Humanism in Art and Politics

I. Why Artists were Heroes

A. Knowledge of the world

1. Natural world

2. Human nature--inside and out

B. Creation of beauty

1. Bringing heaven to earth (instead of vice versa)

2. Andrea Mantegna, Ceiling at Mantua (1474)

II. Transformation of the Visual Arts

A. Innovations of Renaissance artists

1. Focus on the human world

2. Use of ancient models

3. Observation of nature

4. Emphasis on personality and emotion

5. Narrative drama

B. Demonstrated in Two Hundred Years of Madonnas

1. Cimabue (1280)

2. Giotto (1310)

3. Jan Van Eyck (1436)

4. Leonardo Da Vinci (1486)

III. Masters of the High Renaissance

A. Leonardo Da Vinci

1. depicting �the intention of man�s soul�

2. Last Supper (1498)

B. Raphael

1. bringing humanism to life

2. School of Athens (1510)

C. Michelangelo

1. striving for the eternal and ideal

2. David

3. Moses

IV. Humanist Realism in Politics

A. The difference between what is true about human beings, and what we WISH was true about them

B. Discussion of The Prince