AP European History

Crash Course

The Italian Renaissance

III. The Renaissance Spirit

• A. The Medieval Mind-Set
  • 1. Medieval thinkers believed that God had created the world to prepare humans for salvation or eternal damnation. Human beings and their lives on earth were equally insignificant. The individual was of no importance.
  • 2. Medieval artists did not win fame as individuals. The architects, glassmakers, and sculptors who designed and decorated Europe’s great cathedrals worked for the glory of God, not for personal glory.
• B. A New Celebration of the Individual
  • 1. Unlike feudal nobles, Italian merchants did not inherit their social rank. Success in business depended mostly on the merchants’ own skill. As a result, prosperous merchants took pride in their achievements. They believed they were successful because of their merit as individuals.
  • 2. Like the merchants, northern Italian artists and writers were eager to be known and remembered as individuals. From this time on, we know the names of people who created works of art. Fame thus became a reward for superior talent.
  • 3. Portrait painting and autobiography illustrate the interest in individual personality and fame. Wealthy patrons wanted their portraits recorded for posterity. Renaissance artists often included self-portraits in their paintings. Autobiographies were the written equivalents of self-portraits.
  • 4. Renaissance individualism stressed the importance of personality, the development of unique talents, and the pursuit of fame and glory. By displaying the full range of human abilities, a Renaissance person demonstrated the highly-prized trait known as virtu.
  • 5. In his famous Oration on the Dignity of Man, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola celebrated the human potential for greatness.
• C. Scholarship and the Love of Classical Learning
  • 1. Petrarch and other Renaissance scholars scorned medieval art and literature. Petrarch summed up the Renaissance attitude by calling the medieval years “the Dark Ages.”
  • 2. Scholars such as Petrarch who studied the classical texts and cultures of ancient Greece and Rome were called humanists.
  • 3. Inspired by classical authors, humanists rejected medieval scholasticism and instead advocated a curriculum based on the study of Greek and Roman literature, rhetoric, and history. Humanists believed that by studying the classics they would gain a more practical understanding of human nature.
  • 4. Humanists played a key role in promoting the new liberal arts education, developing vernacular languages, and renewing interest in translating and preserving Greek and Roman manuscripts.
  • 5. Lorenzo Valla demonstrated the power of Renaissance scholarship when he used a careful linguistic and historical analysis to demonstrate that the Donation of Constantine was actually a clumsy forgery.
• D. A New Secular Spirit
  • 1. Medieval culture emphasized spiritual values and salvation.
  • 2. Renaissance culture was far more interested in the pleasures of material possessions. Wealthy Renaissance families openly enjoyed fine music, expensive foods, and beautiful works of art.

IV. Education and the Ideal Courtier

• A. Humanist Education
  • 1. Medieval scholastics studied the classics to understand God. In contrast, Renaissance humanists studied the classics to understand human nature and learn practical skills.
  • 2. Leading humanists opened schools and academies that taught Roman history, Greek philosophy, and Latin grammar and rhetoric.
  • 3. Humanists believed that their classical curriculum would teach future business, political, and military leaders how to become eloquent and persuasive speakers and writers.
• B. Baldassare Castiglione (1478-1529)
  • 1. For Renaissance humanists, the ideal individual strove to become a "universal man" who excelled in many fields.
  • 2. In his book The Courtier, Baldassare Castiglione explained how upper-class men and women could become accomplished courtiers.
  • 3. According to Castiglione, the ideal courtier should be polite, charming, and witty. He should be able to dance, write poetry, sing, and play music. In addition, he should be physically graceful and strong.
  • 4. Castiglione did not ignore upper-class women. The perfect court lady, he said, should be well educated and charming. Yet women were not expected to seek fame as men did. Like Dante’s Beatrice and Petrarch’s Laura, they were expected to inspire poetry and art but rarely to create it.

V. Machiavelli and The Prince

• A. Turmoil in Italy
  • 1. The golden age of Florence lasted nearly a century. Lorenzo the Magnificent’s unexpected death in 1492 left Florence without a strong leader.
  • 2. In 1494, King Charles VIII of France invaded Italy with the goal of conquering Naples. Spain’s King Ferdinand soon contested the French claim to Naples.
  • 3. These invasions sparked a series of conflicts called the Habsburg-Valois Wars that involved all the major Italian city-states. Diplomacy and war became the keys to survival.
• B. Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527)
  • 1. Machiavelli was a Florentine diplomat and political philosopher. He is considered the founder of modern political science.
  • 2. Machiavelli was appalled by the devastation caused by the Habsburg-Valois Wars. “At this time,” he passionately wrote, “the whole land of Italy is without a head, without order, beaten, spoiled, torn in pieces, overrun, and abandoned to destruction in every shape. She prays God to send someone to rescue her from these barbarous cruelties.”
  • 3. Machiavelli wrote The Prince to advise Italian rulers on the ruthless statecraft needed to unite his war-torn and divided Italian homeland.
• C. The Qualities of a Successful Prince
  • 1. Machiavelli had a pessimistic view of human nature. He believed that people are “ungrateful, changeable, simulators and dissimulators, runaways in danger, eager for gain; while you do well by them they are all yours; they offer you their blood, their property, their lives, their children when need is far off; but when it comes near you, they turn about.”
  • 2. Because human nature is selfish, untrustworthy, and corrupt, a prince must be strong as a lion and shrewd as a fox: “For the lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to fight wolves.”
  • 3. The successful ruler, Machiavelli insisted, must be ruthless and pragmatic, always remembering that the end justifies the means.
    NOTE: Machiavelli’s The Prince is an often-asked topic on APEURO exams. Test writers avoid recall questions that simply ask students to identify the author of The Prince. Instead, they typically provide a quote from The Prince and ask you to identify where it came from. Machiavelli’s cynical view of human nature and ruthlessly pragmatic advice makes his writing easy to identify.

