1. Early Modern Europe
A. The Importance of the Renaissance Movement
Unit 1.1 - Definition and origin of the term ‘Renaissance’
1. The Renaissance is thought to have begun in Italy during the 14th
century during the lifetime of Dante and Giotto and to have ended in the
late 16th century when Shakespeare and Galileo Galilei were still living.
The word ‘Renaissance’ owes its first definition to the French historian
Jules Michelet in 1855. With the publication of the influential book The
Civilzation of the Renaissance in Italy (1860) by the Swiss historian
Jacob Burckhardt, the word became an accepted part of the historian’s
vocabulary.
2. Michelet and Burckhardt invented the term ‘Renaissance’, but scholars
and artists living in the 15th and 16th centuries were themselves aware
that they were living in a time of great cultural change.
The Italian painter Giorgio Vasari (1511-74) wrote in 1550 that the arts
were moving towards perfection and that a recovery of the ancient
civilization of Greece and Rome was taking place.
The humanist scholar Marsilio Ficino (1433-99) spoke of a new golden age
in Florence that had ‘restored to life the arts, which were almost
extinct: grammar, poetry, rhetoric, painting, sculpture, architecture,
music and the ancient singing of songs….’
3. The word ‘Renaissance’ means ‘rebirth’ and this was precisely how the
leading scholars and artists of that time saw the cultural environment in
which they lived and worked; as the rebirth of classical civilization
after a long period of decline during the Middle Ages.
Other previous ‘renaissances’ in the Middle Ages
It was a Renaissance scholar, Flavio Biondo (1392-1463), who first used
the term medium aevum or ‘middle ages’ to describe the period between the
fall of the Roman Empire and the revival of the arts in his own day (i.e.
400 A.D. to 1300 A.D.). But historians now agree that classical culture
had never completely disappeared from Europe during the Middle Ages, and
there were in fact several important attempts to revive it in the
centuries before the Renaissance proper:
The Carolingian Renaissance when Charlemagne, King of the Franks
(742-814 A.D.) sought to restore the Roman Empire in Western Europe by
sponsoring a revival of Roman architecture and literature. He rebuilt
the royal palace at Aachen in ancient Roman style, ordered the copying
of classical texts and gathered together a group of scholars of Roman
literature. These scholars invented the Carolingian miniscule alphabet
to copy classical texts faster and make them more easier to read. The
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2. ‘Roman’ print type we use today is fact Carolingian in origin.
The Twelfth Century Renaissance spread more than its Carolingian
predecessor. This new renaissance was characterized by the growth and
spread of libraries and interest in classical sculpture and
architecture. Some of the great monuments of the Middle Ages, the
famous Gothic Cathedrals scattered in Northern Europe originated in the
France in the 1130s. As a result of the Crusades against Islam, Western
Europeans obtained translations of some of the scientific and
philosophical works of ancient Greece. The rediscovery of Greek
learning resulted in the foundation of universities at Bologna, Pauda,
Paris and Oxford.
Conclusion
The Renaissance did not take place, therefore, against a background of
complete cultural decay. There had been previous smaller ‘renaissances’,
which in a number of respects had prepared the way for the achievements of
the 15th and 16th centuries. But the Italian Renaissance appears to be
more brilliant because its achievements were so widespread and
long-lasting that it is thought to have brought about end of the Middle
Ages and began the Modern Age in the history of Europe.
Hints to study and remember about Unit 1.1
• The meaning and origin of the term ‘Renaissance”.
• How did scholars and artists of the Renaissance describe their times?
• Which were the two ‘renaissance’ of the Middle Ages?
• Why was the Italian Renaissance important in European history?
Unit 1.2 - The Italian Origins of the Renaissance
1. Why did the Renaissance begin in Italy?
Northern Italy differed from the rest of Europe in at least three
important respects which may be said to have caused the Renaissance to
originate in Italy:
Greek and Roman ruins that still dominated the Italian landscape served as
proof that Italy was the centre of classical civilization. It was by
taking inspiration from the Pantheon in Rome that Filippo Brunelleschi
(1377-1446) designed the dome for the Cathedral of Florence. Other
artists used Roman models when designing bronze reliefs and statues.
