Italian Renaissance: Earliest Form of the General European Renaissance

1. Italian Renaissance - earliest form of the general European Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement that began in Italy.
2. Jacob Burkhart - historian of art and culture, and an influential figure in the historiography of each field
3. Oligarchies – small group that ruled a city and its surrounding countryside
4. Condotierri - the mercenary soldier leaders (warlords) of the professional, military free companies contracted by the Italian city-states and the Papacy from the late middle ages and throughout the Renaissance.
5. Republic of Florence - The Republic of Florence, or the Florentine Republic, was a city-state that was centered on the city of Florence, located in modern Tuscany, Italy
6. Medici Family - political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century.
7. Cosimo de’Medici - Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici (27 September 1389 – 1 August 1464) was the first of the Medici political dynasty, de facto rulers of Florence
8. Lorenzo de’Medici - Italian statesman and de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic during the Italian Renaissance
9. Duchy of Milan - constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire in northern Italy. It was created in 1395, when it included twenty-six towns and the wide rural area of the middle Padan Plain
10. Sforza family - ruling family of Renaissance Italy, based in Milan. They acquired the dukedom and Duchy of Milan from the previously ruling Visconti family
11. Republic of Venice - state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797
12. Papal States - territories in the Italian peninsula under the sovereign direct rule of the Pope
13. Kingdom of the Two Sicilies - largest of the Italian states before Italian unification. It was formed of a union of the Spanish Bourbon Kingdom of Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples
14. Charles VIII - monarch of the House of Valois who ruled as King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. He succeeded his father Louis XI at the age of 13.
15. Girolamo Savonarola - Italian Dominican friar and preacher active in Renaissance Florence, and known for his prophecies of civic glory
16. Humanism - group of philosophies and ethical perspectives which emphasize the value and agency of human beings
17. Civil Humanism - Classical republicanism is a form of republicanism developed in the Renaissance inspired by the governmental forms and writings of classical antiquity.
18. Petrarch - Aretine scholar and poet in Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists
19. Boccaccio - Italian author and poet, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable pieces of literature.
20. Leonardo Bruni - Italian humanist, historian and statesman. He has been called the first modern historian
21. Lorenzo Valla - Italian humanist, rhetorician, and educator.
22. Latin Vulgate - late 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible done by Saint Jerome.
23. Marsilio Ficino - one of the most influential humanist philosophers of the early Italian Renaissance
24. Pico Della Mirandola - Italian Renaissance philosopher
25. Baldassare Castiglione - Italian courtier, diplomat, soldier and a prominent Renaissance author
26. Virtu - concept theorized by Niccolò Machiavelli, centered on the martial spirit and ability of a population or leader
27. Johann Gutenberg - German blacksmith, goldsmith, printer, and publisher who introduced printing to Europe
28. Quattrocento - cultural and artistic events of 15th century Italy are collectively referred to as the Quattrocento
29. Giorgio Vasari - Italian painter, architect, writer and historian, most famous today for his Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects
30. Pope Alexander VI - head of the Catholic Church from 11 August 1492 to his death in 1503
31. Perspective – certain view one may have regarding an opinion or event
32. Chiaroscuro - use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition
33. Stylized faces - medieval faces in art--more stylized and generic
34. Sfumato - fine shading that produces soft, imperceptible transitions between colors and tones. It is used most often in connection with the work of Leonardo da Vinci and his followers
35. Contrapposto - Italian term that means counterpose. It is used in the visual arts to describe a human figure standing with most of its weight on one foot
36. Giotto - Italian painter and architect from Florence in the late Middle Ages
37. Brunelleschi - most famous for his discovery of perspective and for engineering the dome of the Florence Cathedral, but his accomplishments also include other architectural works, sculpture, mathematics, engineering and even ship design.
38. Lorenzo Ghiberti - Florentine Italian artist of the Early Renaissance best known as the creator of the bronze doors of the Baptistry of Florence Cathedral, called by Michelangelo the "Gates of Paradise".
39. Donatello - early Renaissance Italian sculptor from Florence
40. Masaccio - first great painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaissance
41. Sandro Botticelli - Italian painter of the Early Renaissance
42. High Renaissance - the period representing the apogee of the visual arts in the Italian Renaissance
43. Bramante - Italian architect, who introduced Renaissance architecture to Milan and the High Renaissance style to Rome
44. Leonardo Da Vinci - Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, etc.
45. Machiavelli, The Prince - The Prince is a political treatise by the Italian diplomat, historian and political theorist
46. Cesare Borgia - Italian condottiero, nobleman, politician, and cardinal. He was the son of Pope Alexander VI
47. Sack of Rome 1527 - military event carried out by the mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in Rome, then part of the Papal States
48. Charles V - ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire
49. Raphael - Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance
50. Michelangelo - Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer.
51. El Greco - painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance
52. Northern Renaissance – Renaissance that occurred in European countries north of Italy
53. Christian Humanism - emphasizes the humanity of Jesus, his social teachings and his propensity to synthesize human spirituality and materialism
