GEC08-SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & SOCIETY SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & SOCIETY IN RENAISSANCE

PERIOD

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & SOCIETY IN

RENAISSANCE PERIOD

Overview
The Renaissance was a fervent period of European cultural, artistic,
political and economic “rebirth” following the Middle Ages.
Generally described as taking place from the 14th century to the
17th century, the Renaissance promoted the rediscovery of
classical philosophy, literature and art. Some of the greatest
thinkers, authors, statesmen, scientists and produced great number of talented poets,
artists in human history thrived during this artists, architects, scholars and scientists in a
era, while global exploration opened up new short period of time.
lands and cultures to European commerce. Overview
The Renaissance is credited with bridging the Objectives
gap between the Middle Ages and
modern-day civilization.
Renaissance
The Renaissance was the time period of
creativity and change in Europe and during
the 1300s to the 1600sin which there were
changes in many areas such as political, social, The Medici
Family
economical, and cultural. The most important
change was that of the people and how they
saw themselves and their world. Many people
showed interest in classical learning, Renaissance Humanism
especially the culture of the ancient Romans.
Francesco
They set out to change their own age. The
Petrarch
Renaissance, as they felt, was a time of
rebirth after the disorder and disasters of the
Giovanni
medieval world.
Boccaccio

The Renaissance began in Italy in the mid

Renaissance Art
1300s and spread north throughout the rest
of Europe. Florence, Italy was the birthplace
Leonardo da Vinci
of the Renaissance for many reasons. First of
all, since Italy was the center of ancient
Michelangelo Donatello
Roman history, it was natural for the
Renaissance to start there. Some things such
Raphael
as architectural remains, antique statues,
coins inscriptions reminded Italians of the
Self Assessment
glory of the Roman Empire. Florence was
very much like the ancient Athens because it
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Objectives

At the end of the lesson, you should be able to

➡ recognize the major creative contributions of the Renaissance.

➡ analyze the individual works of visuals from the Renaissance.

➡ explain the impact of advancements and developments of the Renaissance. ➡

describe the influence of cultural exchange and diversity of the Renaissance.

➡ discuss the principal historical themes in Europe during the Renaissance period, which
includes (1) The Medici Family (2) Philosophy of Humanism (3) Renaissance artists
(Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Donatello)

Lecture Notes

Renaissance. It is the French for "rebirth,"

was characterized by a revival of classical
art, literature, philosophy, architecture, and
an emphasis on humanism. This cultural
flourish overlapped the Age of Discovery
and advancements in science, thus making
science a legitimate source of knowledge.

The Middle Ages and Renaissance (c.400-

c.1550) are of crucial importance in development of nation states and
European history. They witnessed the governmental bureaucracies, and the
replacement of the Roman Empire by the eventual collapse of the religious unity of
so-called 'Barbarian kingdoms', the Christendom with the Reformation.
conversion of northern and eastern
Europe to Christianity, the origin and The Renaissance was a period in European
history, from roughly the 14th to the 17th
century, regarded as the cultural bridge
between the Middle Ages and modern
history. It started as a cultural movement in
Italy in the Late Medieval period and later
spread to the rest of Europe, marking the
beginning of the Early Modern Age.
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with the Church, however, was the
Protestant movement. The Protestant
One of the most significant ideas to
Reformation challenged the doctrine of
emerge from the Renaissance is the value
papal infallibility and rejected the Catholic
of education, particularly in the
Church as a necessary intermediary
Humanities. The catalyst for the classical
between the faithful and God. However,
revival was the belief that one could realize
his or her full humanity only through
classical education. This rebirth reasserted
the superiority of ancient Greco-Roman
creative and intellectual contributions. disagreements among Protestants caused
multiple sects to form.
From the early 15th to the early 17th
century, Europeans embarked on maritime
explorations around the world in order to
satisfy their desire for foreign goods and to
achieve geopolitical dominance over one
another. Scientific innovations assisted this
Renaissance Age of Exploration, such as
improved ship design and navigational
charts and instruments.

