1、Renaissance and Reformation RenaissanceRenaissance refers to the period between the 14th and mid-17th century. The word “Renaissance” means revival of interest in ancient Greek and Roman culture. On the relics of ancient Greece and Rome, the scholars of the 14th century dug out the treasures left by
2、 the ancient Greek and Roman people. They were greatly moved by the ancient civilization which praised human beauty and power of pursuing happiness and knowlegde. And the humanist,Scholars decided to follow the examples of the Greek and Roman people, to get out of the yoke of asceticism of the Milld
3、e Ages and to pursue happiness of the present day. So, Renaissance, in essence, was a historical period in which the European humanist thinkers and scholars made attempts to get rid of conservatism in feudalist Europe and introduce new ideas that expressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisie , t
4、o lift the restrictions in all areas placed by the Catholic church authorities.,II. Renaissance in Italy1. Historical BackgroundBefore the Renaissance, Europe was in the dark age which lasted more than 1000 years, in which Christianity and asceticism confined people from development of production.Bu
5、t in the late 14th century, because of its geographical position, foreign trade developed early in Italy. This brought Italy into contact with other cultures and gave rise,to urban economy and helped Italy to accumulate wealth. Cities began to rise in central and north Italy. As time went on, the co
6、untry was divided into city-states that were ruled by princes of commerce maintaining a delicate balance of power between one and another. Towards the 15th century, there were five main city-states. For two centuries beginning from the late 15th century, Florence was the golden city which gave birth
7、 to a whole generation of,poets, scholars , artists and sculptors. The scholars found the lost texts of the Greek and Roman culture, greatly attracted by the life style of the ancient people and their great culture, especially the beauty worship cherished by the ancient people .Therefore, in Florenc
8、e a revival of interest in classical learning began . And with the revival of interest in ancient Greek and Roman culture, the scholars, who were the representatives of the newly-rising bourgenisie, launched an attack toward feadalsm and Roman Catholicism in the spheres of politics, philosophy, reli
9、gion and art, etc.,2. HumanismAt the heart of the Renaissance philosophy was the assertion of the greatness of man. Related to this is the belief in the promotion of wealth, pleasure and a frank admiration for the beauty of human body.,This ran exactly counter to the medieval ascetical ideal of the
10、poverty and stoicism which demanded man to give up pursuit of earthly pleasure and enjoy happniess in the heaven. Humanism thus shifted mans interest from Christianity to humanity, from religion to philosophy, from heaven to earth, from beauty of God to the beauty of the human body.This assertion of
11、 humanism is best expressed in the lines of Shakespeare:,What a piece of work is man; how noble in reason; how in finite in faculty, in form and moving how express and admirable; in action how like an angel; in apprehension how like a god!This philosophy of humanism is reflected in the art and liter
12、ature in Italy and the rest of Europe, to pass down as the beginning of the historyof modern man. They no longer brooded about death and the other world, but lived and worked for the present and future progress of humankind.,3. New Literature In ItalyBoccaccioHe was a great Italian writer , whose gr
13、eatest work was the Decameron. The book is a collection of 100 tales told by seven young ladies and three younger gentlemen on their way to escape the Black Death of 1348. The seven young men and girls,hid themselves in a cave and enjoyed themselves . The tales are witty, licentious, full of praise
14、of true love and wisdom and also satire on the hypocrisy of the priest and the aristocrat.,Tale 9A young gentleman by the name of Federigo falls in love with a beautiful lady named Monna. He spends large amounts of money trying to gain her attention but she remains indifferent to his love. Eventuall
15、y he loses everything and is forced to live in poverty in a little farm with only his beloved pet falcon (猎鹰） for company. Meanwhile Monna s husband dies and,her son falls very ill. The sick child asks his mother to get him Federigos falcon. She goes to visit Federigo to ask for the falcon.As she ar
16、rives at Federigos house, he is very distressed to see her and not having any food in the house to offer her. Not knowing the cause of her visit, Federigo kills his falcon and makes it into a meal for his visitor.,After dinner Monna reveals the reason for her visit. Federigo is devastated that he ca
17、nnot help her and she has to leave empty-handed. Monna s son dies. After a period of mourning, Monna, who is rich and still young and beautiful, rewards Federigos loyalty by marrying him. Tale 2 A scoundrel by the name of Berto moves to Venice and becomes a priest, taking the name Brother Alberto. H