54. Erasmus - Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, social critic, teacher, and theologian.
55. Thomas More - English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist.
56. Francois Rabelais - major French Renaissance writer, doctor, Renaissance humanist, monk and Greek scholar
57. Michel de Montaigne - one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance, known for popularizing the essay as a literary genre
58. William Shakespeare - English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language
59. Miguel de Cervantes - Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, considered to be the first modern European novel
60. Flemish Style - flourished from the early 15th century until the 17th century. Flanders delivered the leading painters in Northern Europe
61. Jan Van Eyck - Flemish painter active in Bruges and is generally considered one of the most significant Northern European painters
62. Peter Brueghel - Flemish Renaissance painter and printmaker known for his landscapes and peasant scenes
63. Albrecht Durer - German painter, engraver, printmaker, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg
64. Hans Holbein the Younger - German artist and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style
65. Fugger family - German family that was a historically prominent group of European bankers, members of the fifteenth and sixteenth-century
66. Christine de Pisan - Italian French late medieval author. She served as a court writer for several dukes
67. Artemesia Gentilleschi - Italian Baroque painter, today considered one of the most accomplished painters in the generation after Caravaggio
Questions:
1. What are the main characteristics of Italian Humanism? How do these compare with earlier medieval Scholasticism? Why were Italian humanists so interested in Classical civilization?
a. Stressed the superiority of ancient Greek and Roman literature, history, and politics and emphasized learning and personal and public duty. The Italians were interested in “humanism” which dealt with literature, the art of persuasion and were poetically, historically centered on standardized forms borrowed from ancient Greece and Rome.
b. On one side is faith; the other side is reason. Humanism brought in the subjective elements of faith, trust and conscience while scholasticism emphasized reason.
c. Humanists admired classical literature, they were eager to discover lost works of ancient authors. Petrarch hunted for manuscripts and made important finds, including many of Cicero's letters; but the early fifteenth century was the golden age for rediscovery of Latin authors. The recovery of Greek literature was even more striking. Italian humanists brought back from Constantinople hundreds of previously unknown Greek books.
2. What characteristics of Italian cities in the fifteenth century created an environment that fostered the development of Renaissance culture?
a. The Italian cities had a geographical advantage that helped foster the Renaissance culture. Italy was located in an area that had many trade routes. This sparked a strong economy which could, for example, allow painters to afford supplies.
3. What political, social and economic factors caused the Renaissance?
a. A decline of agriculture as the main source of revenue for majority. The production shifted to mass quantities, which was in the hand of emerging wealthy urban class. Ideologically was the church discredited and people were looking for answer why God had allowed plague, or why after centuries of relative stability, Europe fell into chaos and warfare. Church divided by Schism was unable to give satisfactory answer, and thinkers and educated elite were looking for their own thinking that was outside of approved church doctrine. Collapse of Byzantine and renewed interest in Greece culture, literature, and philosophy. The geopolitical shift from eastern Mediterranean towards more centrally located northern Italy in feudal Europe, ensured that the idea of Renaissance spread from there to the rest of the continent.
4. Analyze the impact of Renaissance humanism on the development of Italian art from 1400 to 1550.
a. Due to the popularity of Renaissance humanism, many forms of art were greatly impacted. Before humanism, many artists would depict scenes of religion and mythology. After, there were mostly portraits of families and people, as well as very detailed sketches of people. It showed that the human body was already a piece of art.
5. Compare and contrast the Renaissance in Italy and the Netherlands.
a. The Rensissansce in the Netherlands put a greater emphasis on living a pious, simple life. Therefore, artists like Peter Brugal the elder painted pictures such as “Haymaking." It showed regular peasants carrying out their normal everyday tasks.
b. The Italian Renaissance, on the other hand, focused more on the wealthy class (aristocracy). Paintings were elaborately detailed, and showed how wealthy and powerful people were. This was because a lot of trade was going on during the time of the Italian Renaissance, especially in the Mediterranean. Therefore, individuals were becoming very wealthy, and thus gaining political influence
6. Analyze the impact of women on the Renaissance and the impact of the Renaissance on women
a. The “debate about women” allowed the topic to come up which in turn had a few women recognized for their bravery and morality. The Renaissance had virtually no help for women in women’s rights movement.
7. In what ways did the role of the artist and the prestige attached to art change? Why was this so important?
a. Artists had begun to make art under the funds and commission of patrons. Patrons ordered specific scenes that the artist was to create, while other oversaw he work being done. All these requests were done for a payment towards the artist.
b. Renaissance portraits often showed human detail and portrayed more realistic images.
8. Explain how the Avignon exile, the Great Schism, and the conciliar movement contributed to the weakening of the Church and, especially, papal authority. How did the papacy's secular concerns contribute to this?
a. Due to the loss of prestige and the Church’s inability to keep their education system comprised and centralized, the councils that laypeople made had discussed their own education system and using it instead of the Churches; the pope had no longer intimidated the people because he got pushed around.