RENAISSANCE 



641 



the handsome Bembo, the splendid Albert!, Cas- 

 tiglione, the author of // Cortegiano, and Ariosto, 

 author of Orlando Furioyo, the Cinque Canti, and 

 the polished cynical Satires. 



Some of the faults of the Renaissance clung to 

 ' it in all its periods. At one time pedantry 

 threatened to check originality and spontaneity ; 

 the worst ancient works were prized more than 

 the best written in any new European tongue. 

 Petrarch valued himself mainly for his Latin 

 works, and thought lightly of his Italian poems. 

 I The tendency was established to regard the classics 

 / as the one standard of learning ana the one instru- 

 Mnent of education. A worse fault was it that the 

 revolt against media-val religious tradition was 

 accompanied to a very large extent by absolute and 

 auti-Ciiristian immorality and license. Literary 

 and artistic refinement placed no check on brutal 

 lu.-ts and savage passions ; though in a few men of 

 high character, Michelangelo, Raphael, Pico della 

 Mirandola, Mareilio Kicino, and others, in whom 

 Humanism did not extinguish the principles of 

 Christianity and morals, a singularly noble and 

 complete humanity was displayed. The culmina- 

 tion of the Renaissance in Italy may be regarded 

 as having fallen within the half century 1456-1500; 

 and its close for the land of its birth may be fixed 

 at the sack of Rome in 1527 by the Constable de 

 Bourbon, followed by the transference of Humanism 

 in its later developments to France, England, and 

 the rest of Europe. 



In Germany the change was as marked as in 

 Italy, but the'Humanixm of Germany and the Low 

 Countries was very different in spirit from that of 

 Italy. Not less tinged by a revived love for ancient 

 learning, it was never divorced from morality nor 

 hostile to Christianity ; ami its most important 

 direct outcome was 'the Reformation. Biblical 

 and Oriental studies were strenuously cultivated. 

 Amongst the noted leaders were Erasmus, Melanch- 

 thon, Keuchlin, and Von Hutten. In the Nether- 

 lands and Flanders the new school of painting was 

 a notable development. In France the movement 

 had rich results in art and letters. Villon, Marot, 

 Konsard, but almve all Rabelais are types of the 

 French Renaissance in pure literature; while within 

 the sphere of scholarship and religious reform we 

 have here the names of the Scaligers, Dolet, 

 Miiretus, Cujacius, Salmasius, Casaul>on, Beza, 

 Calvin. 



In England VVyclif and Chaucer may be regarded 

 as the forerunners of the Reformation and the 

 Renaissance ; but the main streams of both these 

 movements reached England contemporaneously. 

 In scholarship the great names are Grocyn, Lin- 

 acre, Colet, Ascham, and More; but the fullest 

 English outcome of the Renaissance was the 



glorious Elizabethan literature, with Spenser and 

 hakespe;tre, and in philosophy Bacon, as its most 

 noted representatives. 



RENAISSANCE, in Architecture, the style which 

 .succeeded the Gothic, and preceded the rigid 

 copyism of the classic revival in the first half of 

 the 19th century. Under the heading ITALIAN 

 ARCHITECTURE we have traced the rise and pro- 

 gress of the Renaissance in the country of its 

 birth. The spread of classical literature iluring 

 the 15th and 16th centuries created a tate for 

 classic architecture in every country in Europe. 

 France, from her proximity and constant inter- 

 course with Italy, was the first to introduce the 

 new style north of the Alps. Francis I. invited 

 Italian artiste to his court during the first half of 

 the 16th century. The most distinguished of these 

 were Leonardo da Vinci, Benvenuto Cellini, Prima- 

 tici-io, and Serlio. These artists introduced Italian 

 details, and native architects applied them to the 

 old forms to which they were accustomed, and 



4m 



which suited the purposes of their buildings, and 

 thus originated a style similar to, though diverse 

 from, that of Italy. 



The Italian buildings, besides many palaces and 

 domestic structures, comprised a large number of 

 churches, St Peter's being the great model. In 

 France (as in the other countries north of the 

 Alps) the stock of churches was greater than was 

 required. The grand domestic buildings of Florence 

 and Rome were constructed for defence externally, 

 and were founded in design on the old mediaeval 

 castles, which the nobles occupied within the cities. 

 The domestic architecture of France is rather taken 

 from the luxurious residences of the monks, and 

 the pleasant open villas in the country ; so that, 

 although very graceful in outline and in detail, 

 its buildings want the force and grandeur of the 

 Italian palaces. 



In the French Renaissance so much are the old 

 Gothic forms and outline preserved that the build- 

 ings of Francis I. mijjlit at a short distance be 

 mistaken for Gothic designs, although on nearer ap- 

 proach all the details are found to be imitated from 

 the classic. Such are the palaces of Cham bo rd ( q. v. ) 



Fig. L Chateau of Chambord. 



and Chenonceaux (q-V-) on the Loire, Fontainebleau, 

 and many others. The churches of this period are 

 the same in their principles of design. Gothic forms 

 and construction are everywhere preserved, while 

 the details are as nearly classic as the designers 

 could make them. St Eustache, in Paris, is one of 

 the finest examples of this transitional style. 



From the middle of the 16th to the middle of the 

 17th century a style prevailed which may be said 

 to exhibit all the varieties of the Renaissance. 

 This style, usually known as that of the time of 

 Henry IV., may l>e distinguished by the constant 

 use of pilasters, broken entablatures, curved and 

 contorted cornices, architraves, &c., all applied so as 

 to conceal rather than to mark and dignify the real 

 uses of the features of the buildings. The Tuiloi irs, 

 wrecked by the Commune, showed all these defect*!. 



