- predominately urban, more so than anywhere else in Europe

- 1/4 Italians, 1/10 Europeans lived in towns

A. was the center of trade between the East and West

B. just south of Holy Roman Empire - made money by supplying them with all their needs

C. city states = agriculturally self sufficient

D. power vacuum there = grew and flourished w/o a ruler

- only Italian city state governed by a hereditary monarchy

- signorial rule = King Alfonso I got power and ended 50 years of civil war in Naples

- city-states under the control Church control

- mostly governed themselves

- capital in Rome, but stretched North territorially

- signorial rule = Pope returned to Rome after the Great Schism restored the Pope to the head of the state, and ruled for a long time afterward

- only land-locked city-state

- signorial rule = Francesco Sfroza seized power and ruled there

A. signorial rule

    1. greater power placed in small advisory councils

    2. Medici family's ascent to power

B. wealth

    1. money - bankers were the most powerful in the world       2. wool

C. integrated neighborhoods (instead of segregated by wealth)

    1. relationships with superiors - connections that can only help them

    2. relationships with inferiors - devoted clients

- Signorial Rule = greater power placed in small advisory councils

- Oligarchy = govt was administered by a restricted group ppl were born into

- Republic a. no individual had complete power b. terms of office were very short to limit power

A. Diplomacy

    1. enhanced communication

        a. between city-states themselves

        b. spying on other city-states possible

            - provided leaders with information on their allies and enemies (many ambassadors were spies)

B. Mercenaries - paid (expensive) foreign soldiers who were not loyal to their employers

- facilitated production of artistic life in Florence

  a. big patron of the arts 

- brought about peace between Florence and Naples by traveling to Naple and convincing the king to sign a treaty

- made a treaty with the Pope

  a. recovered lost territories

  b. expanded Florential influence

- ships constructed at public expense

- used as the Venetian Navy

- helped govt regulate the spice trade

- famous for technology

- amazingly strong

1. position at the head of the Adriatic = access to both Eastern ad Western raw materials

2. privileged position with the Byzantine empire

    a. largest group of resident Europeans in Constantinople

    b. personal contacts with Eastern traders

3. oligarchial govt = designed to disperse power *efficiency

- established 2 balanced alliances

   a. each alliance promised not to fight only with their allies

   b. continued to expand their territories through other smaller states

- misnomer = wasn't a peaceful time

- mostly a threat to Venice

  a. Venice would lose their favored position in Eastern trade

  b. Venice was on the Eastern front

      - would be attacked first

- if the city-states had been united, they might have been able to stop the Ottomans

The Wars of Italy caused this - the city-states fought against each other, and brought in foreign help from other countries like France, who eventually took over.

*discovery of meaning in the natural world with man at its center*

- looking for truth and meaning in manand his creations - interest in human potential - relationship with Church = coexistence in the beginning => became more antagonistic as it progressed

A. Literary

    1. study of Greek and Roman texts

    2. "studia humanitas"

B. Scientific

    1. rejection of medieval emphasis on theology, pope, church

    2. replaced by nature and man at its center

-studied Hebrew with Jewish outcasts from Spain

- wanted to *rediscover the origins of things*

- to go back to the earliest times (he believed the New Testament was corrupted)

- caused Italy to become the center for Greek studies as Byzantine scholars arrived there fleeing the Ottoman conquerors

- looked to ancient literature for guides to life because the Middle Ages were so religion-oriented => Renaissance goes in the opposite direction a. concerned with accuracy of the texts - wanted to get to man's origin => needs exact words

A. Philology

    1. used it to prove the Donation of Constantine was a fake

        - studied the working and realized some words in it hadn't existed yet during the time the document claimed to have been written => couldn't be genuine

        - this discovery forced the Pope to recognize Alfonso as King of Naples

*to teach all and do all*

- Alberti's ideal of this = to live a life of scholarship which was a public service (be different things useful to society)

- written by Castiglione (this book had a great effect on society)

- completely superficial guide for courtiers to act

- appearances mean everything

A. text based knowledge

    - derived from ancient Greek works

B. experiment based knowledge

    - could only be received from observation

C. medicine

    - the body is made up of the 4 elements mixed together and if one is sick, there is an imbalance

