欧洲文化

The Development of The Renaissance
Introduction
Renaissance is a period between 14th and 17th century which is a historical period that the European humanist thinkers and scholars made attempts to get rid of conservatism in feudalist Europe and introduce new ideas that expressed the interests of rising bourgeoisie , to lift the restrictions in all areas placed by the roman church authorities.
As we all know, The Renaissance started in Italy, and then spread throughout the whole Europe. The Renaissance had made so many contributions to the world in several different fields, such as the art and the literature. The old sciences revived and new sciences emerged. people had freedom and was not controlled by the papal authority in Rome anymore. The absolute authority of the Roman catholic church was shaken and people in Europe came to a new awareness which was to help shape what Europe is today. The core concept is humanism.
1.historical background
In the 12th century. a rediscovery of Greek and Roman literature occurred across Europe tha t eventually led to the development of the humanist movement in the 14th cent. In addition to emp hasizing Greek and Latin scholarship, humanists believed that each individual had significance wit hin society. The growth of an interest in humanism led to the changes in the arts and sciences that form common conceptions of the Renaissance.
The 14th century. through the 16th cent. was a period of economic flux in Europe; the most e xtensive changes took place in Italy. After the death of Frederick II in 1250, emperors lost power i n Italy and throughout Europe; none of Frederick's successors equaled him. Power fell instead into the hands of various popes; after the Great Schism (1378–1415; see Schism, Great), when three p opes held power simultaneously, control returned to secular rulers.
During the Renaissance small Italian republics developed into despotisms as the centers of po wer moved from the landed estates to the cities. Europe itself slowly developed into groups of self -sufficient compartments. At the height of the Renaissance there were five major city-states in Ital y: the combined state of Naples and Sicily, the Papal State, Florence, Milan, and Venice. Italy's ec onomic growth is best exemplified in the development of strong banks, most notably the Medici b ank of Florence. England, France, and Spain also began to develop economically based class syste ms.
2.the four stages
According to the development process, people accustomed to divide Renaissance into four parts.
2.1 The Primitive Renaissance Period
Early 14th century, is the period of "primitive Renaissance " , also known as the beginning period. During this period, the ideological field was influenced by radicalism ,and it broke the feudalism and praised the natural beauty and human values. Representative of this period is Petrarch, Giotto.Petrarch , Boccaccio and Dante are known as "the former three heroes of the Renaissance ".
2.1.1 Petrarch
Petrarch, who perfected the sonnet form and was often regarded as the first modern poet, was also one of the first humanists. Petrarch’s love for the classics and his belief in the value of human experience influenced his own writing and inspired other humanists. In 1333 at liege, Belgium, he discovered cicero’s oration pro arochia, a rome defense of poetry, which was a great
contribution to western civilization.
2.1.2Giotto
Giotto is the father of European painting . he is an Italian painter ,is highly regarded as the artist who moved away from the traditional medieval technique which portrayed the human figure as a stiff, flat and two-dimensional character. As an artist far ahead of his time, Giotto began to portray humans as rounded, proportioned and naturalistic. His work influenced the development of Renaissance arts for more than one century after his death in Florence in 1337.
2.1.3Dante
The first master to sound the horn is an excellent poet--Dante, his poem 《Divine Comedy》shined dawn of humanism, focused on the darkness of the church, and conducted a ruthless expose of corruption and criticism. He denounced the church “to do business in the name of Christ,”“make the world into a tragic situation,”“the church is garbage .”Furthermore, Dante expressed humans’wisdom and pursuit of ideals . The hell in《Divine Comedy》is the actual situation in the real world, paradise is the ideal and hope of mankind, purgatory (炼狱）is the ideal from reality to be suffering through the course.
2.2 The Early Stages Of The Renaissance
From the Late 14th century to the 15th century, humanism and literature, art has been further developed, laid good foundation for the later development of the Renaissance . At this time, Italy has produced many first-class painters, sculptors and architects. The representative figures are the famous painter Masaccio, the sculptor Donatello, and the architect Brunelleschi.
