The Renaissance, 1350 – 1600 Essay, Research Paper

The modern visitor to Florence in northern Italy might feel he has been transported to a time far removed from his own. True, he will see bank machines and cellular phones, a train station, and innumerable motor scooters. At the same time, however, he will notice that the tallest structures are not office buildings but rather great domed cathedrals and bell towers. The scooters race through cobbled streets too narrow for more than one car to pass abreast, and these streets are as likely to be fronted by 500-year-old palazzos as by mechanized laundromats. If the visitor enters any church, he will find tourists photographing cracked frescoes (watercolor paintings on fresh plaster) of Madonnas and crucifixions, paintings that seem to represent beliefs far removed from modern ones. Yet in Santa Croce, a church that dates to 1294, the connection between past and present becomes clearer. There, the visitor can see not only the tombs of the great fourteenth- and fifteenth-century artists and thinkers-Michelangelo Buonarroti, Niccolo Machiavelli, Dante Alighieri (though his bones remain in another Italian city, Ravenna)-but also of the twentieth-century nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi, whose work helped create the atomic age. In fact, the visitor might recognize that many things we associate with our own times began in cities like Florence during the Renaissance, the period in which what we call the “modern age” was born.The term Renaissance, from the French word for “rebirth,” and the time to which it refers is characterized by cultural and intellectual developments as much as by political events. During the Renaissance- which is generally defined as the years 1350 to 1600- European people experienced the resurrection of classical Greek and Roman ideals that had remained dormant since the collapse of the Roman Empire in the fifth century A.D. Artists and thinkers of the Renaissance believed that classical art, science, philosophy and literature had been lost during the “dark ages” that followed the fall of Rome. They held that these ideals waited to be rediscovered, and Italians in particular believed themselves to be the true heirs to Roman achievement. For this reason, it was natural that the Renaissance should begin in Italy, where the ruins of ancient civilization provided a continual reminder of the classical past and where subsequent artistic movements-the Gothic, for instance-had never taken firm hold. Thus, when the Tuscan poet Francesco Petrarch was crowned with laurel on the Capitoline Hill in Rome in 1341, it was not because he had written many beautiful sonnets in Italian. Rather, it was because his achievement in classical study and Latin language represented what the Italian people believed about themselves, their past, and their future.Many social and political circumstances during of the late Middle Ages helped give rise to the spirit of the Renaissance. First, the Crusades brought Europeans into contact with other cultures and most importantly with Byzantine civilization. The remnant of the eastern Roman Empire, Byzantium had preserved much knowledge from ancient times. In addition, many texts thought to have been destroyed during the ransacking of the Western Empire remained preserved in various translations throughout the Middle East. Some of these were brought back to Europe, where a new breed of classical scholars undertook the task of deciphering the west’s cultural past.In northern Italy, a series of city-states developed independently of the larger empires to the north and south of them. These small states- Florence, Rome, Venice, and Milan, among others-gained prosperity through trade and banking, and as a result a wealthy class of businessmen emerged. These community leaders admired and encouraged creativity, patronizing artists who might glorify their commercial achievement with great buildings, paintings and sculptures. The most influential patrons (supporters) of the arts were the Medici, a wealthy banking family in Florence. Members of the Medici supported many important artists of the Renaissance, and as a result Florence became the most magnificent city of the period.One way patrons encouraged art was to sponsor competitions in order to spur artists to more significant achievement. In many cases, the losers of these contests went on to greater fame than the winners. After his defeat to Lorenzo Ghiberti in the competition to create the bronze doors of the Baptistery in Florence, Filippo Brunelleschi made several trips to take measurements of the ruined buildings of ancient Rome. When he returned, he created the immense duomo (dome) of the Cathedral of Florence, a classically influenced structure that became the first great monument of the Renaissance. One other contribution of the wealthy mercantile class in northern Italy was to begin collecting many of the classical texts that had been forgotten during the dark ages. Ancient manuscripts discovered in monasteries were brought to great libraries where scholars from around Europe could study them. With the reemergence of classical texts came a new way of looking at the world. Prior to the Renaissance, most intellectuals who studied ancient works focused on ways to synthesize classical thought with Christian doctrine. In keeping with such doctrine, Medieval Scholastics argued that the meaning of life on earth lay primarily in its relation to an afterlife. They believed that art for its own sake had no value, and they even frowned upon the recognition of individual talent. For this