18、e,manages to fool everyone into believing that he is a very holy man. Brother Alberto then sets out to seduce the vain and gullible Madonna, the wife of a wealthy merchant. Praising her beauty he leads her to believe that the Archangel Gabriel is in love with her and wants to pay her a visit in her
19、bedroom. Brother Alberto tells her that the angel will visit her by taking possession of his body. Madonna believes it all and receives numerous sexual visits from the so-called angel.,Eventually, due to Madonnas boasting that the angel Gabriel is her lover, the affair is discovered. Brother Alberto
20、 suffers public humiliation and permanent confinement in his monastery.,Francesco PetrarchPetrarch was a prominent figure of his time, a great figure in Italian literature and one of the great humanists during the time of the Renaissance. On April 6, 1327, Petrarch met Laura in the Church of St. Cla
21、re for the first time. She was a,beautiful girl, and Petrarch immediately fell in love with her and wrote hundreds of love sonnets for her. These love sonnets showed that Petrarch was a great humanist writer, keenly aware of mortal beauty and earthly values. Yet Laura marred a rich old banker when s
22、he grew up, which made Petrarch very sad. He continued to write love sonnets to her unitl she died at the age of 38.,The love sonnets writen by Petrarch exerted great influence over poets of later time. Any educated man could write sonnets , and always adopted the sonnet form in writing to lovers. I
23、t became conventional for poets to address sonnets to beautiful but cruel mistress whose eyes were,stars, whose lips were cherries, and whose cheeks were roses . For example, Surrey also wrote many sonnets singing of his imaginary love for Geraldine whom he had seen when she was only 12 and who was
24、later married to an old man of 60. Sidneys Astropher and Stella is a sonnet sequence including 108 sonnets in all, and it celebrate his love for Penelope whom he met and loved in his early and had the prospect of marrying but who later was married to some one else.,4. Renaissance Art in Italy:A radi
25、cal break with medieval methods or representing the visible world occurred in Italy during the second half of the 13th century. The tradition of the Renaissance art has the following features.Art broke away from the domination of the church. Themes of painting changed from purely celestial realm foc
26、using on the stories of the Bible, of God Jesus and Mary to an appreciation of all aspects of nature and man.,The artists studied the ruins of Roman and Greek temples and put many of the principles of ancient civilization into their works. Artists introduced in their works scientific theories of ana
27、tomy and perspective. Leonardo da Vinci He was a painter, a sculptor, an architect，an engineer, and a scientist. He was a man of many talents, a Renaissance man in the true sense of the word.,Leonardo had profound understanding of art, which exerted great influence among the painters of his own gene
28、ration and generations to follow. In painting he stressed the expression of emotional states, which to him, were the heart of painting.,Mona LisaMona Lisa is the worlds most famous portrait. Mona Lisa had as its model wife of a banker. The quietly folded hands, the gaze that is directed at the obser
29、ver, the ambiguity of the “smile”, help to create a curious effect and secret effect.,MichelangeloMichelangelo was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet. He was a towering figure of the Renaissance.Michelangelo created a style of art in which he freed himself from the old tradition of dec
30、oration. Art was to him the means by which he,expressed his vision of man, mans beauty, mans nobility, a means by which he made inquiry into reality. Fundamental to Michelangelos art is his love of male beauty, which attracted him both aesthetically and emotionally. In part, this was an expression o
31、f the Renaissance idealization of masculinity. But in Michelangelos art there is clearly a sensual response to this aesthetic.,The sculptors expressions of love have been characterized as both Neoplatonic and openly homoerotic. It is said the Michelangelo had several male partners, the most handsome
32、 one was Cavalieri, who was 23 years old when Michelangelo met him in 1532, at the age of 57. Cavalieri was open to the older mans affection:,I swear to return your love. Never have I loved a man more than I love you, never have I wished for a friendship more than I wish for yours. Cavalieri remaine
33、d devoted to Michelangelo till his death. Michelangelo dedicated to him over three hundred sonnets, constituting the largest sequence of poems composed by him. As a result of his homosexuality, most of his works are naked male bodies.,DavidIt is a sculpture, commissioned when Michelangelo was only 2
34、6 years old. Apart from the muscular body and tense emotion, there is the combination of outer calm and inner tension.,Sistine ChapelMichelangelo was in the middle of doing a sculpture when he was interrupted and half-being forced into doing a fresco on the ceiling of the chapel. For four years, Mic
