At the end of the Middle Ages, Europe suffered from war and plague, but survivors in Italy wanted to enjoy life and advance knowledge by looking to ancient Greece and Rome. Italy succeeded in spearheading the Renaissance for three main reasons: 1) its urban centers grew as a result of increased trade after the Crusades; 2) wealthy merchant families like the Medicis dominated politics; and 3) Italy had close ties to the classical heritage of Rome and Greece. The Renaissance was characterized by new ideals like humanism and secularism, and patrons like popes and merchants financially supported revolutionary new art incorporating techniques like perspective, chiaroscuro, and sfumato.

1. ITALY: BIRTHPLACE OF THE
RENAISSANCE

2. SETTING THE STAGE
 At the end of the middle ages Europe suffers
from war and plague
 Survivors want to enjoy life
 Start to ? The church
 Want social achievements and advancements
 Look to past to gain knowledge/ideas
 Renaissance means the rebirth of art and
learning

3. ITALY’S ADVANTAGES
Three reasons Italy succeeds in the Renaissance
1. Urban centers
 Global trade regained strength due to the Crusades
 Large Italian city-states spawned intellectual revolution
 Plague killed 60% –survivors could demand higher pay

4. ITALY’S ADVANTAGES
Three reasons Italy succeeds in the Renaissance
2. Merchants and the Medici
 Each c/s ran its own affairs, army, taxes, etc
 Merchants wealthiest and dominate politics
 Florence had the Medici’s
 Powerful family of bankers and merchants

5. ITALY’S ADVANTAGES
Three reasons Italy succeeds in the Renaissance
3. Classical Heritage
 Renaissance people hated the Middle Ages
 Wanted to return to classic art and writings of
Greece and Rome
 Rome is in Italy!!!!!!!!!!!!
 Tired of death, war, destruction

6. NEW CLASSIC AND WORLDLY VALUES
Humanism
 Focuses on human potential and achievement
 Influenced artists and architects to carry on
Greek and Roman values

7. NEW CLASSIC AND WORLDLY VALUES
Enjoy the World
 You can enjoy fine food, music, life without
offending God
 Secular-only focusing on the hear and now
and global thoughts
 Don’t let religion and government “restrict”

8. NEW CLASSIC AND WORLDLY VALUES
Patrons of the Arts
 One who financially supports artists
 Popes and merchants biggest patrons
 Demonstrated their wealth and importance

9. NEW CLASSIC AND WORLDLY VALUES
Perspective
 The 3-D effect of paintings
 Vanishing point
The Renaissance Man
 When a person strives to master every area of
study
 “He should paint, dance, sing, play music,
write poetry, skilled in riding, wrestling and
swordsmanship”

10. THE NEW ART
 The “R” sees all types of new art
 Medieval art tended to be very flat and nearly always had
religious overtones.

11. THE NEW ART
 Renaissance artists started exploiting this optical illusion in their art. The
advantage of it is that you created the illusion of a three dimensional
image on a flat, two dimensional surface

13. • Interestingly,
perspective can
also be used as to
create false
perspective, such
as here.

14. You also start to see the use of light and shade
(chiaroscuro) and blurring outlines so it seems
that tones imperceptibly meld in to each other
(thereby creating volume: this is sfumato).

15. Carvaggio’s Crucifixion
of St. Peter. An
example of
Chiaroscuro.

17. Close-up of Mona Lisa’s
face. Notice the sfumato
blurring, especially around
the eyes, and how it
creates a 3D illusion.