The Renaissance, Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution

Francisco Pesante HUM-102

Objectives Identify key examples of art, music, architecture, philosophy, and literature that reflect developments in world events and cultural patterns during the Renaissance. Identify key elements of the Reformation and the Scientific Revolution.

The Age of the Renaissance

Renaissance Artists: Disciples of Nature, Masters of Invention

The Age of the Renaissance

Disciples of Nature, Masters of Invention Flowering of visual arts Embraced the natural world Equaled only by the classical antiquity
Artistic-scientist that desired to understand the natural world (operations and functions) and imitate its visual appearance.

The Age of the Renaissance

Disciples of Nature, Masters of Invention Flowering of visual arts Embraced the natural world Equaled only by the classical antiquity
Art was largely religious, but its style was more lifelike than ever (in contrast with the more abstract and symbolic art of the Middle Ages with liturgical and devotional ends).
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The Age of the Renaissance

Wealthy patrons commissioned paintings and sculptures to embellish their homes, palaces or to commemorate secular and civic achievements. Ex. Portrait paintings like Battista Sforza, Duke of Urbino (p.28). It glorified the individual, describing the physical and urban life.
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Renaissance Art and Patronage

The Age of the Renaissance

Renaissance Art and Patronage
Merchant princes, petty despots and a growing numbers of middle-class patrons and urban centered guilds brought prestige to their business and families by art; a mark upon society to immortalizing themselves for posterity (artistic expressions as an extension of the ego, in an age of individualism).

The Age of the Renaissance

The Early Renaissance (1400-1490)
Artist as heroes. Giorgio Vasaris (1511-1574), The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Architects, and Sculptors.

 Giorgio Vasaris (1511-1574), The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Architects, and Sculptors.

The Early Renaissance (1400-1490)

The Age of the Renaissance

About Leonardo da Vinci He might have been a scientist if he had not been so versatile. But the instability of his character caused him to take up and abandon many things. In arithmetic, for example, he made such rapid progress during the short time he studied I that he often confounded his teacher by his questions. He also began the study of music and resolved to learn to play the lute, and as he was by nature of exalted imagination, and full of the most graceful vivacity, he sang and accompanied himself most divinely, improvising at once both verses and music. He studied not one branch of art only, but all
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The Age of the Renaissance

The Revival of the Classical Nude Donato Bardi (1386-1466) Donatello
David (1432): The first freestanding, life-sized nude sculpture since antiquity. Exalts the body as a esthetical and sensual seat of pleasure.

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The Age of the Renaissance

The Revival of the Classical Nude Donato Bardi (1386-1466) Donatello
David (1432): Not an imitation, but reveals the great inspiration of Greek and Roman canons (anatomical proportions, gentle contraposto stance).
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The Age of the Renaissance

Antonio Pallaiuolo (14311498) Hercules and Anataeus (son of Zeus and son of Mother Earth) Mythological theme.

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The Age of the Renaissance

Antonio Pallaiuolo (14311498) Quest to understand the mechanics of the human body (studies of anatomy). Glorification of human action and energy (vs. Christian morality).
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The Age of the Renaissance

Early Renaissance Architecture
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446). Dome of the Florence cathedral. Example of crosssections

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The Age of the Renaissance

Filippo Brunelleschi
Reinterpretation of the Greco-Roman themes and principles. The largest, since that of the Pantheon of Rome.

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The Age of the Renaissance

Filippo Brunelleschi Two octagonal shells. Each incorporated eight curved panels joined by massive ribs that soar upward from the octagonal drum, to converge at an elegant lantern through which light enters the interior.
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The Age of the Renaissance

Filippo Brunelleschi
- Successful in hoisting stone and new masonry techniques, while using the classical principles of symmetry and proportion in architecture design (and visual clarity).
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The Age of the Renaissance

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The Age of the Renaissance

Leon Battista Alberti: Santa Maria Novella basilica
Pattern of geometric shapes ordered by a perfect square.

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The Age of the Renaissance

Leon Battista Alberti: Santa Maria Novella basilica
Harmonic proportions based on numerical ratios

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The Age of the Renaissance

The Renaissance Portrait
Desire to immortalize oneself by way of ones physical appearance To publicize ones greatness in the classical manner.

