AP European History
AP European History
The Renaissance began in Florence, Italy, and subsequently spread to the rest of Italy and then to Northern Europe. Unlike other areas of Europe, Italian cities had survived the economic crises of the late Middle Ages. Italian towns had remained important centers of Mediterranean trade and boosted their production of textiles and luxury goods. Furthermore, Italy was the center of ancient Roman history. Architectural remains, statues, and amphitheatres were visible reminders to Italians of the “Glory of Rome.”
At the time of Renaissance, Italy was made up of numerous city-states that were geographically situated to benefit from the revival of trade that had developed as a result of the Crusades. The northern city-states of Florence, Venice, and Genoa acted as middlemen in the lucrative trade with the East. These Northern independent city-states marketed goods such as wool, silk, and other products to countries in Europe and Asia. They became prosperous centers of banking, trade, and manufacturing.
The cities of Northern Italy also benefited from being able to absorb stimulating new ideas from their advanced Byzantine and Muslim neighbors on the Mediterranean Sea. By 1350, the city-states of Florence, Venice, and Genoa were urban regions with a population of about 100,000, a large figure by medieval standards. The conditions were right for these cities to undergo a cultural explosion.
At the height of the Renaissance, several city-states, including the Republic of Genoa, the Republic of Florence, the Duchy of Milan, the Venetian Republic, the Papal States, and the Kingdom of Naples, were important. Within these city-states, merchants used their wealth as stepping-stones to economic and political leadership. Bankers made loans to kings and supported other commercial ventures that contributed to economic growth across Europe. Men like Francesco Sforza in Milan and Cosimo de’ Medici in Florence, who gained power because of their own merit and not based on birth, became sponsors of the arts. They began to realize that their wealth enabled them to enjoy the material pleasures of life as well as fine fashion, arts, and architecture.
Florence, the most dominant of the Italian cities, became known as the symbol of the Renaissance. Like ancient Athens, Florence attracted people of talents from other Italian city-states. The Quattrocento, a common historical term for the Golden Age of the Renaissance, began in the 1400s when the Medici family of Florence exerted power over that city. The Medici family was a merchant family who amassed a fortune in the wool trade and expanded into banking. It provided Florence with political and artistic leadership.
Through marriages, the Medici family became affiliated with the major houses of Europe. Besides acquiring the “Grand Dukes of Tuscany” title, the Medici family produced three popes (Leo X, Clement VII, and Leo XI), two queens of France (Catherine de Medici and Marie de Medici), and several cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church. The rise of the Medicis in Florence coincided with the triumph of the capitalist class over the guild merchants and artisans. The Medicis also exerted control over the government without holding any permanent official position, ruling Florence as part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany until the 1700s. However, the Medicis were driven from power and expelled from Florence three times: in 1433 to 1434, from 1494 to 1512, and from 1527 to 1530. The attempts (such as the Pazzi conspiracy of 1478) of the Florentine republicans to restore the former liberties ultimately failed because of the Medicis’ wealth and connections.
In 1434, Cosimo de’ Medici (1389–1464) took control of the government of Florence. He was a shrewd political leader who was also the wealthiest man of his time but chose to rule Florence by staying behind the scenes. He controlled local politics by insuring that all eight members of the city council were loyal to him. He ruled for thirty years as a dictator and won the support of the people by championing popular causes.
Lorenzo de’ Medici (1449–1492), Cosimo’s grandson, also known as Lorenzo the Magnificent, was a clever politician who never held any public office but ruled with absolute control behind the scenes. Lorenzo represented the Renaissance ideal. He was a generous patron of the arts who saw the beauty of present life as complete fulfillment. Poets and philosophers visited the Medici palace. Lorenzo, who wrote poetry, supported artists such as Michelangelo (1475–1564) and Botticelli (1445–1510) and encouraged them to visit Florence.
Lorenzo’s son, Giovanni de’ Medici (1475–1521), who became Pope Leo X from 1513–1521, was also an important patron of the arts. He is remembered more for his interest in art than as a pope. He was a patron of the genius Raphael (1483–1520), who was one of the Renaissance’s greatest Italian painters. Raphael painted a number of Madonnas, mostly during his time in Florence. Giovanni also promoted the rebuilding of St. Peter’s Church in Rome.
The defining concept of the Renaissance was humanism, a literary movement that began in Italy during the fourteenth century. Humanism was a distinct movement because it broke from the medieval tradition of having pious religious motivation for creating art or works of literature. Humanist writers were concerned with worldly or secular subjects rather than strictly religious themes. Such emphasis on secularism was the result of a more materialistic view of the world. Unlike the Medieval Era, Renaissance people were concerned with money and the enjoyment of life and all its worldly pleasures. Humanist writers glorified the individual and believed that man was the measure of all things and had unlimited potential.
Humanism had far-reaching effects throughout Italy and Europe. The advent of humanism ended the church dominance of written history. Humanist writers secularized the view of history by writing from a nonreligious viewpoint.
The Humanists also had a great effect on education. They believed that education stimulated the creative powers of the individual. They supported studying grammar, poetry, and history, as well as mathematics, astronomy, and music. Humanists promoted the concept of the well-rounded, or Renaissance man, who was proficient in both intellectual and physical endeavors.
Humanist writers sought to understand human nature through a study of classical writers such as Plato and Aristotle. They believed that the classical writers of Ancient Greece and Rome could teach important ideas about life, love, and beauty. The revival of interest in the classical models of Greece and Rome was centered primarily among the educated people of the Italian city-states and focused on literature and writing.