Northern Italy was one of the wealthiest and most populated region in
Europe. Genoa and Venice controlled much of the Mediterranean trade with
the Levant. Florence and Milan were centres of manufacture. In these
city states the middle class was large, powerful and well educated.
Florence was the richest of the cities of northern Italy and dominated the
earlier phase of the Renaissance. Its wealth was based on cloth-making,
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3. banking and trade in luxuries. Florence’s leading family, the Medici,
were the city’s rulers (podestà), bankers to the popes and patrons of art
in the city.
Northern Italy was divided into city-states. These cities had much in
common with the cities of ancient Greece and Rome. Italians living in the
14th and 15th centuries had the conviction that living in a city was the
most civilized form of existence.
2. What were the main characteristics of the early Italian Renaissance?
The artists shared the conviction that their era represented a complete
break with the Middle Ages. Thus they had utter contempt for the art of
the Middle Ages and admired only the art of classical times.
Until Giotto’s (c. 1270-1337) time Italian painting was dominated by
Byzantine (Greek) influences and had been flat and two-dimensional.
Giotto was the first painter to break away with this style and produce
more realistic paintings to provide an illusion of depth by contrasting
light and shade.
Italian Renaissance art, like the medieval, was above all a religious art.
The majority of paintings came from the Bible and the life of the Saints.
Saints were painted as human beings, the Madonnas painted as beautiful
young women. Leonardo da Vinci once remarked: ‘Paint the face in such a
way that it will be easy to understand what is going on in the mind.’
Landscape painting was another major innovation of Italian Renaissance
art. At first landscapes were used as symbols of hell (rocks and
mountains) and paradise (gardens). As artists learned more about colour,
light, shadow and perspective, landscapes began to dominate many
paintings.
Italian Renaissance artists made increasing use of nude figures in their
work – another great innovation. Above all others, Michelangelo mastered
the nude as a medium of expression when he painted figures on the ceiling
of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.
Renaissance sculpture bore a close relationship to painting and followed a
similar development. Many sculptures, like painters, studied human
anatomy, tried new techniques, made nude statues, chose many themes from
the Bible and classical literature and developed the art of portraiture.
Renaissance sculpture reached its zenith with the work of Michelangelo
with statues such as David, Moses and the Pietà. Some art critics think
they have never been equaled.
Renaissance architecture broke with medieval Gothic and adopted classical
forms and decoration: domes, columns, rounded arches and symmetry.
Architects insisted that each part of a building had to harmonize with
every other part. Besides religious buildings, they also designed
palaces, private homes and country villas to the rich and powerful.
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4. Filippo Brunelleschi was the pioneer of Renaissance architecture.
Florence remained the centre of Renaissance architecture until the late
15th century. Its place was taken over by Rome. After 1500 the Popes
transformed Rome into a magnificent Renaissance city when they employed
artists and architects to rebuild Rome similar to classical Roman times.
Hints to study and remember about Unit 1.2
• The reasons why the Renaissance started in Italy.
• The main characteristics of Italian Renaissance art
Unit 1.3 - Renaissance, Humanism and Science
Renaissance Humanism
The study of the classics came to be known as humanism, from studia
humanitatis. The first of the Renaissance humanists was Francesco
Petrarca (Petrarch) (1304-74). He wrote extensively in Latin and searched
tirelessly for classical Latin manuscripts, editing and ridding them of
the errors by copyists. Petrarch was the first to call the period since
classical times the ‘dark ages.’
Many of the humanists were employed by rulers, popes, and men of wealth as
secretaries, government officials or teachers. Through such positions of
influence they transmitted to others the view of life they found in the
classical literature of Cicero, Virgil and Aristotle.