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The Renaissance Portrait Leonardo da Vincis Mona Lisa (1505)

Outdoor setting Pyramidal shape ot the sitter (the wife of the Florentine banker Francesco del Giocondo).

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The Renaissance Portrait Mona Lisa (1505)

Soft golden tones highlights the figure, models out of gradations of light and shade. An elusive model whose eyes and mouth are delicately blurred.

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The Renaissance Portrait Mona Lisa (1505)

Shaved eyebrows and plucked hairline are hallmarks of fifteenth age century female fashion and resists classification of age and gender.

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The Renaissance Portrait Mona Lisa (1505)

Objects of fascination and mystery for generations of beholders.

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The Age of the Renaissance

Early Renaissance Artist-Scientist
Empirical study of the physical world. A goal to capture by art the real look of nature. To master it, we have to understand it. Medieval time: The world was regarded as an imperfect reflections of the divine order. The Painting as a window on nature. Linear perspective: the translation of a three dimensional space onto a two-dimensional surface.
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The Age of the Renaissance

Early Renaissance ArtistScientist Linear perspective: Encouraged by research in optics , Brunelleschi formulated the first laws: all parallel lines in a given visual field appear to converge at a single vanishing point on the horizon.
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The Age of the Renaissance

Early Renaissance Artist-Scientist Linear perspective: Started by Alberti (1435), and advanced by Leonardo and Durer, it satisfied the Renaissance need for exact and accurate description of the physical world. It also impose a fixed relationship between the image and the eye of the beholder, making the latter the exclusive point of reference; metaphorically placing the individual at the center of the macrocosm.
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The Age of the Renaissance

Leonardo da Vinci as ArtistScientist Studied the anatomical and organic functions of plants, animals, and human beings. Studied the properties of wind and water and invented hundreds of ingenious mechanical devices (armored tanks, diving bell, flying machine)
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The Age of the Renaissance

Leonardo da Vinci as Artist-Scientist
Thousands of drawings accompanied by mirrorimage script. Anatomical drawings only equaled by Flemish physician Andreas Vesalius (1543).
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The Age of the Renaissance

Leonardo da Vinci as Artist-Scientist
His notebooks werent published until 1898 (no real impact on science, but his creations were a great example of imagination and timeless source of inspiration)
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The Age of the Renaissance

Leonardo da Vinci as ArtistScientist
Vitruvian man. Correspondence between human proportions and ideal geometric shapes . Metaphor for the Renaissance view of the microcosm as a mirror of the macrocosm. Empirical experience for discovering the general rules of nature.

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The Age of the Renaissance

The High Renaissance (1490-1530)
Individualism reached heroic proportions Visual Illusionism techniques (lineal and aerial perspectives; light and shade) Classical principles of clarity, symmetry, and order.
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The Age of the Renaissance

Architecture of the High Renaissance: Michelangelo and Heroic Idealism
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) Architect, poet, painter, engineer and sculptor.

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The Age of the Renaissance

Architecture of the High Renaissance: Michelangelo (21) Pieta: A tomb monument at Old Saint Peter Cathedral in Rome
Pyramidal shape for support and symbolic purpose. Composition: unity of design.
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The Age of the Renaissance

Architecture of the High Renaissance: Michelangelo (27) David (1504). Larger than life statue made out of Carrara marble.

Rulers of Florence placed it in the entrance of the city hall. A defiant presence David (which differs from that of Donatello).
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The Age of the Renaissance

Architecture of the High Renaissance: Michelangelo (27) David (1504). Larger than life statue made out of Carrara marble.
Its proportions violated the classical canons: encompass the ideals of terribilita and virtu.

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Architecture of the High Renaissance: Michelangelo (37) Sistine Chapel (1512).

