Renaissance Society

Late Middle Ages

Events faced in Europe:

• Climate change
• "Great Famine"
• Peasant revolts
• Great Schism
• Black Death

Impact of event:

• Decreased population
• Economic crash

Renaissance Recovery

Gradual economic recovery due to:

• Urbanization
• Expansion of trade
• Italian merchants were quick to dominate trade in the Mediterranean and spread it north along the Atlantic
• Increase in manufacturing

The Nobility

• Belonged to the 2nd estate
• Consisted of 2-3% of the population throughout most of Europe
• Dominated society
• Served as military officers, advised kings, and held political offices
• Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier

Peasants & Townspeople

• Belonged to the 3rd estate
• Consisted of 85-90% of the population throughout most of Europe
• Collapse of manorial system allowed serfs to gain freedom and peasants could rent land to work on
• Townspeople included merchants and artisans
• Urban Hierarchy:
• Patricians
• Burghers
• Property-less

Slavery

• Reintroduced in Italy after the Black Death
• Worked as household servants and/or skilled workers
• Slaves in Italy were brought in from the Black Sea and Mediterranean regions, Africa, and Spain (Muslims)
• Venice developed a prosperous slave trade market
• Began to decline in the late 15th century
• Some were viewed as dangerous
• Others were released for humanitarian reasons
• Ottoman conquest of the Byzantine Empire also decreased slavery

Marriage

• Arranged marriages used to maintain a family's social status
• Husband/Father was the center of the family
• Responsible for financial and legal matters
• Had absolute authority over the family

Children

Women:

• Manage household and raise children
• Upper class women constantly pregnant

Childbirth:

• Mothers and babies often died during childbirth
• At least 10% of mothers
• At least 50% children died before age 20

Sexual Norms

• Marriage ties ranged from formal to emotional
• 13 years was the average age difference between spouses, often leading to extramartial affairs
• Age of marriage for women: 16-18
• Age of marriage for men: 30s-40s
• Increase in prostitution, which was often regulated by governments through the establishment of brothels

Italian Renaissance Humanism

Studia Humanitatis:

• Intellectual movement based on classical litary works of Greece and Rome, with the goal of understanding human nature

Petrarch (Father of Italian Renaissance Humanism)

• Described the Middle Ages as a period of darkness
• Recovered lost Latin manuscripts (Cicero and Virgil)

Humanism in 15th Century Italy

Civic Humanism:

• Combination of classical ideas and political ideology

Leonardo Bruni:

• Florentine humanist and chancellor
• Believed that the study of humanities should be used in affairs of the state
• Encouraged humanists to take positions as chancellors, advisers and councilors to the government

Lorenzo Valla

• Papal secretary
• Restored Latin as the language of power

Humanism and Philosophy

Marsilio Ficino

• Tranlated Plato's works

Neoplatonism

• Combination of Christian beliefs and the philosophies of Plato

Christian Humanists

• Northern humanists who interpreted classical antiquity and humanism

Liberal Studies

• Study of history, moral philosophy, rhetoric, grammar, logic, math, poetry, astronomy, and music
• Humanists believed that education could change and improve human nature

Purpose of Education

• Prepare students to become model citizens
• Schools were created mostly for elite males, although some areas offered free education for children
• Women in education
• Most girls were excluded from receiving an education
• Those from ruling families were usually taught history and poetry, and were taught to dance and sing

Interpretations of History

• History became more secular
• Historians began relying on the use of documents to examine past events
• The study of history was also divided into more distinct eras:
• Ancient world
• Dark ages
• Rebirth of the classics

Guicciardini

• 16th century historian
• Explained that history was a way of teaching lessons
• Analyzed political events critically using personal experience and documents

Johannes Gutenberg

• Produced the first moveable-type printed book (Gutenberg's Bible)
• Venice became a major printing center, producing nearly 2 million volumes by 1500
• By 1500:
• 1,000+ printers across Europe
• 50% of printed material was of religious content
• Other printed material included Greek and Latin classics, legal books, philosophies, and romances

Importance of Printing

• Became the largest industry in Europe
• Literacy rates increased across Europe
• New religious ideas were able to spread more quickly

Art in the Early Renaissance

• Naturalism: the focus on imitating nature
• Focus on the individual
• Masaccio's frescoes in the Brancaccai Chapel was the first masterpiece of the early Renaissance
• New aspects of artistic style:
• Using mathematics and laws of perspective in terms of lighting and space
• Use of movement and anatomical structure

Sandro Botticelli

• Florentine painter
• Incorporated Greek and Roman mythology into his paintings
• Primavera (masterpiece) was seen as a movement away from the realism of early Renaissance art

Donato de Donatello

• Sculptor in Florence
• Studied and copied classic statues
• Most famous work: statue of David standing on the head of Goliath

Filippo Brunelleschi

• Florentine architect
• Friend of Donatello
• Designed and constructed the dome of the Duomo
• Commissioned by the Medici to design and construct the Church of San Lorenzo, which was heavily inspired by Roman architecture (domes and arches)

High Renaissance

• 1480-1520
• Final stage of Renaissance art
• Rome became the cultural center of Italian Renaissance
• Shift of artistic focus to more individualistic forms of expression

Leonardo da Vinci

• Renaissance man
• Last Supper
• An example of the use of perspective and space to create 3D figures
• His artwork moved beyond realism and showed emotional interactions

Raphael

• Regarded as one of Italy's best painters
• Protrayed an ideal of beauty that went beyong haman standards
• Painted several madonnas and frecoes in the Vatican palace, using Greek and Roman styles

Michelangelo

• Painter, sculptor, and architect
• Influenced by Neoplatonism
• Commissioned by Pope Julius to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
• Exemplified the style of idealizing the human form (Creation of Adam)
• David
• Sculpture of the ideal human form
• Largest sculpture in Italy since the Roman Empire (14ft tall)
• Glorified the human form

Middle Ages

• Viewed as artisans
• Worked in guilds
• Earned wages through patrons
• Patrons commissioned works of art in specific styles or of specific images

High Renaissance

• Artists viewed as geniuses
• Celebrated for their creativity and talent
• Artists quickly became wealthy
• Eventually welcomed as equals in the upper classes

Focus of Artists and Artwork

• Illuminated manuscripts
• Devotional art
• Altarpiece paintings
• Due to lack of space, artists focused more on including more details in paintings

Jan van Eyck

• One of the first to use oil paints
• Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride

Jan van Eyck

Albrecht Durer

• Artist from Nuremberg
• Studied perspective and proportion in Italy
• Used minute details in his paintings, while incorporating Italian techniques
• Adoration of the Magi

Music in the Renaissance

Guillaume Dufay

• Frence composer
• Considered one of the most important composers of his time