reason, many of the great works of the Middle Ages were created anonymously and, as in the case of the gargoyles that sit atop the northern Gothic cathedrals, often hidden from view. In contrast, Renaissance artists and thinkers studied classical works for the purpose of imitating them. Like the ancient Greeks and Romans, they valued the condition of earthly life, glorified man’s nature, and celebrated individual achievement. These new attitudes combined to form a new spirit of optimism-the belief that man was capable of accomplishing great things.As an expression of their new optimism, Renaissance scholars embraced the study of classical subjects that addressed human concerns as opposed to scientific concerns. These “humanities,” as they were called, included language and literature, art, history, rhetoric, and philosophy. Those who espoused the values of this type of education were called “humanists.” Above all, humanists believed in man’s potential to become well versed in many areas. Thus, the “Renaissance man,” as he became known, was an individual whose talents spanned a variety of disciplines. Michelangelo, for instance, was not only a remarkable painter and sculptor but also a skilled architect and poet. Brunelleschi, noted for his great churches, was also an engineer who devised an elaborate plan to change the course of a nearby river and flood Florence’s rival city, Lucca. Other Renaissance artists-Leonardo da Vinci and Piero della Francesca, for instance-enhanced their craft by studying mathematics and anatomy. By taking a critical view toward a broad number of subjects, these artists came upon ideas that changed the way all others viewed the world. One such discovery was that of perspective-the visual means of representing three-dimensional objects on a flat canvas. Though some conservatives believed the science of perspective to be a form of witchery, in the end it proved an important triumph of reason. From this point on, people in all disciplines began using critical skills as a means of understanding everything from nature to politics.As in all other periods, ideas during the Renaissance informed the way people thought of themselves and therefore behaved. One source that helps us understand Renaissance attitudes is The Book of the Courtier written by Baldassare Castiglione in the early 1500s. A collection of conversations set in Urbino, an independent state in the mountains of northern Italy, the book outlines all the qualities the ideal Renaissance courtier should possess. In contrast with the unexamined devotions that characterize the chivalric code, the Renaissance courtier is presented as a well-rounded man, versed in the arts, the classics, and politics. Though talented in many areas, he is careful not to flaunt his abilities. As for feminine virtues, Castiglione cites delicacy, sweetness and chastity. These features may seem today to represent a double standard, yet it must be understood that in comparison with Medieval views that held women to be inferior based on Eve’s sin, Renaissance society offered women greater equality than at any time since the Roman Empire.

In addition to informing courtly behavior, Renaissance ideals also influenced attitudes toward government. As in ancient Greece and Rome, wealthy citizens during the Renaissance valued public service. At times, republican forms of government took hold in cities like Florence. Spurred by the growth of guilds-politically ambitious associations of craftsmen, merchants and professionals-republics were often short-lived and plagued by bloody rivalries. An even greater feud troubled all of northern Italy throughout much of the period. Encouraged by the humanistic optimism of the Renaissance, a new middle class party, the Guelphs, vied for power with the older feudal aristocracy, the Ghibellines. Entire cities usually lay under the control of one party and warred continually with cities loyal to the opposite side. At times power shifted, and the policy of the victorious party was to exile all members of the opposition and to burn their houses to the ground. As a result, Italy during much of the Renaissance was filled with vengeful exiles waiting for the chance to return home and exact a price on their enemies. As cultural ideas advanced during the Renaissance, so too did technology advance. Johann Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press in the 1450s is recognized as one of the most important technological advances of the time. A mechanism by which small metal pieces engraved with single characters could be arranged to form words and sentences, the first press was used in Germany to print the Bible. Not long thereafter, presses began to spring up all over Europe, and the impact was enormous. Rapidly, literacy grew and knowledge spread as, for the first time, literature became readily-and affordably-available to many people.Eventually the ideas born in Italy during the 1300s spread northward-with the aid of printing-to France, Germany, England, and the Netherlands, where the Renaissance continued into the 1600s.One of the most important figures of the northern Renaissance was the Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus, who lived in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Unlike Italian Renaissance thinkers, Erasmus applied his study not only to classical civilization but also to early Christianity. He felt that Medieval Christian scholars had corrupted the faith, making doctrines too abstract and complicated and veering Christianity away from its original intent. He produced his own translation of the New