Renaissance

I believe the Renaissance was started by a battle between beliefs, religious beliefs, by the Ninety-Five Theses being nailed to the Catholic Church. Martin Luther, the creator of the Ninety-Five Theses declared that the Pope was limited in his power and that the church was corrupt. He also challenged the existence of Purgatory. Since the Pope could declare any dead person no matter who they are be placed in Purgatory. The Pope should be limited in power because of the fact that he shouldn’t be able to pardon someone for their sins or penalties unless he himself has given those penalties. Martin Luther believed that the Popes power was too close to God’s power. Throughout the Renaissance there was this religious reform where people like Calvin, Martin Luther and Melanchthon. They broke ground with Theology by studying the Gods in a different way. This also caused discussion although heated between several groups and created furthered knowledge into the topic of god and worship. Art and Literature also fueled the Renaissance. People started reading more and art took on a more realistic quality. Even though art was becoming realistic it still had a connection to God and theology. Examples are the Madonna by Raphael, The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo, and sculptures of saints by various artists. Art also took a huge humanist turn, showcasing the human form wherever you looked. In every Michelangelo painting everyone was buff, even baby Jesus. Everything was being written about. The amazing thing was that people started learning how to read the illiterate was become scarce. This also diminished the power of the Catholic Church. They also furthered the humanist movement not all being about god, but about people and explaining who they are. Humanist writers like Petrarch whose poetry and writings around the 1330’s pretty much inspired the whole humanist movement. This was also the era of romanticism where romance and love prevailed over all things. Three Greek words turned into concepts of love Eros, Agape, and Philla; Romantic love known as Eros, Agape the love of god, and Philla which is brotherly love. Science and philosophy has also been a big part of the renaissance. The Philosophers created the heliocentric theory as well as math. Even a basic understanding of anatomy came out of the renaissance. An example of this is, William Harvey who discovered that blood circulates and took. This understanding of anatomy led to accurate depictions of human beings in all forms of education. This led many scientists and philosophers to study humans and physiology.
There also was an attempt to understand the world around them. Through the invention of math and a basic understanding of physics scholars began to understand the world around them. It also brought about the conflict between the Catholic Church and the Humanists. The Church wanted to keep people unknowing of all this.
Throughout all of this Philosophy and Religion clashed, and even religion clashed with itself. No longer was the discussion was between a few people about god, but it was among several people discussing everything. The Church being corrupt wanted people to stay under their sphere of influence and as Humanists started coming out and saying that it was not right people began to listen, read, and change.
The Renaissance started in Italy of all places. With Italy being where the Catholic Church was located. This happened because of a very big influential family known as the Medici’s. They took brilliant minds and commissioned them for great works of art. During that time people began to think, wonder, and discover new things. The Protestant movement opened up new avenues for people.
The Renaissance spread to Germany and the rest of Europe. It even made it to Spain with El Greco and his art. This newfound interest spread from border to border. There were slight differences thought. Italian art was extravagant, but German art was more realistic.

Renaissance art was new and fresh compared to the Dark Ages. It was all about celebrating the human form. Hence the many nude forms being portrayed. It also had very spiritual connections portraying Mary and Baby Jesus otherwise known as a Madonna. There were many artists but there were a few who stood out: El Greco, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Rafael.
Rafael was a brilliant artist but died early in his life. His work on the school of Athens was one of his greatest achievements. The fresco depicted all the famous names in every single school every one was interested in at the time. Those schools of learning were known as the liberal arts. The School of Athens is a fresco in the Stanze di Raffaello rooms in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. It has long been regarded as "Raphael‘s masterpiece and the perfect embodiment of the classical spirit of the High Renaissance". The four walls of the Stanze depict themes of knowledge. The figures exemplify Philosophy, Poetry, Law and Theology. The School of Athens is Philosophy, with the words overhead, "Causarum Cognito" echoing Aristotle‘s emphasis on knowledge. All the philosophers shown worked hard to understand knowledge and its causes. Almost every great Greek philosopher can be found in the fresco, but it is difficult to label all of them because Raphael made no explanations and used iconography to paint philosophers who had no traditional physical types. It is likely that the popular reading of the gestures of Aristotle and Plato are correct; one to heaven and the other down to earth, symbolizing the great debate between Idealism versus Realism. The vanishing point of the architecture, in the center of the fresco, holds the two main subjects, whose identity is undisputed. On the left, Plato and to the right is his student Aristotle. Aristotle is shown at the peak of manhood; by contrast Plato appears old, wise and grey. The building which houses the philosophers is shaped like a Greek cross, thought to harmonize Christian theology with pagan philosophy. This masterpiece was painted by Raphael when he was only 27 years old, and little is known of how familiar he was with philosophy at that stage of his life. The fresco depicts a series of concentric circles, which begin from the vaults and center above the two central figures heads. In the ancient world, the circle was a symbol of perfection and in this painting is thought to represent the mind of God and how that divine knowledge encompasses the minds of the philosophers.