Around 1400 a number of Greek scholars settled in Italy to teach classical
Greek. After the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453, exiled
Greeks settled in Italy in greater numbers, bringing with them more Greek
manuscripts. During this period printing was introduced into Italy from
Germany, where it had just been invented (c. 1440). Until then, copyists
had done handwritten copies of the ancient writings. The printed editions
of the Greek and Roman classics quickly spread to most Italian cities and
hence to other parts of Western Europe.
The humanists were also responsible for the study of archaeology. In the
1450s they forbid any further stealing of stones and marbles from the
classical monuments of Rome but sponsored excavations that recovered
ancient works of art.
In the Medieval Europe education had been limited mainly to the training
of the clergy. In the 15th century humanists changed the practice of
education by setting up curricula to include classical literature,
rhetoric, mathematics, music, religion, science, good manners, athletics
and outdoor activity in imitation of ancient Greek education.
Humanists believed that man was the master of his own destiny, that there
was no limit to his ambitions and abilities, and that his purpose on earth
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5. was to develop himself to his fullest capacities. Success or fame no
longer needed to depend upon birth and social status (as in feudal Europe)
but upon a man’s native abilities. Their ideal was that of the universal
man, that is, the man who excelled in many different fields. The most
famous of the universal men were Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) (painter,
architect, anatomist, scientist, inventor, engineer), and Michelangelo
(1475-1564) (painter, architect, military engineer, poet).
Renaissance Science
Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543) is the greatest scientific figure of the
Renaissance and he is considered the point of origin for the great
revolution on which modern science if founded.
Renaissance humanists contributed to later scientific discoveries and
progress by uncovering and editing of works of classical science and by
making accurate translations from the original Greek.
The interest of Renaissance artists in the human body, when painting
portraits and realistic figures, encouraged anatomical study and
dissection of corpses. The first to study modern anatomy was Andreas
Vesalius (1514-54) a Flemish who taught anatomy at the University of
Padua. His famous work, On the Structure of the Human Body was published
in 1543, was illustrated with woodcuts of anatomical drawings. Vesalius’
book made the ideas of the ancient Greek Galen, up to then the authority
in medical science, out of date.
Hints to study and remember about Unit 1.3
• The meaning and origin of the terms ‘humanism’ and humanist.
• What sort of studies did humanists undertake?
• Write short biographies of three well-known Renaissance humanists?
• The contribution of Copernicus and Vesalius to modern science.
Unit 1.4 - The Renaissance in Northern Europe
The Spread of Renaissance North of the Alps
To 15th century Italians the culture of Europeans north of the Alps seemed
so far behind theirs that when the French King Charles VIII invaded Italy
in 1494, they regarded the attack as a new barbarian invasion. One
long-term result of this invasion was to establish Northern Europe’s
connection with Italian Renaissance culture. The Kings of France, England
and Spain sought the services of Italian artists and humanist scholars.
One well known example was when King Francis I (1515-47) of France
persuaded Leonardo da Vinci to come to France by offering him 7,000 gold
florins and a palace of his own choosing!
Northern artists combined the artistic traditions of their own lands with
the style and techniques learned from the Italians. Albrecht Dürer
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6. (1471-1528) is the leading figure of German Renaissance woodcuts and
copper engravings. Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543) stands out as one
of the greatest portrait painters of all time.
Flanders, like northern Italy, was a land of cities with a rich middle
class. The great Flemish artists painted primarily for these people and
for the powerful Dukes of Burgundy. The brothers Hubert van Eyck (c.
1370-1426) and Jan van Eyck (c. 1390-1440) were the first great artists of
the Flemish school. Until then artists had preferred to mix colours with
egg yolk thinned with water (called tempera). The mixing of linseed oil
with solvents and thinners after 1400 made it possible for the van Eycks
to perfect the use of oil paints. In the early 1500s Flemish artists came
more under Italian influence.