    - used leeches/bleeding to remove blood which they thought would restore health to the body

A. wrote The Prince

    - a public service

    - took his talents and worked his hardest to do a good job to help others (who can use his book as a guide)

    - says a person should do wtvr he can to stay in power (even lie, cheat, steal, etc)

    - prince is the key element in stability of country

B. very cynical

    - was uprooted from a secure place in govt => was bitter towards those who stole his power => lost faith faith and trust in his own people

    - describes man in general as being dishonest and unfaithful

A. architecture

    - an expression of urban civilization and pride

B. dominant artistic discipline of the Renaissance

    - many ppl were beginning to live urbanly

    - need for a lot of building

1. combined Gothic and classic architecture

    - brings back pillars, low domes, heavy low slung pointy roofs

1. Contrapposto

    a. relaxed position

    b. weight concentrated on one leg

    c. body more relaxed

2. "David"

    a. rounded body masses

    b. realistic human forms

    c. sculpted cloth - didn't make the creases sharp - made them hang naturally

1. added humanistic spirit to Brunelleschi's geometric principals

2. made use of columns and arches to be purely decorative (not just to support the building)

    - even amount of support, odd amount of building

1. refined Masaccio's ideas

   - visual unity in his paintings

   - technicalities of compostion

   - perfect calculations for placing subjects of paintings

1. broke away from Masaccio

   a. rebirth of classical mythology

   b. paintings = dreamlike, slightly unreal

     - characters = beautiful

   c. Byzantine art

2. The Birth of Venus

1. Ultimate Renaissance Man

      a. achievements = scientific, technial, AND artistic  

      b. experimented with/studied botany, anatomy, AND engineering

      c. used science in his art

2. distracted by curiosity - never completed more than 20 paintings that survived to this day and always went on to something new before he finished because he was too scatter-brained

3. inventions (1. tank, 2. submarine, 3. parachute, 4. helicopter)

4. "Mona Lisa" "The Last Supper"

1. The Pieta

    - first attempt at sculpting religious art

2. statue of David

    - portrayed the perfection of man

    - body represents the soul

3. Sistine Chapel ceiling

    - made it look like the rounded ceiling was flattened

4. St. Peter's Church in Rome

    - made it seem taller

    - added light

    - seems like its thrusting upward like a gothic cathedral

    - was 71 when made it

    - dome was the largest known at the time

5. Moses

     *scenes represented in his paintings were simple and compelling

*REBIRTH*

A. 3 stages

    1. Early Renaissance

        - Period of Literary Humanism - found classical texts/experimented with art

        - declining population from Black Plague

    2. High Renaissance

        - set of literary values

        - many artistic/achievements

        - city-states = stable govts - warfare at a standstill

    3. Late Renaissance

        - France and Spain invaded Italy => Renaissance end

B. development in Italy (first) 

    1. papacy weakened from Babylonian Exile -large number of cities grew from power vacuum

        a. more ppl gathered together to share ideas

        b. more cities => more churches => more demand for architecture, sculpting, etc

    2. center of Mediterranean and Trans-Alpine Trade

1. High Renaissance

2. reliable source about the Renaissance because he lived at its peak

1. lived in the Early Renaissance

    - plague still running rampant

    - only just starting to rethink life/break away from the Church

2. wrote about Greeks/Romans

3. considered the first "modern" writer 

    - wrote in Italian/Latin

    - used writing to consider the ebb and flow of his life and human condition itself

Cities/Urbanization

1. surrounding agricultural communities

    a. better markets and more food for citizens - would come to nearby cities to sell their produce

    b. surplus of population - runoff of rural population

       ex) not enough room for all the children of farmers

2. guilds

    a. social hierarchy - clothiers/metal workers have higher social status than bankers/administrators of Civic and Church holdings/merchants

    b. provide protection for consumers and producers

    c. guarantee profits for craftsman

    d. concentrated wealth at the top - extreme instability of economic life - had money to stockpile to consume in times of want

Plague effects

1. kept populations low

    - depressed economic growth

    - SUPPLY OUTSTRIPPED DEMAND

    - prices fell/wages rose

2. consumption more attractive than investment

    a. investment money is going to waste

        - most products aren't being bought (too few ppl to buy)

A. Boys

    1. married late

        a. needed a stable livelihood beforehand b. start learning a trade from someone at 10-13

            - can't start making money till this

B. Girls

    1. sent off at very early ages to work as maids, etc

    2. only real worth = getting husbands

BOYS WERE FAVORED !!!