The Age of the Renaissance

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The Age of the Renaissance

Sistine Chapel (1512)
5,760 square feet, 70 feet height. The Creation and Fall of Humankind (9 scenes and hundreds of accompanying scenes of he prophets). God and Man as partner in the divine plan.
Metaphor of potential divinity of man: creation and creativity, contained In its sonnets.
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The Age of the Renaissance

Architecture of the High Renaissance: Michelangelo (72)
Dome of the New Saint Peters Cathedral in Rome (1547)
Architectural design. 450 height.
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Protest and Reform: The Waning of the Old Order

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Protest and Reform

Luther and the Protestant Reformation
The territories of Germany, under Charles V (15001558) Holy Roman Empire. Criticism of the Church immorality and luxuries (indulgences and Saint Peters Cathedral building) Martin Luther (1483-1546), former Augustinian monk and doctor of theology, spoke against the Church. Critical from the inside structures of the Church. Salvation could be gained only by faith in Christ sacrifice (by Gods grace, not earthly good works or will).
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Luther and the Protestant Reformation Ninety-Five Theses (1517). Posted in Wittenberg church, printed and widely circulated. It contains his critics of Church abuses:
1. When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said "Repent", He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance. 2. The word cannot be properly understood as referring to the sacrament of penance, i.e. confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy. 5. The pope has neither the will nor the power to remit any penalties beyond those imposed either at his own discretion or by canon law. 27. There is no divine authority for preaching that the soul flies out of the purgatory immediately the money clinks in the bottom of the chest. 32. All those who believe themselves certain of their own salvation by means of letters of indulgence, will be eternally damned, together with their teachers.
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Protest and Reform

Protest and Reform

Luther and the Protestant Reformation
Criticism was directed for a reformation. Not the destruction of the Church. Critic of the Church doctrines. The only valid sacraments: Baptism and Holy Communion (discarding the other five). To monasticism and clerical celibacy. Unwilling to accept the pope (spiritual heir to Saint Peter) as the religious authority. 1520 Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther. Charge him of heresy.

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Protest and Reform

The Spread of Protestantism
Translation by Luther of the Old and New Testament to German. Encouraged religious devotion without the papal authority. The printing press was used to circulate throughout Europe his protestant sermons and letters. Enlightened Christians could arrive at truth by way of Scripture (to interpret the Bible by themselves).
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Protest and Reform

The Spread of Protestantism Led to the appearance of new Protestant sects: John Calvin -1509-1564- led a religious government in Geneva, Switzerland. Developer of the Doctrine of Predestination. Near Zurich born the Anabaptist like Quaker and Baptist-, who called for the abolition of mass, separation of state and church, and the defense of individual responsibilities and personal liberties).
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Protest and Reform

The Spread of Protestantism In England, King Henry VII (1491-1547) break with the Roman Catholic Church and establishing in 1526 the Church of England , with its own church leadership (based on the Church denial to annul his marriage with Catherine of Aragon).

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Protest and Reform

Thirty Years War (1618-1648) The religious unity of Western Christendom was shattered. Ended by the Treaty of Westphalia (1648) Death toll: 5 million Christians. Internal reform of the Catholic Church The principle of national sovereignty was established in the West. Protestantism spread throughout the Northern Europe.
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Protest and Reform

Sixteenth-Century Literature
Mores Utopia Sir Thomas More (1478-1535). Chancellor to King Henry VIII. Christian humanist that denounced the evils of materialism (consumerism), and championed religious tolerance and charity. He opposed the actions of the king and was executed for treason. Writer of a classical political satire on European statecraft and society in Utopia (no place).
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Protest and Reform

Sixteenth-Century Literature Mores Utopia An egalitarian state in which goods and property are shared, war and personal vanities were held in contempt, learning is available to all citizens, and freedom of religion is absolute. Each citizen were responsible for establishing social justice.

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Protest and Reform

Sixteenth-Century Literature The Wit of Cervantes
Written in vernacular, Don Quijote satirize the outworn values of the Middle Ages as personified in a legendary Spanish hero. One of the first example of prose fiction in Western culture. About a chivalrous knight in an age of statecraft.

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The Aristocratic Style in France

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The Aristocratic Style in France

Absolutism: a political theory asserting that unlimited power may be vested in one or more rulers, confirming a longstanding theocratic tradition. The political model for the nation-states during the 17th and 18th Century.