The Spread of Humanism in the North
During the late 15th century the impact of Italian humanism began to be
felt in Northern Europe. Italian scholars and humanists were employed by
kings and princes as secretaries and diplomats who could write and speak
polished Latin. Other Italians taught Greek, Latin and classical
literature in universities across Europe.
The invention of printing in Germany contributed greatly to the rapid
spread of humanism in the North. By 1500 thousands of books had already
printed all over Europe. The early printers made their books look like
medieval manuscripts. Leading Italian printers, influenced by the
handwriting developed by the humanists, adopted the Roman and italic types
that are familiar today.
Who were the Christian Humanists?
The Christian humansits hoped that by studying the early texts of
Christianity, it would enable them to purify the Christian doctrine of the
error added through the centuries by theologians who had not read the
original texts. In this way they would be helping the Catholic Church to
reform itself and acquire renewed strength, vitality and inspiration. The
most prominent Christian humanists were:
St Thomas More (1478-1535) the most prominent English humanist lawyer,
diplomat, politician and philosopher. As Lord Chancellor (Prime Minister)
of England he refused to acknowledge Henry VIII as supreme head of the
English Church. For keeping loyal to the Catholic faith he was accused of
treason and died on the scaffold (beheaded).
Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) dominated the intellectual life of Northern
Europe very much like Voltaire did in the Age of the Enlightenment in the
18th century. He had disciples everywhere in Europe. He argued that
learning must be used to combat ignorance, superstition, corruption and
violence. His books were the first best sellers in the history of
printing. Erasmus’ views and influence made him a leader in the movement
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7. for reform of the Catholic Church. For a time he went along with Martin
Luther. But he wanted to reform the Church from within, not break away
and start a new church. When Europe finally split between Catholics and
Protestants, Erasmus and most of the other Christian humanists remained
within the Catholic fold. The irony was that in their effort to reform
the Church they loved, the humanists helped to undermine it and to cause
religious revolution known in history as the Protestant Reformation.
Hints to study and remember about Unit 1.4
• The reasons why the Renaissance spread from Italy to Northern Europe.
• Who were the Christian humanists?
• Who were Thomas More and Erasmus?
Unit 1.5 - Italian Politics of the Renaissance
Political Theory: Niccolò Macchiavelli (1469-1527)
Macchiavelli was the greatest of the new political philosophers. He was
the child of the Renaissance at its peak. He knows his fame to his
pamphlet The Prince, written in 1513 and addressed to Lorenzo de’ Medici
in the hope that the prince would recognize and employ his talent. The
success of The Prince lies in the fact that it became the guidebook to
power politics for future centuries. The Prince has as its theme the
doctrine that the ruler should use any means to win and hold power, to
create a strong central government, and to preserve the state. He
believed that good could come out of evil: the unscrupulous ruler could
achieve desirable social ends more easily than could a just ruler.
Macchiavelli’s famous dictum was: ‘the end justifies the means’.
Italian politics at the time of the Renaissance
Many of the northern Italian cities came under the rule of despots. They
had to be ruthless, cunning and coldly rational to win and hold power.
The stories of their cruelties and their cunningness are numerous. To
give just one example, in 1409 Giovanni Maria Visconti, ruler of Milan,
sent mercenaries (hired soldiers) against his subjects, massacring two
hundred Milanese, because people cried out to him in the streets to end
the war that he was waging.
Violence and treason became commonplace in Italian life. Yet the record
of the despots was not all black. They often improved methods of
taxation, ordered the construction of public works and buildings to give
people work and beautify the city, built canals, promoted irrigation to
increase farm products, enforced justice and increased trade and commerce.
They also acted as patrons of art and culture. Many of them knew how to
achieve lasting fame by commissioning magnificent buildings, pictures and
monuments. Without them the Renaissance in culture could not have taken
place.
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8. Italian states in the Fifteenth Century
By the 1400s five states had emerged as the dominant powers in the
peninsula. They were Milan, Florence and Venice (in the north), the Papal
States (in the centre) and the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily (in the
south).
