The Italian Renaissance Flashcards
Rise of the Italian City-States
Wealthy Merchants
Urban Center
Wealthy Merchants
Wealthy merchants formed oligarchies that governed the independent city-states in Northern Italy
Dominated political, economic, and artistic life in the northern Italian cities.
Did not inherit social rank, made them work harder
Oligarchy
a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution
Florence
Center of the Renaissance
Rebirth of classical learning, literature, and art
Wealth from textile merchants and bankers
Medici
Dominated Florence’s economic, political, and artistic life for much of the fifteenth century
Earned wealth as bankers
Celebration of the individual
Merchants took pride in achievements
Artists and writers eager to be remembered with self-portraits and autobiographies
Classical Learning
Petrarch called medieval years the “dark ages”
Humanists
Humanist Education
Studied the classics to understand human nature and learn practical skills
Opened schools and academies that Greek and Latin
Baldassare Castiglione
1478-1529
Ideal Renaissance individual “universal man”
Wrote The Courtier
Perfect court lady should be well educated and charming
The Courtier
Castiglione
Ideal Courtier should be polite, charming, and witty
Turmoil in Italy
Lorenzo the Magnificent (a Medici) died and left Florence without a strong leader
Charles VIII invades Italy to conquer Naples
Ferdinand says no no and contests Charles VIII
Niccolo Machiavelli
1469-1527
Florentine diplomat and political philosopher
Founder of modern political science
The Prince
Written to advise Italian rulers what is needed to reunite divided Italy Pessimistic view of human nature A prince must be strong and shrewd A ruler must be ruthless and realistic End justifies the means
Patron
Used art as a way of displaying their wealth and promoting their fame
Perspective
Geometric method of creating the illusion of depth on a 2D surface
Chiaroscuro
Realistic blending of light and shade to model forms
illusion of volume
Leon Battista Alberti
Eliminated statues and other traditional features of Gothic architecture
Michelangelo
Contrapposto pose recalls statues from Greece and Rome
Raphael
School of Athens painting that illustrates the Renaissance ideals of order, unity, and symmetry
Christine de Pizan
First feminist
First women in European history to earn a living as an author
Perfect court lady
Castiglione
Believed the perfect court ladt sgould be attractive, well educated, and be able to paint, dance and play an intrument
Isabella D’este
1475-1539
Most famous Renaissance women
Art Patron
