Florence and the Renaissance

During this turmoil, the Florentine author Francesco Petrarca, known as Petrarch, expressed his critique of 14th-century life. He lamented the state of existence. “Living,” he wrote, “I despise what melancholy fate has brought us wretches in these evil years.”
Oh, Petrarch, did you write about our time? People often feel they live in the worst era. Unhappy with Europe’s situation, he looked to ancient writers like Plato and Cicero. He considered them part of the Old Age. Petrarch named the time he lived in. He called it the "middle ages." His work helped usher in a New Age, which we now call the Renaissance.
According to Leonardo Bruni, Francesco Petrarch was the first to recognize and revive the ancient elegance of a lost style. The Renaissance, meaning revival, looked back to the classical antiquity. This era was seen as a bright light that had been overshadowed by the dark Middle Ages. However, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance coexisted in some ways.
While scholars were translating Plato's works and gathering knowledge from the Islamic world, the bubonic plague continued to kill. In Petrarch's hometown, people like the Ciompi were protesting against poor living conditions.
This leads to an important question at Crash Course: Was the Renaissance a genuine movement? Was it merely a continuation of the medieval world? Or was it truly the significant change that Renaissance thinkers claimed it to be? Writers and thinkers of the Renaissance searched monasteries for ancient texts, some of which were inspired by Roman authors.
Renaissance scholars focused on manuscript hunting. They sought works by Cicero, Tacitus, and Quintilian. This led to an interest in humanism. They became more concerned with worldly and human matters.
The Renaissance was a revival. This new thought was based on learning from ancient ways, especially in the humanities. The three liberal arts—grammar, rhetoric, and logic—formed the basis for theology, philosophy, law, and medicine. The study of the humanities emphasized human speech, logic, and language use. They primarily focused on Latin. Writing and performing in Latin was essential for a well-educated life.
Competence in these fields was important for personal development. It was also necessary for joining elite circles in Florence or Venice. For example, Lauro Quirini, a Venetian youth, studied the humanities at the University of Padua. He then worked in a Venetian enterprise in Crete as a commodities trader. He also worked as a translator and writer.
He was often considered a true Renaissance Man. The Italian city-states were the center of the early Renaissance. In these thriving cities, artists, composers, writers, and scholars flourished, supported by the commerce of the time. Urban merchants and manufacturers created successful businesses. They brought in products and ideas from across Afroeurasia. Some families became extremely wealthy. This wealth allowed them to support Renaissance thinkers and artists through a system called patronage.
I would like a wealthy patron like Lorenzo Medici. If you are out there, I am available. I am also interested in your ducats. You can visit patreon.com/crashcourse.
Additionally, banking institutions emerged. Bankers financed civic events and built grand cathedrals. They also funded classical-style masterpieces, reflecting the design of the pre-Christian Roman Empire.
Did the Globe open? Is there a neoclassical piggy bank at its center? Yes! Those white Renaissance statues were not just white. They were originally painted. Here are our best guesses about the actual colors of classical statues. They looked quite different from the neoclassical white piggy banks we often see today.
The idea of unpainted marble or porcelain remains powerful. Even though we know ancient statues were painted, we still do not paint our neoclassical ones. Bankers financed artists like Botticelli and Michelangelo who needed funds for their works.
City governments were also important patrons of the Renaissance. Individual leaders often spent up to six percent of their personal income on the arts.
Why did they do this? Mainly, for the same reasons wealthy individuals support art and buildings today: status, recognition, and perhaps a love of beauty. Additionally, funding public art and cathedrals helped legitimize the wealth of these families. The Church could not condemn merchant wealth if it was used for churches, nor could the governments that relied on it.
Throughout history, wealth supports institutions that legitimize that wealth. In these artworks, the paradoxes of the Renaissance are evident. Paganism is combined with Christianity, reflecting a longstanding tradition in Christian history. Profit-oriented bankers financed the Church. This Church was run by priests who had taken a vow of poverty. It was founded by a figure who, according to the gospels, overturned the tables of moneylenders in the temple. In these city-states, a more humanistic educational approach promoted economic growth. This growth fueled the creation of influential art and architecture.
Many city-states participated in the humanist revival, but Florence was its main center. Artists of the time studied ancient styles and expanded upon them. Visual artists like Sandro Botticelli and Michelangelo focused on human dignity and realistic details. Botticelli’s portraits of Florentine citizens highlighted their unique features. His religious depictions included a realistic image of a plump infant Jesus reaching for his mother's garments. Additionally, Botticelli’s portrait of Dante accurately represented his long, thin, pointed nose instead of an idealized hero.