In 1277 the Visconti, a noble Milanese family, seized power and ruled
Milan for almost two hundred years. When the direct Visconti line ran out
in 1447, the new government hired Francesco Sforza (1402-66), a
condottiere (mercenary), to defend it. In 1450 Sforza overthrew the
republic and made himself despot. His dynasty lasted fifty years.
Ludovico, last of the Sforza rulers (1479-1500) surrounded himself with
scholars and artists. His court was one of the most brilliant and
luxurious in Europe.
Florence was, until the end of the 15th century, the great centre of
Renaissance culture. Cosimo de’ Medici (1389-1464) took over power. He
was the head of the Medici banking and mercantile clan. His son Lorenzo
the Magnificent became the famous of all the Medicis. Once he had
established despotic rule, he devoted himself to his great passion –
patronage of arts and letters. His excellent taste did much to make
Florence one of the greatest centres of arts and letters known to history.
It was he who helped make Leonardo da Vinci very famous.
The Papal States was the fourth of the chief powers of Italy. The Popes
had acquired control over central Italy during the Middle Ages. The
Renaissance Popes (1447-1534) distinguished themselves as patrons of art
and learning by making Rome once again a renowned centre of culture. The
worldliness and open immorality of some of these Popes aroused criticism
throughout Europe – criticism that was to lead to the Protestant Revolt in
the 16th century.
Renaissance politics managed to bring about a balance of power that
prevented the domination of Italy by any single state. But this balance
of power came to an end in 1494 when Ludovico Sforza, the ruler of Milan
invited King Charles VIII (1483-98) of France to help him against an
expected attack from the King of Naples. This event set Europe into its
first general war with Italy as the main battlefield.
Hints to study and remember about Unit 2.1
• The place in history of Niccolò Macchiavelli and The Prince
• The characteristics of Italian despots of the Renaissance
• The major Italian states in the 15th and 16th centuries
Unit 1.6 - The Italian Wars at the time of the Renaissance
The Italian Wars (1494-1559)
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9. When Charles VIII of France invaded Italy in 1494 he hoped to establish
domination over all of Italy and then lead a crusade against the Turks and
finally win the imperial crown of Germany for himself. But an alliance
called the Holy League quickly formed against him. Its members included
Spain, the German Empire, Venice, Milan, the Papacy and later England.
The Holy League was the first great coalition (alliance) of states in
modern European history. The allies soon drove Charles out of Italy in
1495. But the French kings did not give up their dream of dominating
Italy. Charles VIII’s successors, Louis XII (1498-1515), Francis I
(1515-47) and Henry II (1547-59) returned again and again to the attack.
Italy became a battleground for foreign armies and the war spread into
France and Germany. The conflict ended only in 1559 by the Treaty of
Cateau-Cambrésis when the French finally abandoned their Italian ambitions
and Spain emerged as the dominant power in Italy for the following 150
years.
Charles VIII’s invasion of Italy in 1494 marked the opening of a modern
era in international relations. The balance of power concept was brought
into being. This meant that states combine to check the ambitions of the
most powerful among them. The price for the preservation of the balance
of power would be frequent wars between European states for the subsequent
centuries. The Italian Wars set the basic pattern of European alignments
up to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.
Long-term Consequences of the Italian Wars
One of the long-term results of the Italian Wars was to throw Italy into
political and economic chaos. The most notable victim was the Italian
Renaissance itself. After 1560 Spain gained the upper hand in Italy and
strict Catholicism stifled the secular spirit of the Italian Renaissance.
Italian creativity was already in sharp decline.
Hints to study and remember about Unit 1.6
• How did the Italian Wars come about?
• How did the Italian Wars come to an end?