35、helangelo worked on a 30-feet high scaffolding in the Sistine Chapel, lying on his back and looking upwards, to cover the whole ceiling.,The frescoes show the stupendous mastery of the artist and it is the evidence of the anguish of a man who was prevented to do what he preferred and forced to do wh
36、at was commissioned, and proved that he could do well.,Titian (1488-1776)Titian was the leading painter of the 16th-century Venetian school of the Italian Renaissance. Recognized by his contemporaries as “the sun amidst small stars“ ,Titian was one of the most versatile of Italian painters, equally
37、adept with portraits, landscape backgrounds, and,mythological and religious subjects. His painting methods, particularly in the application and use of colour, would exercise a profound influence not only on painters of the Italian Renaissance, but on future generations of Western art. Titians main p
38、aintings are : Venus and the Lyre Player,Venus.,Venus and Adonis,Venus,Adam and Eve,Venus and the Mars.,III. Reformation and Counter-ReformationThe Reformation was a 16th century religious movement as well as a socio-political movement. It began as Martin Luther posted on the door of the castle chur
39、ch at the University of Wittenberg his 95 thesis inviting to debating on matters of practice and doctrine in,the Church in 1517. He quoted the Scripture in support of his belief that men are redeemed by faith and not by the purchase of indulgences.One of the doctrines of Martin Luther was that the B
40、ible was the supreme authority and man was only bound to the law of the word of God, not the word of the clergy.As Martin Luther declared that all believers were priests, so he preached that all occupations were holy, from the blacksmith to the potter at his wheel.,This movement was called Restorati
41、on, which swept over the whole of Europe and was aimed at opposing the absolute authority of the Bible. The reformers denied that the church authorities and priests were the only authority in the interpretation of the Bible and believed in direct communication between the individual and God. Thedema
42、nds of the reformists also included that of simplifying rituals, abolishing heavy taxes levied on their countrymen and abolishing indulgences, the centuries-old practice of,paying money to replace the performance of the deed of penance.3.1 Calvinism in FranceJohn Calvin was a French theologian who b
43、ecame increasingly interested in the rebellion against the conservative theology and the movement of reformation of the Church. Calvin rejected the papal authorities and developed himself to the work of reformation in Geneva.,Calvinism stressed the absolute authority of the Gods will, holding that o
44、nly those specially elected by God are saved. Its belief was that any form of sinfulness was a likely sign of damnation whereas ceaseless work could be a sign of salvation. This belief serves so well to help the rising bourgeoisie on its,path that many historians have suggested that Calvinism was on
45、e of the main courses of the capitalist spirit.Calvinism especially exerted great influence on American people, who think they are born with original sin and what they can do to get rid of the original sin is hard labor . This idea greatly promted the development of the social economy.,3.3 Reformati
46、on in EnglandThe reformation in England began from the conflict between Henry VIII and the Roman Pope. Henry was first married to Catherine Aragon, the sister of King Phillip of Spain. She bored Henry several children but only one of them survived and this one,was a daughter. Henry, however, desired
47、 to have a male heir and he asked the Pope for permission to divorce Catherine . Failing to obtain the approval of the Pope, Henry declared on his own that the marriage with Catherine invalid and marriedAnne Boleyn, Catherines maid. When the Pope refused to recognize this marriage, British Parliamen
48、t, in 1534, passed the Act of Supremacy which marked the formal break of the British with the,papal authorities. On financial matters it was made clear that revenues , instead of being paid to the Pope, would be paid to the crown. Above all, there was the establishment of the Church of England. The
49、king, not the Pope was now the head of the church. It was a national church with all foreign control and interference at an end. In England, therefore, the question of reform was not fundamentally one of belief or interpretation of,the Bible but one of rejection of the supremacy of the Pope.Henry VI
50、IIs reformation stressed the power of the monarch and certainly strengthened Henrys position; his attack on the Popes power encouraged many people to criticize the Catholic Church , and a lot of people wanted to move away from Catholicism toward Protestant ideology.,3.4 Protestantism and the Rise of
51、 CapitalismReformation movement broke the absolute authority of the Roman Catholic church. In Europe, different schools of religion with the orthodox church began to appear one after another. Protestantism was one of these religious schools.Protestantism is a movement within Christianity that originated in the sixteenth-century Protestan Reformation. It is considered to be one of the three,