Michelangelo’s “David” displayed human characteristics while adopting ancient sculptural styles. Throughout the Renaissance, anatomical accuracy thrived. This can be seen in Michelangelo’s sculptures and Leonardo da Vinci’s works. Both artists practiced dissection, which improved their understanding of the human form. Nature also played a crucial role in Renaissance art. In Botticelli's "Birth of Venus," the goddess is depicted from classical mythology while about to be clothed in flowers from the countryside.
In summary, Renaissance artists focused on presenting realistically depicted human bodies in both natural and civic settings.
Florence experienced prosperity and cultural revival. However, its history was also marked by various challenges. There were economic shocks and natural disasters. Class divisions and corporate rivalries were common. Political struggles and conflicts with the church also arose.
These issues stemmed from threats of external invasion and internal tyranny. Discontent among the lower classes was prevalent. Like Venice, Florence valued its identity as a Republic. However, it differed from modern republics and was quite unstable.
Elections were not held in a conventional way. Instead, names from Florence’s guilds were drawn from a large leather bag. If your name was drawn, you served on the Signoria, which governed the city.
You didn’t have to worry if you weren’t excited about the job. New Signorias were chosen every two months. This made it seem like many people could participate in civic life. However, to be a member of a guild, a person needed to be male, debt-free, and well-connected. Additionally, the lotteries were often rigged. Wealthy families frequently won places on the Signoria.
Frequent coups and countercoups occurred in the Republic. It often ceased to be republican and sometimes became quite monarchical. The situation resembled something out of Game of Thrones and had a Machiavellian touch. Niccolo Machiavelli lived in Florence during this turbulent time. We will discuss him more next week. For now, it is important to note that he experienced the rise and fall of the Medici family.
The Medicis were a powerful family in Florence. However, they were not the only important family of the Renaissance. They made significant fortunes in banking and investing. They were also key patrons of artists. Michelangelo carved one of their tombs.
Cosimo Medici and his grandson Lorenzo ruled Florence in the second half of the fifteenth century. Successive members of the family maintained their power by becoming popes in later centuries. Machiavelli argued that the Golden Age of the Florentine Renaissance ended with Lorenzo de Medici's death in 1492 and the invasion by the “barbarians.” In history, “barbarians” often means “not us.” The term originated from the belief that their language sounded like “bar bar bar bar bar.” These particular “barbarians” were French, which may have sounded like “bar.”
I struggled with High School French. This brings us back to an important question: Did European life really shift from religious to secular during the Renaissance? Michelangelo sculpted David, but he also painted the Sistine Chapel's ceiling.
Perspective is crucial when discussing this topic. In the 14th century, Florence, Venice, and Milan saw significant changes among merchants and intellectuals. However, the lives of average people, especially peasants, saw little change from humanist ideas in the short term. Still, ordinary people did experience a Renaissance in some ways. Ancient texts were translated into Italian and French, allowing those who couldn't read Latin to access works by authors like Cicero. Yet, most Italian peasants remained illiterate.
Historians also discuss whether women had a Renaissance. Women, like Isabella d’Este, were patrons of the arts. Isabella sponsored music events and cherished Petrarch’s poems, commissioning music for them. She maintained connections with Leonardo da Vinci.
However, Isabella d’Este and her sister Beatrice are often considered exceptions. Generally, men, as noted by writer Laura Cereta in the fifteenth century, undervalued women’s intellectual contributions.
Cereta followed Petrarch's path, just as he followed Cicero's. She wrote a notable letter to a misogynist. In part, she stated, “I cannot tolerate your attack on my entire sex. I have just cause to demonstrate how great a reputation for learning and virtue women have earned. Their inborn excellence is apparent in every age through knowledge."
The rise of Roman legal thinking led to the importance of the Pater Familias. This idea placed the father at the center of every family and in a position of power. The Renaissance brought significant changes to the intellectual and cultural life of Italian city-states. These developments would later spread to other communities.
However, perspectives varied. To the Medicis, the Renaissance was a notable event. For many peasants, it had little impact.
The Renaissance is remembered for a few reasons. It helps historians periodize history and frame their analyses. Additionally, Renaissance thinking influences our thoughts today. The ideas from that era still resonate with us.
Today, many feel that our current age is filled with corruption and destruction. There is a desire to return to the purity of a past era of greatness. This mindset reflects Renaissance thinking. 
Sources: Hunt, Lynn et al. The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures, 6th ed. Boston: Bedford St. Martins, 2019. Donald R. Kelley, Renaissance Humanism. Boston: Twayne, 1991.