During the Renaissance Era, the Roman The Renaissance Period was a busy time of
Catholic Church faced numerous exploration and cultural exchange that
dissenters to its authority, who were resulted from vast improvements in trade
reacting to corruption within the clergy. A and communication. The expansion of
series of popular heretical movements trade routes on land and sea allowed
emerged, proposing to do away with the spices, precious gems, and fine silk to
institutional church. There were also more arrive from Asia.
moderate reformers, who criticized clergy
corruption and sought reform within the
Church itself. The most notable dissent
 The beauty, color, and
luster of Islamic glass and
pottery inspired Italian
glassmakers.

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Why was Florence a major center of the

Renaissance?

There are several answers to this question:

Extraordinary wealth accumulated in
Florence during this period among a And in 1423 the Florentine people
growing middle and upper class of prepared for war against the son of the
merchants and bankers. With the Duke of Milan who had threatened them
accumulation of wealth often comes a earlier. Again, luckily for Florence, the
desire to use it to enjoy the pleasures of Duke was defeated in 1425.
life—and not an exclusive focus on the
hereafter.

Florence saw itself as the ideal city state, a

place where the freedom of the individual
was guaranteed, and where many citizens
had the right to participate in the
government (this must have been very
different than living in the Duchy of Milan,
for example, which was ruled by a The Florentine citizens interpreted these
succession of Dukes with absolute power). military “victories” as signs of God’s favor
In 1400 Florence was engaged in a and protection. They imagined themselves
struggle with the Duke of Milan. as the “New Rome”—in other words, as the
heirs to the Ancient Roman Republic,
prepared to sacrifice for the cause of
freedom and liberty.

The Florentine people were very proud of their

form of government in the early 15th century
(as we are of our democracy). A republic is,
after all, a place that respects the opinions of
The Florentine people feared the loss of individuals, and we know that individualism was
liberty and respect for individuals that was a very important part of the Humanism that
the pride of their Republic. Luckily for thrived in Florence in the fifteenth century.
Florence, the Duke of Milan caught the
plague and died in 1402. 1. Why Florence was considered as an
ideal city state?
Then, between 1408 and 1414 Florence
was threatened once again, this time by 2. What are the pride of the Florentine
the King of Naples, who also died before for their Republic?
he could successfully conquer Florence.

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tremendous city. This family ruled the city
for centuries, overcoming adversity from
The Medici Family. Wherever you go in
all sides. But who were they, where did
Florence you can see the remnants of the
they come from and how did a family of
infamous Medici family. Everywhere you
merchants and bankers rise to rule the city
look you can see their family insignia and
of Florence?
the art that they brought to this truly
 Florence. This was crucial in the cultural
The Medici Family, also known as the flourishing in the city in the fifteenth
House of Medici, is an Italian bourgeois century. The de Medici largely peaceful
family that ruled Florence and, later,
Tuscany during most of the period from Discuss the impact of the Medici Family
1434 to 1737, first attained wealth and in the Renaissance period.
political power in Florence in the 13th
century rule did much to promote the Renaissance
through its in the city. They also in their relations with
success in the other city-states did much to bring
commerce and peace to North Italy. Then the de Medici
banking. was very instrumental in the growing
Beginning in interest in Greek culture and history.
1434 with the
rise to power
Renaissance Humanism. It was an
of Cosimo de’
intellectual movement typified by a revived
Medici (or
interest in the classical world and studies
Cosimo the
which focussed not on religion but on what
Elder), the
it is to be human. Humanists believed in
family’s
the importance of an education in classical
support of the
literature and the promotion of civic virtue,
arts and
that is, realizing a person's full potential
humanities
both for their own good and for the good
made Florence
of the society in which they live. The main
into the cradle of the Renaissance, a
elements of Renaissance humanism
cultural flowering rivaled only by that of
include:
ancient Greece. The Medicis produced
four popes (Leo X, Clement VII, Pius IV and
• an interest in studying literature and
Leo XI), and their genes have been mixed
into many of Europe’s royal families. The art from antiquity
last Medici ruler died without a male heir in
1737, ending the family dynasty after • an interest in the eloquent use of
almost three centuries. Latin and philology