2.2.1 Masaccio
Masaccio is ranked the greatest master of the Early Italian Renaissance painting, whose application of scientific perspective and depiction of natural lighting represent an important step in the development of modern painting. He was born in San Giovanni Valdarno, near Florence. Together with architect Brunelleschi and sculptor Donatello, Masaccio was a founder of Renaissance art and architecture. Only five works unquestionably attributed to him survive.
2.2.2 Donatello
Italian sculptor Donatello executed his David, the first nude statue of the Renaissance, about 1430-1435. This nearly life-size bronze image of David was also the first statue since classical antiquity to be cast in the round. Its realism marked a departure from the Gothic conventions of sculpture.
2.2.3 Brunelleschi
Brunelleschi was an architect who began as a goldsmith like many other renaissance artists. He made several trips to rome where he devoted himself to the study of classical building. In his designing of the churches he showed a systematic use of perspective. He also introduced motif that was widely imitated during the renaissance. In 1420 he began to build the dome for the cathedral in Florence and it became the most original construction in the building of domes in the world history of architecture.
2.3 the peak of the renaissance
late15th to half of the 16th century is the peak for the Renaissance. The artists also had a great personal charm, and nowadays people still appreciate that. After 37 years of this period, the main representative of the Renaissance is the post three heroes, Their art reached an unprecedented height. They are Da Vinci ,Michelangelo, and Raphael.
2.3.1 Da Vinci
Leonardo da vinci was a painter,a sculpture, an architect, a musician, an engineer, and a scientist. He was a man of many talents, a renaissance man in the true sense of the world.
his master piece , Mona Lisa has been smiling for 500 years, but until the 21st century, people still make special trips to the Louvre in Paris to see the beauty of her smile.
2.3.2 Michelangelo
He was Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet.he was a towering figure of the renaissance. His drawings were influenced by giotto and his sculpture showed the influence of Donatello.
The Creation,is quiet classic, now even advertisers have borrowed to make advertisements. David ,a sculpture ,it was commissioned when the artist was only 26 years old. It was the result of his studies in rome of ancient sculpture,but it could never be taken for an ancient statue.
2.3.3 Raphael
Raphael was best known for his Madonna. He painted his madonnas in different postures, against different backgrounds. Among them were Madonna del granduca, madonna with the fish, the Sistine madonna, Madonna of the chair, Madonna on the lawn.
Raphael's painting 《School of Athens》painted the ancient philosophers lifelike , which was known all over the world.
2.4 The Late Renaissance
The late renaissance is in half of the 16th century to 17th century. In 1527, Rome was sacked, which became a symbol of the ending of Renaissance.
Outstanding representatives of the late Renaissance were three famous painters standing for Venetian school: Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto.
Three prominent scientists and thinkers: Bruno, Galileo and Campanella.
3.conclusion
The Renaissance was a period that people had freedom and was not controlled by religion anymore. People felt free to do anything they wanted at that time. So during that time, more people’s explorations happened and the science, the art grew quickly.
The Renaissance also emancipated the mind of people，they started to resist the bourgeoisie, the wars broke out frequently. The feuds of families, the conflicts of classes and the rivalry between the city-states kept the economic structure of italy in the traditional local order, making it impossible for italy to compete with the countries in northern Europe that were uniting themselves and expanding their economy.
However what is the most important thing is that The Renaissance has made so many contributions to the world in several different fields. During this time, artists and musicians produced works that displayed more artistic freedom and individualism. This creativity allowed artists to abandon the stricter ways of the Medieval Era. Their art forms rediscovered the ancient Greek ideals. The great masters of the Renaissance were revered in their own lifetimes (rather than after their deaths), which was different from most of their Medieval predecessors. With the new printing techniques, music and musical ideas were able to be preserved and distributed to the people.
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