Renaissance
The world “renaissance” according to Ervin Panowsky (“Renaissance and Renascences in western art” 5) occur for the first time in the Balzac’s “Le bal de Sceau “ in 1829.The term start to be use in the intellectual circle and polite society of Paris around that time, but sanctioned by Jules Michelet’s “la renaissance “in 1855 and later used on first page of Jacob Burckhardt’s “Die Kultur der Renaissance in Italian” in 1860.The word means “rebirth” as intellectual awakening and renewal of achievements of ancient minds. The achievements of that period still influence us and are a vast topic of investigation by many. Movement starts roughly 14th century in Italian town of Florence and spread after throughout Italy and Europe.
Florentines, “The people who gave unrivalled visible shape to so many myths have themselves become a myth”. When we “examine the Florentine achievement as a historical phenomenon which had a beginning, rise and fall, we find the truth to be no less extraordinary that the myth. Here was a people living in an inland town among the Tuscan hills, no bigger that one of our provincial town today, surrounded by enemies and hostile ideologies, dependent upon imported food and imported raw materials, battling to survive in the world when economics forces were against it, struggling with problems of conscience and day -to -day life that we can understand and sometimes face ourselves, yet producing within three generations, a grater number of original thinkers and artists that any place of its size has ever done”” When we add that plague was frequent and life expectancy much shorter than is today ,that Masaccio died at twenty –seven, Desidero da Settigano at thirty-six, and Lorenzo de”Medici at forty –three, the achievement appear more astonishing ”( Vincent Cronin “The Florentine Renaissance “18)
All started with a very intrepid thinker, who discovered Cicero’s letters, Caluccio Sautat, born in the Tuscan town of Stignano ,who become Chancellor of Florence. As family man he objected to the church that clerical life is the highest form of human activity and that true wisdom come from the bible. Caluccio also was the man who told to people about political necessity to explore the past, to return to Romans –to the classic. Florentines were astonish where Gino Capponi returns from Pisa and brings one and only complete copy of manuscript- Justinian’s “Pendects”, the grate summary of Roman law. That inspired intensive search for classical manuscripts. Friend of Caluccio ,Niccolo Nicolli directed the search. He work with Poggio Bracciolini who made very important discoveries: a complete manuscript of Quintinian’s “the traning of an Orator” the handbook about Roman system of education, a history of the fourth century Roman empire by Ammianus Marcelinus and the greatest Latin poems of Lucretiu’s “De rerum natura”. Some Poggio’s transcripts in Florence are the oldest text we posses.
In 1429 comes “On aqueducts “ a key to understand Roman architecture.
“These and later finds came as kind of revelation to the Florentines. They were now able to follow the roman people battle”,” Cicero’s speeches showed them the endless struggle at home against conspirators” “ Suetonius the vices and madness of the Caesars. In Vitruvius they found a system of architecture based on columns and arches. Celsus added to their knowledge of medicine .In Plautus and Terance they discovered Roman comedy”(The Florence Renaissance, Vincent Cronin, 51)
This was not the only discovery; they become aware that Roman achievement was not only their creation, but also come from Greece and that even Cicero was quoting Plato. Thanks to Calucio influences monk Leontius Pilatus who speak Greek was lodged in Florence and translate “Homer” and few years later Emmanuel Crysoloras lectured in Florence, teaching Greek language and grammar. The richest man In Florence Palla Strozzi obtains work of Plato “ Lives” and Aristotle “Politic” and after even more masterpieces were offered to Florence “Iliad”, “Odyssey”, medical writing of Hippocrates and Galen, the geography of Ptolemy and Strabo and many, many more. This gave Florentines key to more knowledge. More immense horizons were opened, but whatever field they entered they discovered that Greeks and Romans surpassed them. They were astonished with the classical achievements and classical ideal become stimulus and model for them. They establish new ideology called humanism and ideals of morality ethics, and learning was a sole duty and way of life.