The de Medici during their rule of Florence • a belief in the importance and power
in the fifteen century did much to of education to create useful citizens
influence the Renaissance and to enable
the great artists, humanists, and writers, to • the promotion of private and civic
produce their works that have been so virtue
influential down the centuries. The family
brought stability and peace to the city of

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• the encouragement of non-religious

• a rejection of scholasticism studies
 tourist” because he traveled just for
• an emphasis on the individual and pleasure. During his travels, he collected
their moral autonomy crumbling Latin manuscripts and was a
• a belief in the importance of prime mover in the recovery of knowledge
observation, critical analysis, and from writers of Rome and Greece.
creativity His works helped inspire some of the core
• a belief that poets, writers, and artists tenets (principles/beliefs) of the
can lead humanity to a better way of Renaissance. Most notable, perhaps, was
living his obsession with the classical writings of
ancient Greece and Rome. Petrarch's deep
• an interest in the question 'what appreciation of Classical knowledge, his
does it mean to be human'? emphasis on human rationalism and critical
thinking, and his tendency to challenge the
Francesco Petrarch. He was born in
medieval traditions of the Catholic Church
Arezzo, Italy on 20 July 1304 CE to parents
set the foundations for the movement of
who were exiles
humanism, a philosophy that dominated
from the city of
Renaissance thinking.
Florence. He
was an Italian In 1341, he became an Italian celebrity,
scholar and when he was crowned as the poet
poet during the laureate, or official state poet, of Rome. He
Renaissance was the first person to receive this title
period, and one since the Roman Empire.
of the earliest
Humanists. Giovanni Boccaccio. He was born in
Tuscany (either in Certaldo or Florence) in
Petrarch studied 1313 CE and spent his childhood in
law at the Florence. His
University of father was
Montpellier Boccaccio di
(1316–1320) Chellino, a
and the Tuscan
University of merchant, but
Bologna (1320–23); because his father was nothing is known
in the profession of law, he insisted that about his
Petrarch and his brother study law also. mother, except
Petrarch, however, was primarily interested that she may
in writing and Latin literature, and have been
considered these seven years wasted. French (it used
He traveled widely in Europe, served as an to be thought he
ambassador, and has been called “the first had been born in Paris).

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 strength of medicine could do anything to cure this
illness…So many corpses would arrive in front of a
church every day and at every hour that the amount of
Boccaccio was an Italian poet, writer, and
holy ground for burials was certainly
scholar and correspondent of Petrarch, insufficient for the ancient custom of giving each body
and an important Renaissance humanist. . its individual place.”

His most famous and influential work is the

The group of characters in
Decameron, completed by 1353, in which
the Decameron, made up of seven
his ten characters present 100 tales of
women and three men, travel to the
everyday life. The book covers all manner
safety of a secluded villa in the Tuscan
of secular themes and gives a vivid
town of Fiesole. Each member of the
description of the Black Death, which had
group is allowed to become king or
just hit Boccaccio's home region of
queen for a day and dictate how the
Tuscany.
others will spend their leisure time that
Decameron. The Decameron (Ten Days) is day. The king or queen also decides the
a collection of tales Boccaccio compiled theme of the ten, often comic stories
between 1348 and 1353 CE. In the work, each member must tell all the others. At
ten young upper-class people are trying to the end of each day's tales, there is a
escape the Black Death plague which has climactic canzone or song. This happens
caused such chaos and disaster in their over ten days and so the work contains
home city of Florence. Bocaccio gives a 100 tales, which cover everything from
famous and lengthy description of the commerce to adultery. Boccaccio is also
plague that had claimed the lives of his presenting through these stories the
father, stepmother, and many friends. The way of life and attitudes of his
description provides valuable characters, that is the well-to-do of
contemporary information on the Florence.
symptoms of the plague's victims and the
general social consequences of a
pandemic that devastated many
European cities, towns, and villages.

