Italian
Renaissance History.
The renaissance (or rebirth) is an
Italian idea, and the Italian Renaissance generally covers the periods
from the beginning of the fourteenth century to the end of the
sixteenth century. The debate on it's beginning and end is largely
immaterial, but for the purposes of this site we will begin at the
start of the fourteenth.
The renaissance marked a great cultural
change throughout Europe
and is viewed as a bridge between the medieval and modern ages.
Scholars schooled in literature, notably the
intellectual
movement known as the humanists,
rediscovered Greek and Latin texts and began to teach Latin
literature. Beginning in Italy the new thinking eventually spread to
the
rest of Europe.
The fourteenth century, or Trecento,
artists shed the mosaics associated with the Byzantine period and took
inspiration from classical Greek and Roman sculptors. The Italians of
the period considered themselves to be living in a golden age, superior
to anything since the fall of the roman empire a thousand years
earlier, with painting, sculpture, music, poetry and architecture all
awakening to a revival after sleeping for centuries.
We tend to assume that every age must be
greater than the one that it preceded, but this is not always the case.
The Roman Empire was the center of world civilization until its demise
in 476. Europe had entered the Middle Ages or Dark
Ages lasting for a
thousand years.
The lessons of classical antiquity, Greek and
Roman sculpture, architecture and literature did not surface again
until the start of the Renaissance in Italy.
The beginnings of the Italian Renaissance centered
on Tuscany and on Florence in particular.
Italian Renaissance Art began with
Giotto
(c. 1267-1337) who is considered to be the first painter to have broken
with the tradition of Byzantine art at the end of the middle ages.
Giotto made advances in representing the human body in a more realistic
way, and his technique was the first to realize this change since the
times of classical antiquity.
Deposition. Giotto.
(w)
The Scrovegni Chapel Padua, Veneto,
Italy.
Renaissance
Influences and events.
Florence was a major financial center
and was dominated by the Medici family for around sixty years, The
Medici became patrons of art and lie at the heart of the early
Renaissance. Almost all of the art of the period has a religious theme
with scenes from the bible taking prominence.
The Medici family was
one of the wealthiest in Europe, and were the most important family to
patronize the arts in Renaissance Italy.Go to the Medici
page to see just how important their patronage was.
It is largely due to the Italian painter
and architect Giorgio Vasari that we have such a
wealth of information about the artists of the Italian Renaissance. His
biographies have given us a valuable insight into the lives of the
painters of the period and his influence cannot be overlooked. Go to Vasari's
page to learn more about his work.
The Plague.
The black death swept across Europe in
the fourteenth century, and it has been estimated that one third of the
population died as a result of this pandemic. The result was that the
innovation started by Giotto was not taken up again until much later by
such artists as Masaccio,
Donatello,and
Brunelleschi.
Brunelleschi's Dome of Florence
Cathedral. (p)
The printing press and
availability of books.
The
printing press was invented by Gutenberg who lived in Strasbourg in the
1440's. Before the printing press written works had been confined to
manuscripts, Gutenberg's invention led to the production of affordable
books that could be widely distributed on a scale that had been
unimaginable previously.
Small
editions of the classics begin to appear in 1500, championed by the
printer Aldus Manutius in Venice. This innovation marked the birth of
the modern book, vital to the intellectual development of the
renaissance.
In terms of painters, the renaissance
artists developed realistic liner perspective, developed by
Brunelleschi and executed by artists such as Masaccio, they
studied light and
shadow in the search for realism in their work.
The Leading Powers In Italy were Florence, a
financial center, and Venice, then a major maritime power. The Papacy
was in exile in Avignon and it is only when Rome was once again the
seat of the rejuvenated Papacy that Italy's leadership began to pass to
that city.
The Italian Renaissance gave rise to
many innovations in medicine and science and literature. The generation
of artists after 1500 culminated in the flowering of the arts known as
the High Renaissance and included such greats as Michelangelo,
Leonardo
and Raphael.
The High Renaissance features on this
site, as an article in it's own right.
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