(^60) › STEP 4. Review the Knowledge You Need to Score High
mastered, the Renaissance humanist could read deeply in the classical works of the ancient
Greek and Roman authors, absorbing what the philosophers of the last great Western civi-
lizations had to teach them about how to succeed in life and how to live a good life.
To the Renaissance humanist, the ancient Greek and Roman philosophers were guides,
but guides whose achievements could be equaled and eventually improved upon. The ulti-
mate goal of the Renaissance humanist program was the truly well-rounded citizen, one
who excelled in grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, politics, and moral philosophy. These
scholarly achievements were valued in their own right, as a testament to the dignity and
ability of man, but also for the way in which they contributed to the glory of the city-state.
Prime examples of early Renaissance humanists were Petrarch, who celebrated the glory
of ancient Rome in his Letters to the Ancient Dead, and Boccaccio, who compiled an ency-
clopedia of Greek and Roman mythology. The best articulation of the belief in the dignity
and potential of man that characterized Renaissance humanism was Pico della Mirandola’s
Oration on the Dignity of Man (1486). In the Oration, della Mirandola argued that God
endowed man with the ability to shape his own being and that man has the obligation to
become all that he can be.
By the late Renaissance, humanism lost some of its ideal character, where scholarly
achievements were valued for their own sake, and took on a more cynical quality that pro-
moted only individual success. This shift is sometimes characterized as a shift from a “civic
ideal” to a “princely ideal,” as texts like Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier (1513–1518)
and Machiavelli’s The Prince (1513) focused on the qualities and strategies necessary for
attaining and holding social and political power.
Artistic Achievement of the Renaissance
The unique structure of Renaissance society and the corresponding system of Renaissance
values combined to give birth to one of the most amazing bursts of artistic creativity in
the history of Western civilization. The wealthy and powerful elites of Renaissance society
patronized the arts for the fame and prestige that it brought them. The competitive spirit
of the elites both within and among the Italian city-states meant that artists and craftsmen
were in almost constant demand.
For example, Lorenzo de’ Medici, who led the ruling family of Florence from 1469
until his death in 1492, commissioned work by almost all of the great Renaissance artists.
As an art patron, he was rivaled by Pope Julius II, whose patronage of the arts during his
papacy (1503–1513), including the construction of St. Peter’s Basilica, transformed Rome
into one of Europe’s most beautiful cities.
The artists themselves usually hailed not from the elite class but from the class of guild
craftsmen. Young men with skill were identified and apprenticed to guild shops run by
master craftsmen. Accordingly, there was no separation between the “artistic” and “com-
mercial” sides of the Renaissance art world. All works were commissioned, and the artist
was expected to give the patron what he ordered. The Renaissance artist demonstrated his
creativity within the bounds of explicit contracts that specified all details of the work.
Another aspect of the guild culture that contributed to the brilliant innovations of
the Renaissance period was the fact that the various media, such as sculpture, painting,
and architecture, were not viewed as separate disciplines; instead, the Renaissance appren-
tice was expected to master the techniques of each of these art forms. As a result, mature
Renaissance artists were able to work with a variety of materials and to apply ideas and
techniques learned in one medium to projects in another.10_Bartolini_Ch10_057_064.indd 60 27/04/18 1:54 PM