• The long-term effects of the Italian Wars upon Italy and Europe in
• general
Unit 1.7 - Case Studies on the Renaissance
The Palazzo Pubblico, Siena
Begun in 1298 on a Romanesque style, the town hall in Siena was the centre
of the city’s political, cultural and commercial life. The government met
regularly to debate matters of public interest and to issue laws
regulating citizens’ daily lives. It was decreed that the palaces built
facing the town hall would have to use the same type of window openings
and facades. The city government paid for the paving of the main square.
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10. Dante and the Divine Comedy
By the 1460s Dante Alighieri was celebrated as Florence’s foremost poet
and writer. Yet Dante actually lived much of his life outside the city in
exile. The Divine Comedy was written during this period of his life as a
reaction for his exile. The poem takes the form of a journey through
Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, in search of goodness, truth and beauty.
Since Dante was buried in Ravenna, the city of Florence commissioned a
famous Renaissance artist to paint a fresco of Dante standing Before the
City of Florence (1465).
Altarpieces
The altarpiece became one of the primary forms of religious art in the
14th and 15th centuries. Altars were usually dedicated both to God and
to specific saints. The first altarpieces were simple rectangular panels
diptychs. Gradually they became more elaborate. Small portable
triptychs could be set up in the bedroom to encourage private devotion.
In the 16th century, many of the elaborate altarpieces were destroyed or
sold separately. This had made it more difficult to appreciate the full
impact of these works of art.
Giotto’s Arena Chapel, Padua
The Arena Chapel took its name from an ancient Roman amphitheater
nearby.
It was build by a wealthy nobleman who chose Giotto to decorate the chapel
using the lives of the Virgin Mary and Christ. It is upon this
extraordinary cycle of frescoes that Giotto established his reputation.
He painted his figures in a moving, humane fashion. In this way people
were encouraged to identify with the figures and connect such holy stories
to their own lives.
Jan Van Eyck: Symbolism and Allegory in Renaissance art
Much of the art of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance show elaborate
symbolism; for instance, a bee represented hard work, a dragon
represented
the devil, a bear denoted cruelty. Symbols were widely used in heraldric
shields and coat of arms and in paintings depicted the contest between
good and evil or the stages of life. The Bible, full of religious
symbolism, further encouraged this type of art. At a time when most
people were illiterate, symbols had an important educational function.
One of the most famous examples of symbolic and allegorical art is Jan
van
Eyck’s Arnolfini Marriage (1434) portraying the marriage of a wealthy
Italian couple living in Bruges. The painting acts as a king of marriage
certificate and as an allegory of marriage.
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11. Book hunters and printers of the Renaissance
With the revival of interest in Roman literature, it became necessary to
find and bring together as many ancient writings as possible. This task
formed the first phase of the first Renaissance humanists. At first
printers used the Carolingian miniscule as his writing style, today called
Roman. These books were copies, made treasures by the beauty of their
miniature paintings and gilded bindings. But texts copied many times down
the ages became peppered with errors. So during the second phase of
humanism, scholars sought to produce standard correct texts.
Printing with movable type was invented in Germany (1420s) and perfected
by Johanes Gutenberg at Mainz, one of the world’s great technological
inventions. Gutenberg’s process used individual letters cast in metal.
Printing was done by impression of one or two pages at a time using an
oil-based ink. Printing was an expensive process and the great printers
were wealthy businessmen. Aldus Manutius (1450-1515) chose Venice for his
workshop and that city became the centre of the Italian printing industry
during the Renaissance. He employed some of the finest scholars as
editors. The printed book often tried to compete with the illuminated
manuscript and artists were hired to paint decorated borders and capitals
on printed pages. But by time, beauty in printing was found more in the
font than in adornment. Aldus’s sloping roman font was called Aldino in
Italy and italique in France.
Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel Ceiling
The Sistine Chapel in the Vatican was built in 1473 for Pope Sistus IV.
Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling (1508-12).
The frescoes are based on the 12 Apostles and include nearly 300 figures.
Above the altar Michelangelo painted the creation of the universe, the
story of Adam and Eve, their expulsion from Eden.
