Chapter 16

1. Chapter 16 Classical Humanism in the Age of the Renaissance

2. Ambrogio Lorenzetti, The Effects of Good and Bad Government in the Town, 1337-39. Palazzo Pubblico, Sienahttp://www.all-art.org/history194-18.html

3. Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Effects of Good Government in the City, from the Allegory of Good Government, Sala della Pace, Palazzo, Siena 1338-1339.

4. Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Effects of Good Government in the Country, from the Allegory of Good Government, Sala della Pace, Palazzo, Siena 1338-1339.

5. Bad Government by Ambrogio Lorenzetti Fresco, Palazzo Publico, Sienahttp://faculty.cua.edu/pennington/Religion402/Architecture/BadGovernment.htm

6. Renaissance • 1300~1600 • = revival of classicism = rebirth

7. Myths • 1. “Death” of classical learning in the Middle Ages. • 2. A medieval “age of faith” vs. “Renaissance paganism” • 3. There exists one single Renaissance position.

8. Classical Humanism • An elitist educational and cultural program based on the study of ancient Greek and Latin classics.

9. Food for thought • Where were Greco-Roman texts preserved during the Middle Ages? • How many times did classical revival take place during the Middle Ages? • How did the Renaissance revival of humanism differ from that of its medieval counterparts?

10. “Renaissance humanists discovered in the Greek and Latin classics a rational guide to the fulfillment of human potential” (Fiero 369).

11. Renaissance Classicism • 1. A greater quantity and variety of classical texts were available. • 2. Classical models were adopted in art, not to glorify God, but for their ownsake—for its clear and graceful style and for its insight into human nature. • 3. The culture was more worldly and overtly materialistic.

12. Individualism • In contrast to medieval thinker, who emphasized the Christian belief in human sinfulness, Renaissance figures revived the classical confidence in human capacities to achieve excellence.

13. Influences • The ideal of the “universal man,” or the “Renaissance man.” • Emphasis on the pragmatic use of knowledge: rhetoric, science, and art • A revolutionary view of history: the belief in progress

14. Food for thought • Why Italy?

16. Italy • South: Kingdom of Naples • Middle: the Papal States • North: • Venice: merchant oligarchy • Milan: dynastic despotism • Florence: a republic in name only, actually ruled by the Medici

17. Florence

18. Europe's First Euro The Florin of Florence http://www.umilta.net/wellesley.html

19. Cosimo de’ Medici • 1434-1464 • pater patriae

20. Lorenzo de’ Medici • 1469-1492 • The Magnificent

21. poet laureate Petrarch • 1304-1374 • Father of Humanism • “When it comes to thinking or speaking of religion, that is, of the highest truth . . . I certainly am not a Ciceronian or a Platonist but a Christian.” • Famous as a forerunner of Christian humanists and for his sonnets

22. Petrarchan Sonnet • An octave (8 lines) followed by a sestet (6 lines). • Subject matter: the hopes and pains of an adoring male lover • Conceit: a figure of speech which establishes a striking parallel, usually ingeniously elaborate, between two very dissimilar things or situations.

23. Ficino • 1433-1499 • Translated the entire corpus of Plato’s writings from Greek into Latin • Cosimo de’ Medici established the Platonic Academy in Florence. • Renaissance Neoplatonism • Platonic love: a major theme in art

24. Two Theories of Art • Da Vinci believed that "the most praiseworthy painting [was that] which has the most conformity with the object imitated.“ • Michelangelo believed that: "the greatest artist has no conception which a single block of marble does not potentially contain within its mass, but only a hand which obeys the intelleto[i.e. the deep knowing of reality] can accomplish that." http://hercules.gcsu.edu/~dvess/micel.htm

25. Pico • 1463-1494 • Translated a lot of ancient literary works in Hebrew, Arabic, Latin, and Greek • The manifesto of humanism: Oration on the Dignity of Man

26. “What a great miracle is man” (Pico, Oration)

27. Alberti • 1404-1474 • On the Family “Man can do anything he wants.” • Virtù: “power,” describes the self-confident vitality of the self-made Renaissance individual

28. Alberti • “Only my books and records and those of my ancestors did I determine to keep well sealed . . . . These my wife not only could not read, she could not even lay hands on them. I kept my records at all times . . . Locked up and arranged in order in my study . . . . I never gave my wife permission to enter that place, with me or alone . . . .”

29. Alberti • “[Husbands] who take counsel with their wives are madmen if they think true prudence or good counsel lies in the female brain . . . .” • “I made it a rule never to speak with [my wife] of anything but household matters or questions of conduct, or of the children.

30. Castiglione • 1478-1529 • The Book of the Courtier • L’uomo universale: the Renaissance man; the well-rounded person

31. Female Humanists • Laura Cereta (1468-1499) Defense of Liberal Instruction of Women • Lucretia Marinella (1571-1653) The Nobility and Excellence of Women and the Defects of Vices of Men

32. Female Humanists • "Did Women Have a Renaissance?" http://www.columbia.edu/cu/sister/Renaissance.html

33. Machiavelli • 1469-1527 • The Prince • politics divorced from ethics • The pragmatic use of power for state management • The end justifies the means.

34. The End