A. apprenticeship

    1. made possible for skilled artists to rise through encouragement of arts

B. civic pride/Church

    1. pushed for expression of social values through representational art

    2. permitted families to encourage children to learn art as a skill, early

A. Piety

    1. religion

B. Patronage

    1. money

C. breakthroughs

    1. use of oil paint on stretched canvas - brighter colors

    2. chiaroscuro - dark on light/light on dark - bright illuminated parts

    3. perspective - vanishing point in background

    4. pyramid configuration

1. Early/High Renaissance

2. Perspective

    a. what he saw

    b. Biblical scenes

3. Lighting

    a. played with light source/shadows

4. real humans

    a. as opposed to symbolism

    b. wore Renaissance clothing

    c. "the way we live is the way ppl always lived"

A. artist

    1. Castiglione

    2. Pope Julius II

    3. "The School of Athens

 - considered one of the greatest painters of any era

 - portraits/Madonnas = epitomize Renaissance style

1. revolution of thinking = focus changing from G-d to man

    - secularization

2. tons of research

    - language, antiquities, art

3. REJECTION OF SO MUCH EMPHASIS ON RELIGION

A. Dignity of Human Nature

    1. perfectability of man

        a. spiritually and mentally

        b. opposite of idea of "original sin"

B. Perfectability of Nature

C. Universe is intelligent

    1. It is worthwhile finding out about it

A. Monasteries

    1. religious impulse

        a. love of G-d begins with love of man

B. Universities

    1. trained clergy

    2. trained merchants for business

    3. trained ppl to work in govt

        - to do all this, have to study man in those jobs

        - art is thinking in Renaissance

        - Middle Ages paintings = only sumbolized perceptions of G-d

If humanism originally stems for the Middle Ages, why is it so rejected?

A. 14th Century disappointed the promise of the 13th century

    1. 4 Horseman of the Apocalypse

        a. famine - freezing temperatures

        b. war - 100 Years War

        c. disease - The Black Plague

        d. death

            - only 1/4 of population survived

            - Now, look to the future, not the past

Causes for flourishing of art/artists in Italy

1. financial surplus

2. "act now, for tomorrow you die" - plague

3. geography

    a. center of world trade - cultural diffusion

4. wanted to understand man and nature

    a. great interest in/ability to translate ancient texts

    b. Byzantine scholars fled to Italy - brought knowledge with them

Albrecht Durer

1. master artist of the era

   - self portraits 

   - The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

   - started painting landscapes at 13

2. mathematician

Individualism

*man is the measure of all things*

- sense of human power

- personal pleasure and accomplishment = very important

- people valued a life of activity

- Virtu = the quality of being man

   a. living up to one's highest potential

   b. excelling in all endeavors

a. contemporary of Petrarch

b. Florentine

c. Decameron

   - reflected upon human condition

Leonardo Bruni

a. chancellor of Republic of Florence in late 14th c.

b. wrote one of the first modern history

    - account of development of Florence

    - uses narrative

    - draws on authentic sources

    - introduces new historical periods

Baldassare Castiglione

1. wrote The Book of the Courtier

    - manual for the manners of the modern gentleman

    - a civilized antidote to crude social habits of the day

The Prince

- written by Niccolo Machiavelli

- first political science work 

   (an observation of how govts actually rule w/o moral judgement or exhortion)

- one of the most criticized and misinterpreted books of modern times

- origin of the concept "the end justifies the means"

- meant as a guide for the survival of the separate and independent city-states of Italy

A. Italy

    - proximity to the Mediterranean

    - role as the "middlemen" of Europe

    - ability to adapt to victimization by more united peoples

    - seagoing trade with the Eastern mediterranean

causes of the Renaissance

- foundations of capitalism were laid at the time

- individualism emerged as a trend

- trade with the New World began a trend of global trade

- scientific thought emerged with emphasis on scientific method