Filippo Brunelleschi Proportion and Linear perspective
– the mathematical representation of 3-D space on a 2-D picture plane is
one of the lasting achievements of Renaissance art. The technique was
discovered by the sculptor and architect Filippo Brunelleschi in the
mid-15th century. Other artists, like Donatello, were quick to see the
possibilities of his achievement in sculpture and architecture. In
architecture Brunelleschi carefully lay down the principles of proportion.
The Innocenti Hospital (c. 1420) in Florence is based on the basic ratios
of 1;2, 1;5 and 2;5. The distance between the centres of the columns, for
example, is equal to the distance between the centre of a column and the
wall of the hospital itself.
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12. Renaissance Music
During the Renaissance music began to move from the sacred to the secular
– from church to court. Renaissance musicians brought about a dramatic
increase in musical culture throughout Europe. Printed music led to the
spread of popular music. Instruction books and theory manuals encouraged
music-making and better standards of performance. The vocal ensemble of 8
to 10 singers was the ideal early Renaissance choir. In the 16th century
the lute, recorder, bass viol and virginals playing popular chansons
became the commonest type of music in royal courts and palaces of the
nobility. Popular singers played and sang in taverns, fairs, feast days
and in the town squares.
Renaissance Astrology and Astronomy
The astrologers of the 15th and 16th centuries generally believed that the
world was a globe set in the heart of a spherical universe. The notion
the the universe revolved around the Earth had led to inaccuracies in the
Church’s calendar. Astrologers were also convinced that the Sun stood at
the heart of the planetary system and was the principal influence on the
Earth. In 1543 Nicholas Copernicus published his great work On the
Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres, in which he argued that the earth
and the planets revolved around the Sun. His theory provided the basis
for the achievements of Kepler and Galileo and for the modern science of
astronomy.
The Palace of Chambord
In the woods to the east of Blois, Francis I built a new Renaissance
palace, one of the most remarkable buildings of the Renaissance.
Building began in 1519 and the internal decoration was completed in 1539
and it contained 440 rooms, enough to house the entire French court.
Henry VIII of England was so impressed that he commissioned an
equivalent palace in the woods south of Hampton Court. The most striking feature of
Chambord is the crowded roofline, giving an air of medieval romance. Today, Chambord is
situated in a part as large as the city of Paris.
The Escorial, Madrid
Built 50 km from Madrid, the Escorial is a vast complex
comprising a mausoleum, monastery, church, library and
palace. It stands as a fitting symbol of the Spanish monarchy
during the 16th century. It was commissioned by Philip II and
it took 21 years to build (1563-84). The absence of decoration,
a style prepared by Philip II, was a break with
earlier Spanish Renaissance buildings. The Escorial became Philip’s
preferred residence; the work of overseeing Spain’s expanding empire and
influence was carried out there.
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13. Hampton Court, England
Hampton Court is the best preserved Renaissance palace in Britain, begun
in 1515 by Cardinal Wolsey, the Lord Chancellor. In 1525 Wolsey gave his
two preferred palaces (Hampton Court and Whitehall) to Henry VIII. The
King continued to expand Hampton Court: he commissioned the building of a
larger Great Hall, remodeled the Chapel, build larger lodgings for the
royal family and a range of chambers for the courtiers. Henry built a
tilt yard for jousting and horsemanship, popular pursuits of a Renaissance
court. The aerial view shows Hampton Court sited next to the river
Thames; this was a typical setting of Renaissance palace design.
The English Theatre
The English Renaissance reached its finest expression in literature,
particularly in drama with such figures as Christopher Marlowe and William
Shakespeare. In the early Renaissance, plays were performed by small
companies of actors in the houses of the nobility or at court. In time,
they set up public playhouses. The earliest London was opened in
1576.
The Globe (c. 1599) was the theatre most often associated with
Shakespeare. It could house over 2,000 people, and plays were seen by
every social class, for admission was cheap for those prepared to stand.
Who could pay more sat in the galleries. Performances were often
crowded
and boisterous.
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