“ [The plague] showed its first signs in men

and women alike by means of swellings either in the
groin or under the armpits, some of which grew to the
size of an ordinary apple and others to the size of an
egg (more or less), and the people called them
gavoccioli (buboes). And from the two parts of the
body already mentioned, in very little time, the said The Decameron became the standard
deadly gavoccioli began to spread indiscriminately over
every part of the body; then, after this, the symptoms
against which all subsequent prose
of the illness changed to black or livid spots appearing literature in Italy and abroad was
on the arms and thighs, and on every part of the body judged. There were critics, too, such as
– sometimes there were large ones and other times a
number of little ones scattered all around. And just as
those who thought some of the stories
the gavoccioli were originally, and still are, a very too vulgar, and it was put on the
definite indication of impending death, in like manner Catholic Church's list of forbidden
these spots came to mean the same thing for whoever
contracted them. Neither a doctor's advice nor the
books in the mid-16th century CE.
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Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo da Vinci,

Disappointing love affairs and (Italian: “Leonardo from Vinci”) was born
deteriorating health made Giovanni on April 15, 1452 at Anchiano, near Vinci,
depressive and his writing started showing Republic of Florence [Italy] and died on
signs of bitterness especially towards May 2, 1519 at Cloux [now Clos-Lucé],
women. He attempted to burn and sell his France. He was
work, letters, manuscripts and library. an Italian
Petrarch convinced him not to burn his painter,
belonging and offered to purchase them draftsman,
from him. However, after his death, sculptor,
Boccaccio’s literary belongings were architect, and
presented to the monastery of Santo engineer
Spirito, in Florence. Although never whose genius,
married, Boccaccio was a father to three perhaps more
children. He passed away on December than that of
21, 1375. any other
Renaissance Art. Many works of figure,
Renaissance art depicted religious images, epitomized the
including subjects such as the Virgin Mary, Renaissance
or Madonna, and were encountered by humanist ideal.
contemporary audiences of the period in His Last Supper (1495–98) and Mona Lisa
the context of religious rituals. Today, they (c.1503–19) are among the most widely
are viewed as great works of art, but at the popular and influential paintings of the
time they were seen and used mostly as Renaissance. His notebooks reveal a spirit
devotional objects. Many Renaissance of scientific inquiry and a mechanical
works were painted as altarpieces for inventiveness that were centuries ahead of
incorporation into rituals associated with their time.
Catholic Mass and donated by patrons
who sponsored the Mass itself.

Renaissance artists came from all strata of

society; they usually studied as
apprentices before being admitted to a
professional guild and working under the
tutelage of an older master. Far from being
starving bohemians, these artists worked
The Last Supper. It is Leonardo's visual
on commission and were hired by patrons interpretation of an event chronicled in all four
of the arts because they were steady and of the Gospels (books in the Christian New
reliable. Testament). The evening before Christ was
betrayed by one of his disciples, he gathered
 them together to eat, tell them he knew what on how to eat and drink in the future, in
was coming and wash their feet (a gesture remembrance of him. It was the first
symbolizing that all were equal under the eyes celebration of the Eucharist, a ritual still
of the Lord). As they ate and drank together, performed.
Christ gave the disciples explicit instructions

