Italian Renaissance
A period of intense artistic and intellectual activity, said to be a 'rebirth' of Greco-Roman culture. From roughly the mid-fourteenth to mid-fifteenth century followed by this movement spreading into the Northern Europe during 1400-1600
Jacob Burckhart
19th century historian that claimed the Renaissance period stood in distinct contrast to the Middle Ages.
Signori
despots who controlled much of Italy by 1300.
city-states
a city and its surrounding lands functioning as an independent political unit
Oligarchies
rule of merchant aristocracies, controlled much of Italy by 1300
Commenda system
Contract between merchant and merchant adventurer who agreed to take goods to distant location s and return with the proceeds for 1/3 of the profit
Condotierri
soldier for hire. Mercenary generals of private armies hired by cities for military purposes.
Republic of Florence
Italian city that was central to the Italian Renaissance because of its gifted individuals; Dante, Pretrach, Boccaccio, Machiavelli, Brunelleschi, Donatello, Masaccio, Boticelli and others. The city was ruled by the Medici familly.
Medici family
Ruled Florence during the Renaissance, became wealthy from banking, spent a lot of money on art, controlled Florence for about 3 centuries
Cosimo de Medici
Italian financier and statesman and friend of the papal court (1389-1464)
Lorenzo de Medici
Italian statesman and scholar who supported many artists and humanists including Michelangelo and Leonardo and Botticelli (1449-1492)
Duchy of Milan
Ruled by Sforza Family after 1450; Milan was a principal adversary of Venice and Florence until the Peace of Lodi created a relative 40- year period of peace among the Italian city states
Sforza family
After 1450 this family ruled Milan as dukes, and continued to serve as leaders of the city for most of the Renaissance period. (1450-1535)
Republic of Venice
small oligarchy with powerful merchant-aristocrats, powerful commercial center with expansionist tendencies.
Papal states
some of the the most important renaissance city states in central Italy that included Rome and were ruled by the Pope.
Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
only Italian city-state to officially have a "king"; included south Italian region of Naples and the island of Sicily; much farmland
Charles VIII
French king, invited by Sforza to invade Florence, fought over Italy with Ferdinand of Aragon in the first Italian war
Girolama Savonarola
Dominican priest that saved Florence by allowing Charles VIII to enter peacefully. Afterwards he assumed control of Florence until he was executed in 1498
Machiavelli
Renaissance writer; formerly a politician, wrote The Prince, a work on ethics and government, describing how rulers maintain power by methods that ignore right or wrong; accepted the philosophy that "the end justifies the means.
Sack of Rome, 1527
May 5, 1527 - A military event carried out by the mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in Rome, then part of the Papal States. It marked a crucial imperial victory in the conflict between Charles I of Spain Holy Roman Emperor, and the League o
Charles V
This was the Holy Roman Emperor that called for the Diet of Worms. He was a supporter of Catholicism and tried to crush the Reformation by use of the Counter-Reformation
Humanism
the doctrine emphasizing a person's capacity for self-realization through reason
Civil Humanism
Idea that education should prepare leaders who would be active in civic affairs
Petrarch
(1304-1374) Father of the Renaissance. He believed the first two centuries of the Roman Empire to represent the peak in the development of human civilization.
Bocaccio
Italian writer famous for his vernacular prose, in particular the Decameron, which reveals stories of society during the plague
Leonardo Bruni
wrote "New Cicero" which has the idea that humanists believe that their studies of humanism should be put to the service of the state.
Lorenzo Valla
(1406-1457) On Pleasure, and On the False Donation of Constantine, which challenged the authority of the papacy. Father of modern historical criticism.
Latin Vulgate
the authorized version of the Bible for the Catholic Church
Marsilio Ficino
Founded the Platonic Academy at the behest of Cosimo de' Medici in the 1460s. Translated Plato's works into Latin, giving modern Europeans access to these works for the first time.
Pico Della Mirandola
philosopher who wrote On the Dignity of Man
Baldassare Castiglione
The Book of The Courtier. Described the ideal of a Renaissance man who was well versed in the Greek and Roman classics, and accomplished warrior, could play music, dance, and had a modest but confident personal demeanor. It outlined the qualities of a tru
virtu
The striving for excellence and being a virtuous person. Humanistic aspect of Renaissance.
Johann Gutenberg
Inventor of printing press and moveable type
Giorgio Vasari
Italian painter and art historian (1511-1574); wrote The Lives of the Artists. Massive patronage of the arts came from this and was lead by families like the Medici's and also the churches, who saw art as a means of glorifying God.
quattrocento
Italian, literally "four hundred"; it refers to the 1400s� the fifteenth century, especially in reference to Italian art of this time (the late Middle Ages and Early Renaissance).
cinquecento
the 1500s; the High Renaissance in Rome; art was becoming more secular
Pope Alexander VI
Pope and father of Cesare Borgia and Lucrezia Borgia (1431-1503)
perspective
the appearance of things relative to one another as determined by their distance from the viewer
chiaroscuro
The treatment of light and shade in a work of art, especially to give an illusion of depth.
stylized faces
medieval faces in art--more stylized and generic
sfumato
Painting technique in which contours are enveloped in a suggestive, smoke-like haze
contrapposto
put all weight on one leg, causes hips to shift and shoulders to counter balance, which sets up potential for natural pose
Greek temple architecture
triangular pediments, Greek columns, Roman arches, domes. Simplicity, symmetry, balance.
