Italian Renaissance Flashcards
A new era of thought and feeling. Europe and its institutions were changed from their forms in the Middle Ages. High culture, literature, the arts, education, and morals were changed.
Italian Renaissance
A Renaissance intellectual movement in which thinkers studied classical texts and focused on human potential and achievements.
Humanism
Rebirth of art, culture, and intellect that started in Italy
Renaissance
Concerned with worldly rather than spiritual matters
Secular
Father of Humanism. studied classical Greek and Latin. Famous for his “Letters to Laura.”
Petrarch
(1313-1375) Wrote the Decameron which tells about ambitious merchants, portrays a sensual, and worldly society. (Not so religious)
Boccaccio
1469-1527. Italian political theorist whose book The Prince (1513) describes the achievement and maintenance of power by a determined ruler indifferent to moral considerations.
Machiavelli
1478-1529, Baldassare - Humanist and Papal diplomat. Wrote The Book of the Courtierwith rules of gentlemanly behavior. Should know Greek, Latin, have fluent writing style in both classical and vernacular. Important advocate of humanistic education and stressed study of classics and literature.
Castiglione
An educated, privelaged, humanistic woman who wrote poetry and “The Treasure of the City of Ladies.” This brought on a debate about the role of women in society.
Christine de Pisan
A woman who exercised power which was out of the norm. She was born into the ruling family of a city-state and married the ruler of another city-state. She brought many Renaissance artists to her court and built a famous art collection. She was also skilled in politics and when her husband was taken captive in war, she defended him and won his release. She even ruled for a bit while he was gone.
Isabella de Este
Written by Niccolo Machiavelli, described that power is more important, “better to be feared than loved”
The Prince
Everyday language of ordinary people/ a specific place.
Vernacular
A durable method of painting on a wall by using watercolors on wet plaster.
Fresco
NAME?
Characteristics of Renaissance Art
A Renaissance writer who wrote the Divine Comedy in his native language - “perfected” Italian.
Dante Alighieri
France’s most popular Renaissance author. Rejected the Middle Age’s focus on the afterlife and believed that people should enjoy life to the fullest.
Francois Rabelais
1452-1498 Franciscan friar in Florence who objected to many of the new attitudes in the Renaissance - saw them as satanical. Gained power in Florence in 1494 at a time of Medici weakness and used strict, puritanical rule. Overthrown in 1498 and burned at stake. Medici returned to power but great age of Florence had passed.
Savonarola
An Italian city-state and leading cultural center during the Renaissance.
Florence
An Italian city-state during, before, and after the Renaissance period. It specialized in long-distance trade and the production of glass and had an oligarchic republic.
Venice
An Italian city-state during, before, and after the Renaissance period. It had a dictatorship and specialized in the production of armor. It allied with France in 1494 against Florence and Venice.
Milan
A kingdom in southern Italy controlled by the Hapsburgs (through Spain). Mainly excluded from the Renaissance as they focused on agriculture.
Naples
A group of territories in central Italy ruled by the popes from 754 until 1870. During the Renaissance = an area of wealth and power.
Papal States
This created an alliance in Italy between Milan, Naples, and Florence vs. the Papal States and Venice. It was is in effect from 1454 and 1494.
Treaty of Lodi
(1389-1464) The first semi-stable ruler of Florence, he controlled the government with his considerable wealth through the Medici Bank, the first international bank that funded the Papal States and many large European financial centers. This considerable private wealth enabled him to become a patron of the arts and a customer of many famous artists.
Cosimo de Medici