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resemblance between the sitter’s and the
artist’s facial features. Some scholars
Mona Lisa. It
suggested that disguising himself as a
is a half
woman was the artist’s riddle. The sitter’s
length portrait
identity has not been definitively proven.
of a woman
Numerous attempts in the 21st century to
that was
settle the debate by seeking Lisa del
painted
Giocondo’s remains to test her DNA and
sometime
recreate an image of her face were
between 1503
inconclusive.
and 1519,
when The Mona Lisa was painted a poplar wood
Leonardo was panel using the sfumato technique and it
living measures 30 in tall by 20 in wide. Sfumato
in Florence, (derived from the Italian word fumo,
and it now meaning "smoke") refers to the technique
hangs in of oil painting which colors or tones are
the Louvre Museum, Paris, where it blended in such a subtle manner that they
remained an object of pilgrimage in the melt into one another without perceptible
21st century. The sitter’s mysterious smile transitions, lines or edges.
and her unproven identity have made the
painting a source of ongoing investigation Starting with dark undertones, he created
and fascination. the illusion of three-dimensional features
through layers and layers of thin, semi
There has been much speculation and transparent glazes. He used darker hues to
debate regarding the identity of the highlight features and boundaries of the
portrait’s sitter. Scholars and historians motif. Using this technique aroused the
have posited numerous interpretations, interest of the art community in Paris and
including that she is Lisa del Giocondo, the was hailed as a pioneering innovation in
wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco painting.
di Bartolomeo del Giocondo. For some
reason however, the portrait was never Donatello. Donato di Niccolo di Betto
delivered to its patron, and Leonardo kept Bardi was born
it with him when he went to work for in Florence,
Francis I, the King of France. Italy, sometime
in 1386. His
Another theory was that the model may friends and
have been Leonardo’s mother, Caterina. A family gave him
third suggestion was that the painting was, the nickname
in fact, Leonardo’s self-portrait, given the “Donatello.” He
 was the son of craftsman and placed him on a path of
Niccolo di Betto working in the trades. He was educated at
Bardi, a the home of the Martelli's, a wealthy and
member of the influential Florentine family of bankers and
Florentine Wool Combers Guild. This gave art patrons closely tied to the Medici
young Donatello status as the son of a family. It was here that he probably

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Penitent Magdalene. The Penitent

first received artistic training from a local Magdalene is a wooden sculpture of Mary
goldsmith. He learned metallurgy and the Magdalene by the Italian Renaissance
fabrication of metals and other sculptor Donatello, created around 1453–
substances. In 1403, he apprenticed with 1455. The sculpture was probably
Florence metalsmith and sculptor Lorenzo commissioned for the Baptistery of
Ghiberti. A few years later, Ghiberti was Florence. The piece was received with
commissioned to create the bronze doors astonishment for its
for the Baptistery of the Florence unprecedented
Cathedral, beating out rival artist Filippo realism. It is now in
[Link] assisted Ghiberti in the Museo
creating the cathedral doors. dell'Opera del
Duomo in Florence.
He died of unknown causes on December
13, 1466, in Florence and was buried in the
Basilica of San Lorenzo, next to Cosimo de'
Medici.

David (1440-1460
Bronze). Perhaps Michelangelo
Donatello’s (1475-
landmark work – 1564).
and one of the Michelangelo
greatest sculptural di Lodovico
works of the early Buonarroti Simoni
Renaissance – was was born on March
his bronze statue of 6,1475, in Caprese,
David. This work Republic of Florence
signals the return of [Italy] and died on
the nude sculpture died February
in the round figure, and because it was the 18,1564. He was an
first such work like this in over a thousand Italian Renaissance
years, it is one of the most important works sculptor, painter, architect, and poet who
in the history of western art. David was the exerted an unparalleled influence on the
first freestanding bronze cast statue of the development of Western art.
Renaissance era as well as the first nude
Michelangelo was considered the greatest
sculpture of a male since the classical
living artist in his lifetime, and ever since
sculptures of ancient Greece.
 then he has been held to be one of the time or earlier. He was the first Western
greatest artists of all time. A number of his artist whose biography was published
works in painting, sculpture and while he was alive.
architecture rank among the most famous
in existence. He was most famous on the following
works, the frescoes on the ceiling of the
A side effect of Michelangelo’s fame in his Sistine Chapel (1508–12) in the Vatican,
lifetime was that his career was more fully
documented than that of any artist of the