Giotto
Florentine painter who gave up the stiff Byzantine style and developed a more naturalistic style
Brunelleschi, Il Duomo
Florentine architect who was the first great architect of the Italian Renaissance (1377-1446)
Lorenzo Ghiberti
won a contest to design bronze doors for the San Giovanni Baptistry in Florence. The doors were nicknamed "The Gates of Paradise" by Michelangelo.
Donatello, David
Florentine sculptor famous for his lifelike sculptures (1386-1466)
Massaccio, Expulsion of Adam and Eve
Painter; perhaps first Renaissance painter to portray real, nude human figures in 3-D. shows tremendous emotion.
Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus
Italian painter of mythological and religious paintings (1444-1510)
High Renaissance
the artistic style of early 16th century painting in Florence and Rome
Bramante
Greatest architect of the high Renaissance Pope Julius, his patron, commissioned him to design the new St Peters
Leonardo da Vinci
Italian painter and sculptor and engineer and scientist and architect
Raphael, School of Athens
Italian painter whose many paintings exemplify the ideals of the High Renaissance (1483-1520)
Michelangelo
This was an artist who led the way for Renaissance masters from his David sculpture and his painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling
Titian
Greatest Renaissance painter in Venice, used vivid color and movement, which was the opposite of the subtle colors and static figures in Florentine paintings.
Mannerism
Artistic movement against the Renaissance ideals of symetry, balance, and simplicity; went against the perfection the High Renaissance created in art. Used elongated proportions, twisted poese and compression of space.
El Greco
Spanish painter (born in Greece) remembered for his religious works characterized by elongated human forms and dramatic use of color (1541-1614)
Northern Renaissance
Emphasized Critical Thinking, Developed Christian Humanism criticizing the church & society, Painting/ Woodcuts/Literature
Christian humanism
a movement that developed in northern Europe during the renaissance combining classical learning with the goal of reforming the catholic church
Erasmus
(1466?-1536) Dutch Humanist and friend of Sir Thomas More. Perhaps the most intellectual man in Europe and widely respected. Believed the problems in the Catholic Church could be fixed; did not suport the idea of a Reformation. Wrote Praise of Folly.
Thomas More
He was a English humanist that contributed to the world today by revealing the complexities of man. He wrote Utopia, a book that represented a revolutionary view of society. (p.437)
Jacques Lefevre d'Etables
leading French humanist, 5 versions of Psalms that challenged a single authoritative Bible
Francesco Ximenes de Cisneros
Grand inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition. A Spanish humanist who reformed the Spanish clergy and church so that many of the Church abuses that were highlighted during the Reformation did not necessarily apply to Spain.
Francois Rabelais
A French Humanist who lived 1494-1553. He was the author of Gargantua which made fun of the church using giants to represent the church. Instead of true monks there were swimming pools, maids, and no clocks.
Michel de Montaigne
Developed the essay form. Skepticism, doubt that rue knowledge could be obtained.
William Shakespeare
English poet and dramatist considered one of the greatest English writers (1564-1616)
Miguel de Cervantes
Spanish writer best remembered for 'Don Quixote' which satirizes chivalry and influenced the development of the novel form (1547-1616)
Flemish style
a Northern Renaissance Art, More detail throughout painting, use of oil paints, more emotional that the Italian style, and works often preoccupied with death
Jan van Eyck
Flemish painter who was a founder of the Flemish school of painting and who pioneered modern techniques of oil painting (1390-1441)
Bosch
(1450-1516)
A surrealist painter of the Netherlands who focused his works on symbolism, fantasy, confusion, death and the torments of Hell.
Peter Brueghel
his subjects were everyday life and landscapes; greatest flemish painter of the 16th century; "hunters in the Snow
Albrecht Durer
a leading German painter and engraver of the Renaissance (1471-1528)
Hans Holbein
German painter and engraver noted for his portraits
Fugger family
A family in Germany who had a great deal of money due to international banking, and they used there pull to patronize art of the Northern Renaissance.
Christine de Pisan
An educated, privelaged, humanistic woman who wrote poetry and "The Treasure of the City of Ladies.
Isabella d'Este
First lady of the Renaissance, she was an example for women to break away from traditional roles, and even founded a school for young women. She ruled Mantua, was well educated and a big patron of the arts.
Artemesia Gentilleschi
Perhaps the first female artist to gain recognition in the post-Renaissance era. First woman to paint historical and religious scenes
Cesare Borgia
younger son of Pope Alexander VI, prototype of Niccol� Machiavelli's Prince �intelligent, cruel, treacherous, and ruthlessly opportunistic