The Statue of David was sculpted during a three year period beginning in 1501 by the artist Michelangelo. The subject of the work is the Biblical King David in the moment that he makes the decision to fight Goliath. The seventeen foot tall statue became the symbol of defending the civic liberties of the Florentine Republic, an area surrounded by more powerful states and the powerful Medici family. The sculpture originally stood outside the seat of government in Florence, the Palazzo Della Signoria.
Michelangelo wasn't the original artist of the sculpture. A group of officials sought to commission a twelve sculptures based on the Old Testament to grace decorate a cathedral. The first two were completed by Donatello and Agostino di Duccio, his assistant. The buyers contacted di Duccio to create the work of David. He shaped the legs, feet and figure and began to do some drapery work before he left the projects, possibly due to the death of Donatello. Antonio Rossellino took over the sculpting product but he was essentially fired.
The partially altered chunk of marble sat that way for the next twenty five years in the yard of a workshop. The block of marble became smaller due to exposure to the elements. The deterioration of their pricey investment was enough for the group of buyers to restart the process of finding an artist. Various artists were interviewed for the task, including Leonardo da Vinci, but Michelangelo was finally hired in 1501.
David is thought to be preparing for battle since the body of Goliath is not included and the young man's body is tense and ready for action. There are bulging veins in his hand and a twisting in his body. But there are those who think it shows him in the moments after his victory, when he is contemplating his victory.
Question 4
Reformation was a major issue during the renaissance. The Catholic Church had become corrupt in the years following up to the renaissance. They took indulgences; get out of jail free tickets for heaven. The more indulgences you had the less time you spend in purgatory. Purgatory is a plane of existence in between heaven and hell, but separate from earth. The Pope would also pardon wealthy and high up people on their sins and crimes. The Medici family also had some pull in the church lending more to the credit that the church was in fact corrupt.
Martin Luther posted his Ninety-Five thesis to the door of the church and that was the beginning of the reform. His thesis outlined how the Catholics were wrong. Martin Luther brought to light that all the Pope’s pardons were done for monetary gain. He pardoned wealthy people, like the Medici’s for instance. He even goes further to say that the Pope’s pardons go as far as to be madness in the eyes of god.
With his 95 Theses against the abuses of indulgences, Luther unwittingly sparked religious and political reform in Germany and founded the Lutheran branch of Protestantism.
With a strong and often abrasive personality, Luther took up the weapons of pen and pulpit against the corruptions of Catholicism on one side and the extremes of the Radical Reformation on the other. He spoke out against clerical celibacy, papal abuses, the denying of the scriptures and the communion wine to non-clergy, the cult of the saints, salvation by works, and other Catholic doctrines. Yet Luther retained many traditional and liturgical elements of the church that other reformers rejected.
Strongly influenced by the writings of Augustine, Luther stressed humanity's sinfulness, God's grace, and the sufficiency of faith in Christ for salvation. He translated the New Testament into German and formulated catechisms in the vernacular, making a major contribution to the development of written German. History remembers Martin Luther as the "Father of the Reformation."
Being the “Father of the Reformation” he was the best Christian. He preached that your way to salvation was through your connection with God. Those that came after him had extremely radical beliefs, such as predestination. He was the first to speak out against the church and did it through writing instead of just preaching like a madman on the streets.