During the Middle Ages in Western Europe, Latin was the language of the Church and the educated people. The Humanist writers began to use the vernacular, the national languages of a country, in addition to Latin.
Some important Italian Humanists are:
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494) was an Italian who lived in Florence and expressed in his writings the belief that there were no limits to what man could accomplish.
Francesco Petrarca, known as Petrarch (1304–1374) was the Father of Humanism, a Florentine who spent his youth in Tuscany and lived in Milan and Venice. He was a collector of old manuscripts and through his efforts the speeches of Cicero and the poems of Homer and Virgil became known to Western Europe. Petrarch’s works also led to the rise of people known as Civic Humanists, or those individuals who were civic-minded and looked to the governments of the ancient worlds for inspiration. Petrarch also wrote sonnets in Italian. Many of these sonnets expressed his love for the beautiful Laura. His sonnets greatly influenced other writers of the time.
Leonardo Bruni (1369–1444), who wrote a biography of Cicero, encouraged people to become active in the political as well as the cultural life of their cities. was a historian who today is most famous for The History of the Florentine Peoples, a 12-volume work. He was also the Chancellor of Florence from 1427 until 1444.
Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375) wrote The Decameron. These hundred short stories were related by a group of young men and women who fled to a villa outside Florence to escape the Black Death. Boccaccio’s work is considered to be the best prose of the Renaissance.
Baldassare Castiglione (1478–1529) wrote one of the most widely-read books, The Courtier, which set forth the criteria on how to be the ideal Renaissance man. Castiglione’s ideal courtier was a well-educated, mannered aristocrat who was a master in many fields from poetry to music to sports.
Humanism represented some advances for women. During the Middle Ages, few women could read or write outside of the convents. In the cities of the Renaissance, upper-class girls received an education similar to boys. Young ladies studied the writings of ancient Greek and Rome. Some women could also speak one or two modern languages such as French or Spanish and a small minority achieved some fame. In the latter sixteenth century, at least 25 women published books in Italy. Laura Cereta (1469–1499) reflected the success and failure of humanist women. Educated in a convent, she learned languages, philosophy, theology, and mathematics. However, by 15, like other educated women, she had to choose between marriage and full participation in social life or to study and withdraw from the world. Although Cereta chose marriage, she was widowed after only eighteen months of marriage and spent the remaining twelve years studying and withdrawing from society.
Although some Renaissance women were better educated than their medieval counterparts, their education prepared them for the social function of domestic or home life. They were expected to use their education to run a household. Educated men, however, were supposed to know how to rule and to participate in public affairs. The ideal was different for men and women. The ideal woman offered balance to man. She was vibrant but not too reserved. She also had to be beautiful because that was a sign of goodness.
Renaissance art has the following characteristics:
Some Renaissance artists include the following:
Giotto (1267–1337) was born in Florence and helped to make it the first great center of the Renaissance. He is famous for his frescoes (paintings on walls), such as St. Francis Preaching to the Birds. His realistic paintings replaced the artificial two-dimensional art represented in the Middle Ages. He also designed a bell tower, usually called Giotto’s Tower, for the Cathedral of Florence.
Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378–1455) was a Florentine sculptor. He is famous for the bronze doors of the Baptistery, a great cathedral in Florence. The ten panels on the door took 21 years to complete and depict realistic scenes from the Bible.
Donatello (1386–1466) was the most influential Florentine artist before Michelangelo. He revived the classical figure of the nude body with its balance and self-awareness. His work, David, was the first nude statue of the Renaissance.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) is known as a “Renaissance man,” a person expert in many fields who has a wide range of interests. He was a painter, sculptor, inventor, architect, musician, engineer, and scientist. He dissected human corpses to see how muscles and bones worked. His sketchbooks include plans for a flying machine and underwater boats. His paintings also include The Last Supper, which was painted with oil on a plaster wall. His most famous painting is the Mona Lisa.
Michelangelo (1475–1564), like da Vinci, was skilled in many areas. He was a sculptor, engineer, poet, painter, and architect. His murals of biblical figures and scenes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel are his most famous work. His sculptured masterpiece of the fourteen-foot statue of David in the city of Florence is considered a propaganda tool to inspire the citizens in their struggle against Milan. Michelangelo also carved the Pietà, showing Mary grieving over the dead Jesus, and designed the dome of St. Peter’s Church in Rome.
Raphael (1438–1520) worked in Florence and Rome. He is considered to be the greatest painter of the Renaissance. Although he is famous for his beautiful Madonnas, especially Sister Madonna, his fresco, The School of Athens, is considered to be the greatest masterpiece of the Renaissance Art. Raphael’s realistic portrayal of Aristotle and Plato, combined with God, the Father, holding the globe and St. Augustine dictating the City of God, exemplify the realistic religious themes of the Renaissance. His use of proportion and perspective add to the quality of the fresco.
Frans Hals (c1580–1666) painted portraits of everyday life that captured the spirit of the Dutch people. His well-known work, The Laughing Cavalier, is probably one of the most reproduced paintings in art.
Rembrandt (1606–1669) is considered the greatest Dutch painter. He is famous for his realism and dramatic use of light and shade. His paintings include religious subjects and scenes from everyday life. His most famous works include the Night Watch and Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer.
El Greco (The Greek) (1541–1614) was a Spanish artist. He painted religious scenes, such as The Assumption of the Virgin, and landscapes, such as View of Toledo.
Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) was a German artist who is famous for his metal and wood engravings. His most noteworthy work is Praying Hands.