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12,478.12 lbs. He is made out of solid
marble.
which
include the The sling on his left shoulder and tree trunk
iconic behind his right leg were covered with gold
depiction leaf. Being outdoors in Piazza della Signoria
of the in the elements for over 400 years washed
creation of the gold leaf away. The story of David and
Adam Goliath is a biblical one, found in Book 1
interpreted Samuel. The teenage David had to defeat
from Genesis. It was the best known of the giant Goliath, he could not be defeated
Michelangelo’s works today, but the artist by strength since David was
thought of himself primarily as a sculptor. smaller. It took cunning and skill to defeat
His famed sculptures include the David someone bigger than him, and he did so
(1501), now in the Accademia in Florence, with the slingshot.
and the Pietà (1499), now in St. Peter’s
Basilica in Vatican City. Many statues before Michelangelo’s that
portray this story always show David AFTER
David. It is a he has defeated the giant, with the head by
masterpiece of his feet.
Renaissance
sculpture created Michelangelo decided to go against the
between 1501 current and portray his David BEFORE the
and 1504 by the battle. You can see in his face the
Italian artist concentration of him thinking how he’s
Michelangelo, going to do it, the rock hidden inside his
when he was just right palm, the slingshot seemingly at rest
26 years old. on his shoulder and him waiting for the
David is a 5.17- right moment pretending to be at ease. He
meters (almost 17 could only defeat the giant if he caught him
feet, a shy short at 16 feet and 11.15 inches) by surprise – and he did!
statue of the Biblical figure and a favoured
Pieta. Pieta, as a
subject in the art of Florence. It is made of
theme in Christian
one single block of marble from the
art, depiction of
quarries in Carrara in Tuscany, one of the the
whitest in the world and weighs 5,660 kg or Virgin Mary
 supporting the in both painting and sculpture, being one
body of the dead of the most poignant visual expressions of
Christ. Some popular concern with the emotional
representations of aspects of the lives of Christ and the Virgin.
the Pieta include
Since its creation in 1499, Michelangelo's
John the Apostle,
Pieta has inspired emotion, faith, and
Mary Magdalene,
imitation through its elegant depiction of
and sometimes
the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ. Yet few
other figures on either side of the Virgin,
know the secrets that are still being
but the great majority show only Mary and
uncovered about this centuries-old statue.
her Son. The Pieta was widely represented

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form and ease of composition and for its
visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal
1. Michelangelo was best known for of human grandeur.
three artistic talents. Which one is
NOT one of his talents. (A) sculptor (B) Raphael is most famous for his unique style
in the paintings of the Madonna,
painter (C) potter (D) architect
particularly for the Sistine Madonna for the
Palace of the Vatican. He did not paint the
2. What two famous sculptures did ceiling with Michelangelo in the Sistine
Michelangelo make? (A) Pieta Chapel, but he was commissioned to do
(B) Goliath (C) Ceiling of the Sistine tapestries for the Chapel.
Chapel (D) David Sistine Madonna.
Sistine Madonna
3. What famous painting did is the Virgin Mary
Michelangelo make? (A) Pieta appearing with
an infant Jesus,
(B) David (C) Ceiling of the Sistine
where Madonna
Chapel (C) The Last Supper
and the colors
she bears are
Raphael. symbols of virtue,
Raffaello Sanzio virginity,
or Raffaello innocence and
Santi was born purity of spirit.
on April 6,1483
They’re presented in a coup de theatre
in Urbino,
apparition revealed by drawn curtains; a
Duchy of Urbino
curtain rod at the top completes the
[Italy] and died
illusion, as though the curtain is being
on April 6, 1520
drawn back to reveal this vision. The cloud
Rome, Papal
filled space they inhabit is meant to be
States [Italy]. He was a master painter and
infinite, indicated beautifully by the
architect of the Italian High Renaissance.
irresistible little angels at the bottom, who
Raphael is best known for his Madonnas
lean their arms on the lower edge of this
and for his large figure compositions in the
opening “like children in a swimming bath,”
Vatican. His work is admired for its clarity of
as an English writer once put it. They’re Madonnas. Its majestic; the standing figure
charming; it is Raphael’s graceful skill that is the apex of a triangular group of figures,
keeps the charm just this side of including St. Barbara on the right, in the
saccharine. beautiful colors of gold, blue, and green;
and St. Sixtus on the left, with a red-lined
The Sistine Madonna, probably painted in cloak.
1513, is different from all other Raphael

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