Humanists were literally scholars who recognized the elegant style of the ancient authors imitate them in their own Latin writings; they were looking for answers deeply in contest of classical authors beyond the one what Church was giving to them. While not rejecting Christian doctrine on the afterlife, they focus on improvement people life’s here in this world. This intellectual movement influence government and people who saw education and art not only limited to clergy, but to “whole man”.(55) They start to understand classical authors and the idea that virtue is not coming from heaven but is perfection attainable in this world by man own will ; that come to play an important part in Florentine thinking. They did not wanted any more philosophy that “the perfect life is a contemplation and inner peace” but they want to fulfill innate capabilities accompanied by pleasure physical and mental .The ideal is “the complete man”. (57)
The Florentine put the classical ideal into practice in their own life’s, and being practical and experimental people adopted the theories after thy had tested them by experience. They start to think differently about the body, mind and soul; they began to have brighter view of marriage, and consequently new attitude towards women, treat them with a little more generosity and some even allowed them to educate themselves. But still women were excluded from guilds and workshops and even richer women were excluded from public life and man controls them. Poor women had to work as hard or sometimes harder than man or had two options: become nun or prostitute. In 1425 in Florence special found was established into which fathers could place some money when daughter was born which could accumulate and drawn when require. Many scholars today can agree, “renaissance was for man, but for women that time was still dark ages“. Some changes were present in art where Florentine painters from Fillipo Lippi
To Leonardo depict figure of the women in different view and poets as a Poliziano portrait women beauty joyfully and with desire, however this art, even most sensitive and expressive can be considered as example of “male glaze” (Ashort story of renaissance l.Kaborycha .96)
New humanistic attitude also come to education and about versatility of education. From book discovered in 1410 by Vitruvius they pick the fact that architects or any other educated person has to receive training in every single branch of knowledge. Must be all –rounded. The physician Paolo Toscanelli was make valuable contribution to geography and astronomy, physician Marcilio Ficino to philosophy, Goldsmith Brunelleschi to engineering and design of machinery and architecture, Vespasiano bookseller become first writer of biography. “By bringing the methods, experience and sometimes techniques learned in one discipline to bear in another, versatility was to make possible some of Florence most original achievements” (The Florentine Renaissance, Victor Cronin, 93) And the result was impressive.
Another important matter for Florentine people was the religion; looking at it from a little different angle that in previous era, still they were very generous to God what can be seen in the sizes, numbers and richness of their churches, however they also were considering pagan philosophers. The leading religious thinker at that time was Marsilio Ficino, chosen to translate Plato. Impressed with Plato understanding of the world he combine it in one system: Plato philosophy and Christianity ideas from Old Testament. (The other of phenomena what interested him and what he himself experienced was vacatio mentis ,when the soul frees itself from the body). He also as Plato believes in platonic love but that love for him was a connection with tree partners: two people and God. And for him and his followers the “fruit of love is joy.” “Ficino ‘s word is voluptas –joy of the whole person, where all senses and intellect are satisfied in the rapture of love. But joy is complete only in next life, where we experience in God perfect beauty and perfect love.”(132)
Ficino in his thinking about harmony, which combine Plato and Christianity, went even farther and tries to harmonize Greek, Roman and other religion with the Church. His Florentine Academy had enormous influence on the direction of Italian Renaissance and development of European philosophy. Many artists tried to illustrate this way of thinking; one of them was Filipino Lippi.
Florentines also had strong interest in natural sciences and in the physical world. And once again they try to understand universe according to Plato theories of mathematics and suggestion that problems must be solve trough reason not truth senses, which are deceitful. Observation and experimentation was the key. The first to carry out the observations was Paolo Toscanelli. His interest covered comets and then measuring the sun’s noon height. Finally he was able to make small discovery and calculate sun’s meridian altitude. He had also contact with polish astronomer Copernicus, who made the discoveries that is not the sun that is revolves round the earth, but the earth revolves around sun. This was enormous discovery and reached educated people all around the Europe.
Study medicine was also very important issue in Florence and by the beginning of 15 century the city had sixty registered doctors. Normally, advances in observation were made from the treatment of wounds in time of war, but now Florentine Antonio Benivieni a friend of Leonardo dissected corpses of criminals and try to discover explanation of diseases. Even more interesting findings were achieved when artists regularly start to dissected human bodies and place they nude art in service of anatomy. Leonardo Da Vinci, who was born near Florence and who spends there thirty years of his life left 1550 anatomical drawings. He was the first accurately to depict the human embryo and properly represent human brain.
]Artists at that time of renaissance free themselves from the guild rule and could accept any commission they wished. They become recognized same as a thinkers, a discoverers or inventors and start to play utterly important role in the city.
