ITALIAN RENAISSANCE -- HUMANISM – Philosophy
- stressed dignity of humankind / individual – scholarship which made important civic responsibility & political liberty
- scholarship for its own sake
- studied Greek & Roman Classics & ancient Church Fathers
- rebirth of ancient norms & values
- liberal arts: grammar – rhetoric –  poetry – history – politics – moral philosophy
- THE HUMANITIES
- First Humanists were orators & poets – taught at university – sought after as secretaries, speech writers, and diplomats
- Were not content to summarize and compare views of “authoritative texts” – went directly to the source and drew own conclusions
- Coined term “dark ages” – between them and classical civilization
- Petrarch – father of Humanism – wrote love letters & poetry, celebrated ancient Rome
- Dante – Divine Comedy (along with Petrarch’s sonnets are cornerstone of Italian literature)
- Both wrote in the vernacular
- Boccaccio – wrote Decameron
- Useful education produces well-rounded people
- Intellect & athletic & music – complemented with good manners & moral character

Renaissance Art
- people began to celebrate & glorify secular learning (and purely human interests)
- more efficient central governments, staffed by secular persons, not clergy
- art is less subordinate to the clergy
- imitation of Greek & Roman Art
- create harmonious, symmetrical & properly proportioned figures – glorified realism
- from glorified & idealized religion as inspiration to nature & realism & humans as a part of nature
- new techniques: oil paints, perspective
- Giotto preceded this in the late 13th century

Da Vinci
- personified “renaissance” person = “jack of all trades”
- he mastered many: scientific experimentation, dissected corpses (made accurate sketches), botany, airplanes, submarines
- paintings reveal inner moods, through facial features (psychological aspects)

Raphael
- The School of Athens (Fresco) – Plato & Aristotle surrounded by philosophy & science

Michelangelo
- The David (sculpture) – harmony, symmetry & proportion – glorifies the human form
- 4 Popes commissioned work from him – Sistine Chapel (laying on his back, it took 4 years to complete)
- “mannerism” – marked the end of Renaissance painting – allowed artist to express individual perceptions & feelings – El Greco furthered this artistic style