Italian Renaissance: Origins, Humanism, Art & Patrons

Renaissance

• The Renaissance started in Italy for reasons related to its economic status during the Middle Ages
• Italian city-states were key centers for trade and manufacturing
• The banking industry was very profitable in Italy
• Italian city-states traded with Muslims considerably

Humanism

• Humanism celebrated humanity
• It was an intellectual movement in the Renaissance, focusing on secular, non-religious subjects
• Humanists believed education should foster human creativity
• Emphasis was placed on the importance of humanities like poetry, art, grammar, history, literature, philosophy, and the Classics, such as ancient Greece and Rome

Patrons and the Medici Family

• Patrons financially supported the arts
• The Medici family, a wealthy family in Florence, controlled business and politics
• The Medici commissioned many art pieces in Florence

Characteristics of Italian Renaissance Art

• Art was influenced by classical Greece and Rome
• Mythological themes and idealized beauty present
• Included classical architectural elements like columns, arches, and domes
• Secular and non-religious emphases
• Human figure emphasis, including nudity showing the body's beauty
• Like classical art, beauty was achieved through proportion and symmetry
• Naturalistic with perfect human figures
• Close to real life, showing emotions
• Perspective used in art, making pictures look three-dimensional
• Perspective gave the illusion that some objects in a painting are farther away than others
• Light and shade added perspective to make the scene more realistic and dramatic
• Oil paints were used

Northern Renaissance

• The Northern Renaissance was realistic
• Art focused on poorer people
• Art focused on everyday life and peasants

Protestant Reformation:

• Church abuse was one of the causes of the reformation
• Church leaders were more interested in money and power
• Popes lived exaggerated lives, like Pope Leo X
• Pope Leo X believed that God gave him the papacy, and thus he should enjoy it

Indulgences and Martin Luther

• Indulgences were a type of patron that shortens the punishment and soul faces, and granted quicker access to heaven
• In 1517 Martin Luther led a full-scale revolt against the Church
• Luther was a German monk that was angered by the corruption of the church

95 Theses and Luther's Teachings

• Johann Tetzel, a German priest, sold indulgences with the pope's permission in 1517
• Tetzel claimed anyone who purchased this Indulgence goes to heaven, including dead relatives
• Luther was furious at the notion that people can pay their way into heaven
• Luther's teachings were religious

The Printing Press

• The printing press played a key role in spreading the reformation

English Reformation

• England broke away from the Roman Catholic Church for political reasons in 1520
• Henry VIII initially opposed the Protestant Reformation
• The Pope awarded Henry VIII the title "defender of the faith”
• Henry VIII's wife, Catherine of Aragon, only had one child, a girl
• This was a problem for Henry VIII because at the time women were thought to lead
• Henry asked permission to divorce Catherine and marry a new wife to get a son
• The Pope refused because he didn't want to upset the Holy Roman emperor, Catherine's nephew
• Because the Pope refused, Henry took over the English church
• Parliament passed a series of laws making Henry the "only Supreme head of the Church of England"
• Henry VIII's marriage was annulled
• Under the Church of England, Catholics were persecuted, giving Henry political control

Church of England

• The Church of England separated from the Roman Catholic Church
• The Church of England was technically protestant, but had mostly the same traditions as the Catholic Church

Elizabeth I and the Elizabethan Settlement

• Elizabeth I was known as “The Virgin Queen”
• Some saw her as illegitimate
• The Elizabethan Settlement was in 1559
• All citizens needed to attend Sunday services in the Church of England
• The Elizabethan Settlement kept some Catholic practices
• Elizabeth I had a period of cultural flowering known as the "Golden age - the Elizabethan Era”
• This period saw growth in theater, art, literature, and science
• During Elizabeth I reign, literacy improved among men, with one in four being able to read
• English exploration began under her reign
• Virginia was named after The Virgin Queen

Counter Reformation

• The Catholic Church tried to strengthen itself during
• The effort was known as The Counter Reformation, aka Catholic Reformation
• The Church held the Council of Trent and used the Spanish Inquisition

Witch Hunts

• Witch hunts happened during the 1600s and 1700s because some people thought witches served Satan and used magic
• Popes had declared that witches were heretics
• A heretic is someone who goes against the teachings of the church
• 100,000-200,000 were put on trial, with 60,000-80,000 put on death
• This happened all over Europe and the American colonies
• Those targeted were most often women, were targeted
• This included poor women, widows, unmarried women, slaves, midwives, and healers

Scientific Revolution:

• Copernicus proposed a heliocentric model of the universe
• The church considered the idea heretical because it went against the church's teachings that the Earth is the center of the universe
• Galileo assembled an astronomical telescope
• Galileo realized the moons of Jupiter orbit the planet the same way the Earth orbits the Sun
• The church condemned this idea
• The Heliocentric theory states that the sun is the center of the universe, not the Earth

Why was the Church opposed to new ideas in science?

• It went against the church's teaching that the heavens were fixed, unmoving, and perfect

Galileo's Trial

• In 1633, Galileo was tried before the Inquisition
• He was convicted and spentthe rest of his life under house arrest
• Galileo was threatened with death, and he publicly withdrew his "heresies” and said that Earth doesn't move