Period 4: Revolutions in European Thought and Expression Flashcards
What is humanism?
Humanism emphasizes life on Earth and celebrates human achievements rather than supernatural matters.
Who was the Medici family?
The Medici Family ruled Florence and turned it into a showcase of architecture and beauty by acting as a patron for great artists such as Michelangelo and Brunelleschi.
What were paintings like during the Renaissance?
Unlike medieval paintings, which often depicted humans as stiff, paintings of the Renaissance depicted the human figure as realistically as possible. Careful use of light and shadow made figures appear full. Artists even viewed autopsies to fully understand the structure of the human body.
What is linear perspective?
Linear perspective is an artistic technique developed by Tommaso Masaccio and Fillipo Brunelleschi in which nearby objects were drawn bigger while far objects were drawn smaller; the lines of perspective merged into a distant focal point, giving l?the painting a 3-dimensional quality.
Who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel?
Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel while lying on his back on scaffolding from 1508 to 1512.
What inspired Renaissance ideals and art?
Ancient Greek and Roman traditions.
How did the Renaissance differ in northern Europe?
- more religious than the Italian peninsula
- the Dutch Van Eyck brothers and German painter Albrecht Dürer adopted the naturalism of the Italian painters and gained fame as portraitist
- paintings had religiously symbolic objects and Christian colors
- outnumbered and outdone by Italians
- most significant contribution of the northern Renaissance was literature rather than visual arts
Who is Johannes Gutenberg?
Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in the mid-1400s.
What were effects of the invention of the printing press?
- books became easy to produce and thus more affordable
- middle class wanted books in their vernacular language like German or French
- people became more literate and educated
- Bible was translated into vernacular languages which encouraged personal interpretation of the Bible and helped usher in the Reformation
- books became entertainment for the middle-class, leading to literature focused on the daily lives of regular people
How did papermaking originate?
Europeans learned papermaking from the Arabs who learned it from the Chinese.
Who was Machiavelli?
In 1517, Machiavelli published The Prince which was a how-to book for monarchs who wanted to maintain their power. This book suggested that monarchy should be distinct from the church and that a leader should act purely in self-interest of the state.
What does the term Machiavellian imply?
A ruler who is ruthlessly selfish, scheming, and manipulative.
What are the Low Countries?
The Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium.
Who was Erasmus?
Erasmus wrote In Praise of Folly in the 16th century which satirized what he thought were the most foolish political moves to date.
Who was Sir Thomas More?
Sir Thomas More of England wrote Utopia in the 16th century which described an ideal society in which everyone shared the wealthy and all needs were met.
What was an indulgence?
An indulgence was a piece of paper that the faithful could purchase to reduce time in purgatory (the place Catholics believed they would go after death where they would expiate their sins and then go to heaven). The church started to sell indulgences in order to finance building projects and Renaissance artists.
Who was Martin Luther?
Martin Luther was a German monk who had traveled to Rome and was unnerved by the worldly nature of the city and the Vatican, which was the seat of the Catholic Church. The city was getting a Renaissance makeover that was clearly paid for with money from churchgoers.
What were the 95 theses?
Martin Luther nailed a list of 95 thesis on a church door in 1517 which outlined his frustrations with church practices (ie. selling indulgences).
What were some of Luther’s complaints in the 95 theses?
- church services should be conducted in the local languages of the people, not in Latin (which Germans couldn’t understand)
- salvation was given directly by God through grace, not through indulgences, and not through the authorization of the church
- suggests that the Bible teaches that people could appeal directly to God for forgiveness of sins and salvation
What did Martin Luther do to the Bible?
Martin Luther translated the Bible into German so it could be read and interpreted by everyone instead of people being dependent on the church for biblical understanding.
Who was Pope Leo X?
Pope Leo X was outraged by Martin Luther’s 95 theses and ordered him to recant it. Luther refused to recant and was subsequently excommunicated. When he was allowed to address church leaders and princes at an assembly in Worms in 1521, he refused to abandon his convictions, so the pope tried to arrest him but he was protected by a nobleman from his hometown. Thus, Luther continued to write and spread his ideas.
Who was John Calvin?
John Calvin from France led a powerful Protestant group by preaching an ideology of predestination.
