AP European History Renaissance Web Quest

Purpose: For you to examine how Italian Renaissance art portrays the main ideals of the time, such as humanism, secularism, individualism, Christianity, and more.

Introduction: What does the Renaissance mean to you? • • • •

Is it great works of art by Michelangelo, de Vinci, and Botticelli? Is the realization of the human potential or the glory of the individual? Is it a rebirth of classical Greece and Rome after a thousand years of the Middle Ages? Was it a time when society focused less on Christianity and reveled in the here and now?

Enter this Web Quest and find out how the Italian Renaissance is all this and more.

Task: For each of the eight major Renaissance ideas (humanism, individualism, etc.), you will examine three works of art that clearly exemplify each of the ideas. Carefully study each of the three art works and choose which of the three you feel best shows that Renaissance idea. Then explain why you chose that particular work of art as the best portrayal of the idea. Repeat for each of the eight Renaissance ideas. Once you have examined the eight major Renaissance ideas and the overlapping 24 works of art, you will write a concluding statement.

Process: Step 1: What follows are 24 works of art by Italian artists broken down into our eight major Renaissance ideas. Some artists are repeated and some works of art are repeated. As you examine each of these works of art, see how each fits into the definition of its major Renaissance idea category (they are all good examples, I'm not trying to fool anyone). At the end of each of the eight major Renaissance ideas, you will be prompted to pick which of the three just examined works of art best exemplifies that particular idea.

Humanism Raphael’s St. George Fighting the Dragon at: http://www.abcgallery.com/R/raphael/raphael8.html

Michelangelo’s The Last Judgment at: http://www.yepa.com/rome/images/sw.jpg Raphael’s Pope Leo X with Two Cardinals at: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/raphael/popeleox/popeleox.jpg Which picture best exemplifies humanism? Why?

Individualism da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine at: http://www.lairweb.org.nz/leonardo/ermine.html Michelangelo’s David at: http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/Michelangelo-David.html Michelangelo's Creation of Adam from the Sistine Chapel at: http://wahooart.com/A55A04/w.nsf/Opra/BRUE-5ZKD8C Which picture best exemplifies individualism? Why?

Secularism Raphael’s School of Athens at: http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/school-of-athens.html da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine at: http://www.lairweb.org.nz/leonardo/ermine.html da Vinci The Vitruvian Man at: http://www.davincilife.com/vitruvianman.html

Which picture best exemplifies secularism? Why?

Civic Humanism

The Doge (Chief Executive Officier of Venice) Leonardo Loredan by Giovanni Bellini at: http://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/bellini/loredan.jpg.html Titian's Portrait of Emperor Charles V at: http://www.abcgallery.com/T/titian/titian53.html Gozzoli's Procession of the Magi (but it's really a portrait of the Medici family) at: http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/benozzogozzoli/gallery/14310ProcessionMagiRighthandWallFloren ce.html Which picture best exemplifies civic humanism? Why?

Neo-Platonism Leonardo de Vinci's Mona Lisa at: http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/leonardo-mona-lisa.html Michelangelo’s David at: http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/Michelangelo-David.html Botticelli’s Birth of Venus at: http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/Botticelli.html?searched=birth+venice&highlight=ajaxSear ch_highlight+ajaxSearch_highlight1+ajaxSearch_highlight2 Which picture best exemplifies Neo-Platonism? Why?

Liberal Education Raphael’s School of Athens at: http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/school-of-athens.html Detail from Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Erythean Sibyl at: http://www.christusrex.org/www1/Sistine/17-Erithrean1.gif da Vinci The Vitruvian Man at: http://www.davincilife.com/vitruvianman.html Which picture best exemplifies liberal education? Why?

Christianity Da Vinci’s The Last Supper at: http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/leonardo-last-supper.html Michelangelo’s Pieta at: http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/michelangelo-pieta.html Michelangelo’s The Last Judgment at: http://www.yepa.com/rome/images/sw.jpg Which picture best exemplifies Christianity? Why?

Classical Greece and Rome Botticelli’s Birth of Venus at: http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/Botticelli.html?searched=birth+venice&highlight=ajaxSear ch_highlight+ajaxSearch_highlight1+ajaxSearch_highlight2 Raphael's The Nymph Galatea at: http://espelhos.edugraf.ufsc.br/wm/paint/auth/raphael/galatea/ Michelangelo’s The David at : http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/Michelangelo-David.html Which picture best exemplifies Classical Greece and Rome ? Why?

Step 2:

Based on your reading from the textbook, notes and discussion in class coupled with the paintings you just examined, write a new definition or explanation for each of the Renaissance ideas. Be prepared to share your definitions/explanations with the class. Humanism

Individualism

Secularism

Civic Humanism

Neo-Platonism

Liberal Education

Christianity

Classical Greece and Rome

Step 3: Also here, tell us which pictures could be used in other categories. Could Belleni's Doge be an example of...? Could the Pieta have been used to show...? Do you know other Italian Renaissance art that wasn't included that could have been used for some of the categories?

Step 4: Once you have examined the eight major Renaissance ideas and the overlapping 24 works of art, pick one work of art that you feel best expresses all, or most of, the ideas of the Renaissance. Write a paragraph in whichyou explain how that one work of art epitomizes the Renaissance.

Conclusion: Obviously this is not nearly enough time to spend on such a rich and colorful topic. Hopefully your interest has been aroused and you will explore Italian Renaissance art even further. One excellent site that has a lot of awesome renaissance art is the Louvre Museum in Paris. Of their many activities, one is dedicated to this very topic! To visit the louvre and find the Renaissance paintings, go to www.louvre.org. When you get there, click on select language to see the site in English. Then click on activities and tours, then visitor trails, (on the right drop down menus, choose Paintings, for duration, choose 1:30 mins, for days, choose all days, and for ages, choose all ages), then pick Italian Renaissance Paintings. It contains 17 original works with short descriptions. I hope you continue to explore this subject on your own.