• Used for mural paintings

• Painted on wet plaster

Renaissance Humanism

The Basics• What is humanism?– A cultural and intellectual movement of the

Renaissance that emphasized secular concerns as a result of the rediscovery and study of the literature, art, and civilization of ancient Greece and Rome.

– humans are of primary importance– significance of human dignity, human

concerns and human capabilities

So Renaissance humanism is…

• “Renaissance Humanism is the spirit of learning that developed at the end of the middle ages with the revival of classical letters and a renewed confidence in the ability of human beings to determine for themselves truth and falsehood. ”

Humanist Scholars

• shaped the intellectual landscape throughout the early modern period

• sought to create a citizenry (including, sometimes, women) able to speak and write with eloquence and clarity

• they would be capable of better engaging the civic life of their communities and persuading others to virtuous and prudent actions

• This was to be accomplished through the study of the studia humanitatis, today known as the humanities: grammar, rhetoric, history, poetry and moral philosophy

Political philosophers• Niccolo Machiavelli

•He was a diplomat, political philosopher, playwright, and a civil servant of the Florentine Republic•He also wrote comedies, carnival songs, poetry, and some of the most well-known personal correspondence in the Italian language

• Thomas More • revived the ideas of Greek and Roman thinkers, and applied them in critiques of contemporary government

Political Philosophers• Matteo Palmieri• known for his work Della vita civile ("On Civic Life"; printed 1528) which advocated civic humanism

• Pico della Mirandola•wrote what is often considered the manifesto of the Renaissance, a vibrant defence of thinking, the Oration on the Dignity of Man

Renaissance Humanism and Shakespeare

• Shakespeare was a humanist• He shared the Renaissance desire to seek

the truth about human nature• believed firmly in his ideas about human

nature and our place among the order of the universe

• He was a believer, a liberal Christian, but had the characteristics of a Renaissance humanist

Humanism in Shakespeare• Much Ado About Nothing

– Renaissance ideals are explored and integrated into the fabric of the story and the personalities of the central characters

–Women are not confined to the more traditional role of objects and their position is more elevated than what one might see in earlier literature

– An increased emphasis on human potential and beauty—both physical and verbal

Humanism in Shakespeare• Hamlet

– His mind and view point was influenced by the atmosphere of the current notion

– Hamlet has a thirst for knowledge and learning, being reported as an avid reader, and he is free and independent enough to apply his own judgment to what he reads

– Hamlet’s speech in Act II, “What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god—the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals!” (II.ii.293–297) is directly based upon one of the major texts of the Italian humanists, Pico della Mirandola’s Oration on the Dignity of Man

Humanism in Shakespeare• The Tempest

– Prospero is a metaphor for the civilizing power of the artist and educator whose 'liberal arts' tame the tempests in the human spirit

– He exhibits the ennobling qualities of compassion, generosity, friendship and wisdom.

Questions?• What is fresco?• What are the two main types of

sculpture?• What are the characteristics of

humanism?• How were Shaspeare’s plays

humanist plays?

Works Cites• http://schoolworkhelper.net/2010/11/exploring-the-renaissance/• http://www.articlemyriad.com/177.htm• http://madsciencepro.com/wordpress/• http://www.answers.com/topic/humanism• http://newhumanist.org.uk/1262/thinker-william-shakespeare• http://shallon.glogster.com/renaissance/• http://faculty.umf.maine.edu/walter.sargent/public.www/web

%20230/unit%201%20old%20worlds.html• http://madsciencepro.com/wordpress/• http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/

ENGL401-1.2.2-Renaissance-Humanismand-Shakespeare.pdf• http://greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?

msg_id=00C9O6