Testament, and his book In Praise of Folly (1509) is a scalding criticism of the clergy, scholars, and philosophers of his day. A second notable figure of the time is Sir Thomas More. An English statesman and advisor to the king, More shared his friend Erasmus’s frustration with the ways of mankind. More’s Utopia, published in 1516, criticizes the times by envisioning an ideal society in which police would be unnecessary, politicians would be honest, and money would cease to exist. A Roman Catholic, More was executed for refusing to sanction King Henry VIII’s divorce.Petrarch (1304-1374), who wrote in the middle 1300s, became not only the first great writer of the Renaissance but also one of the first proponents of the concept that a “rebirth” was indeed in progress. A student and teacher of classical literature, he achieved fame for his Latin writings. In contrast, he is most noted today for poems written in Italian, a series of love sonnets to an idealized woman named Laura. Petrarch’s celebration of Neoplatonic love-a type of abstracted, self-centered experience that contrasts sharply with the selfless, sexually-charged lyrics of the Medieval troubadours (poets)-provides a good example of Renaissance views toward romance.Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), a Florentine historian, wrote what might be the most important work of the period, The Prince (ca. 1513). In it, the author outlines the mechanisms of government in starkly practical terms. Rather than seeing politics in terms of morality, The Prince suggests that a successful ruler must disregard such virtues as honesty, justice and compassion if they stand in the way of political goals. Thus, according to Machiavelli, the end justifies the means. This attitude seems contrary to humanistic values elsewhere present in Renaissance expression. At the same time, Machiavelli arrives at his conclusions using both classical sources and critical reasoning, two prominent aspects of Renaissance discourse.English Renaissance literature-and perhaps all literature of the modern age-culminated in the career of William Shakespeare (1564-1616). An actor by trade, Shakespeare embodied in his plays many of the ideals of both Italian and northern Renaissance artists. In addition to refining the English language to its greatest perfection, Shakespeare used such classical sources as Plutarch’s Lives to create plots and characters still popular today. His examination of human nature, his celebration of man’s potential, his criticism of man’s shortcomings, and his understanding of the depth of human personalities place his body of work among the greatest artistic achievements of all time.Other great writers of the Renaissance include Spain’s Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, usually known as Cervantes, and Francois Rabelais of France. Cervantes (1547-1616) published his famous book Don Quixote-a tale that gently pokes fun at medieval codes of conduct-in 1605. Rabelais (b. 1494) is best known for writing the five-volume work Gargantua and Pantagruel. The first visual artist to recognizably break with the Medieval past was the Florentine Giotto, whose paintings demonstrated an early sense of perspective and real space. According to a story, a fly in one of Giotto’s paintings looked so real that a viewer tried to brush it away. Raphael, who painted in the early 1500s, celebrated classical ideals in his School of Athens, a painting commissioned by the Pope to portray the philosophers of ancient Greece. Another school of painting is characterized by Sandro Botticelli, whose Birth of Venus and Primavera suggest a more passionate, irrational aspect of the classical past.The most accomplished artist of the time, however, was Michelangelo. Raised in the hills near Florence, Michelangelo is known by many for his frescoes-depicting great biblical events-in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. A sculptor by training, Michelangelo also created many of the most remarkable statues of the period. His David, whose scale made it one of the most ambitious sculptures of the time, celebrates not only the human form but also the pride and confidence of small independent states like Florence that were often under threat from larger enemies. When the Spanish besieged Florence in the middle 1500s, Florentine officials commissioned Michelangelo to build an inner wall around the city. He did, and though the outer defense fell to the Spaniards, the inner fortification stands today, proof of Michelangelo’s skill as an engineer and architect. But the most enduring monument to Michelangelo’s genius stands not in Florence but in Rome. Commissioned to build a great cathedral to celebrate the reemergence of Roman prestige, the artist designed St. Peter’s Basilica, one of the most magnificent structures in the world. Italian painter Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), while less well known than Michelangelo at the time, came to be regarded as an artistic genius. Two of his works, The Last Supper and The Mona Lisa, stand even today as among the most famous and most studied paintings in the world.The most accomplished northern Renaissance artists worked in Flanders. There, they perfected the medium of oil on canvas, and a technique that enabled Flemish artists to represent scenes with great clarity. The Van Eyck brothers, Hubert and Jan, along with Pieter Brueghel, are noted for their attention to fine detail. Rembrandt, who painted in the 1600s, is recognized for his haunting use of light and shadow. 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