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The Aristocratic Style in France

Louis XIV (1638-1715) and French Absolutism
Ruled from 1643-1715 he dictated the political, economic, and cultural policies of the country. Governed as the direct representative of God. No shared participation on the power by the nobility, the Church, the Estates General (representative assembly) or his subjects.
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The Aristocratic Style in France

Louis XIV (1638-1715) and French Absolutism
He achieved to bring France to a political and economic preeminence in Europe. Subdue the Feudal Nobility and Church. Offered tax exemptions and positions in the royal court.
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The Aristocratic Style in France

Versailles: Symbol of Royal Absolutism

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The Aristocratic Style in France Versailles: Symbol of Royal Absolutism

Artistic patronage shifted form Italy to France The Capital was moved from Paris to Versailles (36k persons and 20 years). Royal residence and symbol of absolute supremacy It followed the rules of: symmetry, clarity, geometric regularity, theatrical display
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The Aristocratic Style in France Versailles: Symbol of Royal Absolutism

With 7mi^2 of gardens with parks, lakes, pools and forest. Three level building House his families, his mistresses and servants (over 1,000) Performance of ballet, operas, plays Housed the French royal collection of painting
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The Age of the Baroque

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Eisenach, Holy Roman Empire Source of Inspiration: Luthers teachings and hymns Organ virtuosi Consultant in baroque organ construction Choir director of the Lutheran Church of Saint Thomas in Leipzig.
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The Age of the Baroque

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Twenty children from two wifes (Five of them became famous musicians) Cantata
Multimovement work with text in verse, sung by chorus, soloist and instruments.

Cantata #80
Based on Lutheran Church hymn A Mighty Fortress is Our God.
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The Scientific Revolution

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The Scientific Revolution

Scientific Revolution in Europe (1600-1750). It owe much to scientific and technological development back from Egypt, China and Islam: Euclidian geometry (Greece: plane and solid figures) Windmill (Egypt) Magnetic compass (China) Painting press (China)
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The Scientific Revolution

Combined the tools of mathematics and experimentations. New instruments measure more precisely natural phenomena, to test scientific hypotheses, and to predict the operations of nature. Scientia existed separate and apart from divine power and authority.

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The Scientific Revolution

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) detailed in records the planetary movement in which were substantiated the heliocentric theory. The five known planets moved around the sun in elliptical path. It advanced the idea of a universe in motion. It followed a century later the path opened by Copernicus On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres (1543).

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The Scientific Revolution

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) experimentation concerned with motion and gravity. He experimented dropping different-sized weights from the Tower of Pisa, to determine the relative speed of the mass. Proving the earths gravity attracts all objects, regardless of its shape, size or density, at the same rate of acceleration. He perfected the telescope, revealing a new world by observations of the Moon, Saturns rings and the moons of Jupiter. It was a crucial instrument to turn the heliocentric theory in a fact.
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The Scientific Revolution

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) It conflicted with the orthodox Christian belief (either Catholic or protestant), having in response a trial by the Catholic Inquisition. Eppur si muove

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The New Learning

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The New Learning

Bacon and the Empirical Method
Empirical method: a manner of inquiry that depended on direct observation and experimentation. Natural phenomena, provided evidence from which one might draw general conclusions (inductive reasoning).

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The New Learning

Bacon and the Empirical Method
Francis Bacon (1561-1626), Novum Organum. Human as masters and possessors of Nature, guided by scientific study and precise method. His work was of great importance for the further foundation of the Royal Society of London (1645). Natural philosophy vs. religion Objectivity and experimentation vs. superstition
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The New Learning

Descartes and the Birth of Modern Philosophy Ren Descartes (1596-1650). Founder of modern Western philosophy and father of analytic geometry. How one knows what one knows (apart from what theology had to say). Instead of the senses , he valued abstract reasoning and mathematical speculation (our senses could deceive us).
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The New Learning

Descartes and the Birth of Modern Philosophy Ren Descartes (1596-1650) Championed de deductive reasoning, by establishing general premises and moved toward the establishment of particular truth. Cogito, ergo sum Except for our own thoughts there is nothing absolutely in our power.
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The New Learning

Newtons Scientific Synthesis
Isaac Newton (1642-1727) Keplers law of celestial mechanics + Galileos terrestrial law of falling bodies = Principia (1687) Theory of universal gravitation described every physical movement in the universe. Replaced Aristotle description of the physical world (4th a.D.)
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The Age of the Renaissance

References: Fiero, G. K. (2011). The humanistic tradition, Book 3 & 4: The European renaissance, the Reformation, and the global encounter (6th. Ed). New York, NY: McGraw Hill. Sherman, D & Salisbury, J. (2008). Civilizaciones de occidente. Vol I hasta 1715. Mxico: McGraw Hill.
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