VI. Italian Renaissance Art

• A. Patrons
  • 1. Renaissance artists were not independent contractors who produced works of art for themselves or the public. Instead, they received commissions from the Catholic Church, guilds, and wealthy families such as the Medici.
  • 2. While these patrons appreciated the beauty of fine art, they also understood the ability of artists to create visible symbols of power. Renaissance patrons thus used art as a way of displaying their wealth and promoting their fame.
• B. Characteristics of Renaissance Art
  • 1. Perspective
    1. Perspective is a geometric method of creating the illusion of depth on a flat, two-dimensional surface.
    2. Perspective enabled artists to create paintings that opened "a window on the world." This way of presenting space became the foundation of European painting for the next 500 years.
  • 2. Chiaroscuro
    1. Chiaroscuro is the realistic blending of light and shade to model forms.
    2. Chiaroscuro creates the illusion of volume.
    3. Chiaroscuro and perspective enabled artists to create paintings in which real people seemed to occupy real space.
  • 3. Pyramid configuration
    1. Byzantine and medieval art featured flat, rigid figures arranged in a horizontal line.
    2. Renaissance artists used three-dimensional pyramid configurations to create symmetrical and balanced compositions.
  • 4. Classical forms and Christian subjects
    1. Inspired by their study of Greek and Roman statues, Renaissance artists attempted to revive classical standards of beauty.
    2. It is important to remember that Renaissance artists did not abandon Christian themes and subjects. Rather, Renaissance art often combined classical forms with Christian subjects.
    NOTE: You do not need to memorize a long list of Renaissance artists and their works of art. Instead, focus on key masterpieces that illustrate Renaissance ideals and the impact of humanism. The three works described in this section are designed to provide you with a handy list of examples for free-response essay questions on the Italian Renaissance.
• C. Key Examples of Renaissance Art and Architecture
  • 1. Leon Battista Alberti, The West Façade of Sant’ Andrea
    1. Alberti broke with medieval traditions by eliminating statues and other traditional features of Gothic architecture.
    2. Alberti’s ambitious design featured a Roman triumphal arch framed by colossal Corinthian pilasters. The pilasters supported a pediment inspired by classical temples.
    3. Sant’ Andrea marked a decisive break with Christian building traditions. By achieving the Renaissance ideal of combining ancient forms with Christian uses, Alberti created a "Christian temple" that strongly influenced the design of future Renaissance and baroque churches.
  • 2. Michelangelo, David
    1. David’s contrapposto (stiff right leg and relaxed left leg) pose recalls statues from Greece and Rome.
    2. Like many classical statues, David is a nude. However, unlike the serene classical statues, David defiantly faces Goliath. His muscular body is tense with gathering power as God’s champion prepares for battle.
  • 3. Raphael, The School of Athens
    1. The School of Athens depicts a gathering of ancient philosophers from various eras. The sages seem to move freely in a carefully designed three-dimensional space.
    2. The toga-clad figures of Plato and Aristotle dominate the center of the painting.
    3. Raphael underscored the rising status of Renaissance artists by including portraits of his contemporaries among the ancient philosophers. For example, Plato is a portrait of Leonardo da Vinci. Raphael also included a portrait of himself on the far right, looking out at the viewer.
    4. The School of Athens brilliantly illustrates the Renaissance ideals of order, unity, and symmetry.

VII. Women During the Renaissance

• A. The Debate About Women
  • 1. The beginning of the Renaissance coincided with a “debate about women” (querelle des femmes).
  • 2. Humanist scholars and others debated women’s character, “nature, and role in society.”
• B. Christine De Pizan (1364-1430), The First Feminist
  • 1. Pizan was a prolific writer who became the first woman in European history to earn a living as an author.
  • 2. Pizan wrote a history of famous women designed to refute “masculine myths” about women. She is now remembered as Europe’s first feminist.
• C. Castiglione and the Perfect Court Lady
  • 1. As mentioned earlier, Castiglione believed the perfect court lady should be attractive, well educated, and able to paint, dance, and playa musical instrument.
  • 2. Although well educated, Castiglione’s court lady was not expected to actively participate in political, artistic, or literary affairs. Instead, she should be a pleasing and attractive “ornament” for her upper-class husband.
• D. Isabella d’Este (1475-1539), The First Lady of the Renaissance
  • 1. Isabella d’Este was the most famous Renaissance woman.
  • 2. She was born into the ruling family of Ferrara and married the ruler of Mantua.
  • 3. She was an art patron whose collection included works by many of the greatest Renaissance artists.
  • 4. Her life illustrates that becoming a patron of the arts was the most socially acceptable role for a well-educated Renaissance woman.