it

has

been

speculated

that

the

familiarity

withdeaththatthisbroughtcausedthinkerstodwellmoreontheirlivesonEarth,ratherthanon spirituality andthe afterlife.

IthasalsobeenarguedthattheBlackDeathpromptedanewwaveofpiety,

manifested

in

the sponsorship of

religious

works

of

art.TheBlackDeathwasapandemicthataffectedallofEuropeinthewaysdescribed,notonlyItaly.

Inthewakeoftheblackdeath,reducedpopulationleftworkforcesdepleted:thistended,throughoutEurope,togiveworkersmorebargainingpower,

particularlyskilled

workers.

This

lead

to

ashift

of

power

away

from

rulers

andtowardsworkersandmerchants,particularlyinsmallerstates(suchascomposedItalyatthetime

Theplague's

economic

and

consequent

political

legacy

have

helped

set

the

scenefortheRenaissance.


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Lorenzode'

Medici,

ruler

of

Florenceandpatronofarts

CulturalconditionsinFlorence

Whythe

Renaissance

began

in Florence,andnotelsewhereinItaly?severalfeaturesuniquetoFlorentineculturallifewhichmayhavecausedsuchaculturalmovement:

theroleplayedbythe Medici,a bankingfamily andlater ducalhousefamily,inpatronizingand

stimulating

the

arts.

Lorenzode'Medici (1449 1492)wasthecatalystforanenormousamountofartspatronage,

encouraginghis

countryman

to

commissionworksfromFlorence'sleadingartists,includingLeonardodaVinci, SandroBotticelli,

and MichelangeloBuonarroti.


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Humanism

Insome

ways Humanism was

not

aphilosophy

per

se,

but

ratheramethodoflearning.

Incontrasttothemedieval scholastic mode,whichfocusedonresolvingcontradictionsbetweenauthors,humanistswouldstudy

ancient

texts

in

the

original,

and

appraise

them

throughacombinationofreasoningandempiricalevidence.

Humanisteducationwasbasedontheprogramof'Studia

Humanitatis:thestudyoffivehumanities:poetry, grammar, history, moral

philosophy and rhetoric.

themovement

to

recover,

interpret,

and

assimilate

the

language,literature,learningandvaluesofancientGreeceandRome;aboveall,humanistsassertedthegeniusof

man,

the

unique

and

extraordinary

ability

of

the

human

mind."


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Humanistscholars

Humanistscholars

shaped

the

intellectual

landscape

throughouttheearlymodernperiod.Politicalphilosopherssuchas Niccol Machiavelli and ThomasMorerevivedtheideasofGreekandRomanthinkers,andappliedthemin

critiquesof

contemporary

government.

Machiavelli'scontribution,intheviewof IsaiahBerlin,wasadecisivebreakinwesternpoliticalthoughtallocatingauniquereasoningtopoliticsandfaithandperhapsmakinghim

the

father

of

the

social

sciences.

Picodella Mirandola wholivedtoonlytwentythreeyearswrotewhatisoftenconsideredthemanifestoofthe

Renaissance,avibrant

defense

of

thinking,

the

Oration

on

theDignityofMan.

Theologians,notably Erasmus and MartinLuther,challengedthe Aristotelian statusquo,introducingradicalnewideas

ofjustification and faith.


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TheScientificRevolutionTheupheavalsoccurringintheartsandhumanitiesweremirroredbya

dynamicperiod

of

change

in

the

sciences.

Some

have

seen

this

flurry

of

activityasa"scientificrevolution",heraldingthebeginningofthemodernage. Othershaveseenitmerelyasanaccelerationofacontinuousprocessstretchingfromtheancientworldtothepresentday.

ScienceandartwereverymuchintermingledintheearlyRenaissance,withartists

such

as Leonardo

da Vinci:

he

set

up

controlled

experiments

in

waterflow,medicaldissection,andsystematicstudyofmovementandaerodynamics;hedevisedprinciplesofresearchmethodthatclassifyhimasfatherofmodernscience.

Perhapsthe

most

significant

development

of

the

era

was

not

aspecific

discovery,butratheraprocessfordiscovery,the scientificmethod.

Thisrevolutionarynewwayoflearningabouttheworldfocusedonempiricalevidence,theimportanceof mathematics,anddiscardingtheAristotelian"finalcause"infavorofa mechanicalphilosophy.

Earlyand

influential

proponents

of

these

ideas

included Copernicus and Galileo.theCopernicanrevolutionreallyistheGalileanCartesian(RenDescartes)revolution,onaccountofthenatureofthecourageanddepthofchangetheirworkbroughtabout.

The

new

scientific

method

led

to

great

contributions

in

the

fields

of astronomy, physics, biology,and anatomy.


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GiorgioVasari:LARINASCITA

Bythe15thcentury,writers,artistsandarchitectsinItalywerewellawareofthetransformationsthatweretakingplaceandwereusingphraseslikemodi antichi(intheantique

manner)

oralle romana et

alla antica(in

the

manneroftheRomansandtheancients)todescribetheirwork.

ThetermLA

RINASCITAfirst

appeared,

however,

in

its

broad

senseinGiorgioVasari'sVite de'pi eccellenti architetti,pittori,etscultori Italiani(TheLivesoftheArtists,1550)

Itwas

not

just

the

growing

awareness

of

classical

antiquity

thatdrovethisdevelopment,accordingtoVasari,butalsothegrowingdesiretostudyandimitatenature.


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Information

revolution:printingpress

A printingpressisamechanicaldeviceforapplyingpressuretoaninkedsurface

resting

upon

a

medium

(such

as

paper

or

cloth),thereby

transferring

an

image.

Themechanicalsystemsinvolvedwerefirstassembledin Germany by

the goldsmith JohannesGutenberg around

1440,basedonexistingscrewpressesusedtopresscloth,grapes,etc.andpossibly prints. Gutenbergwasthefirstin Europe todevelopaprintingpress.

Duringthe Renaissance era,printingmethodsbasedonGutenberg'sprintingpressspreadrapidlythroughoutfirst Europe

and

then

the

rest

of

the

world.

Iteventuallyreplacedmostversionsofblockprinting,makingitthemostusedformatofmodern movabletype,untilbeing

supersededby

the

advent

of offset

printing.


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EarlyRenaissance

inItaly:

FilippoBrunelleschi

LeonBatista

Alberti


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First Published in 1486

TableofContents

BookI:Siting aTown

BookII:Materials

BookII:Temples

BookIV:

Temple

doors,

atlers

andorders

BookV:CivilPublicSpaces

BookVI:

Private

Houses

BookVII:WallPaintings

BookVIII:Water

Book

IX:

Prologue

geometry,

architect'splace,

etc.

BookX:Prologuecostoverruns,machines,etc.


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VitruvianMan

Renowned drawing created

by Leonardoda Vinci around

the

year1487.Itisaccompaniedbynotesbasedontheworkofthefamedarchitect, VitruviusPollio.Thedrawing,whichisinpenand

inkon

paper,

depicts

amale

figureintwosuperimposedpositionswithhisarmsandlegsapartandsimultaneouslyinscribedinacircleandsquare.

Thedrawing

is

based

on

the

correlationsofidealhumanproportionswithgeometrydescribedbytheancientRoman

architect Vitruvius in

Book

III

of

histreatise

De

Architectura.

Vitruviusdescribedthehumanfigureasbeingtheprincipalsourceofproportionamong

the Classicalorders of

architecture..


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lecture 1 introduction renaissance in italy f09

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