Italian Renaissance
Art, learning and politics in the Italian states, roughly 1400-1600.
Category: Culture
- 1397Manuel Chrysoloras begins teaching Greek in Florence
Invited by the chancellor Coluccio Salutati, the Byzantine scholar Manuel Chrysoloras starts teaching Greek in Florence, reviving the study of Greek literature in the Latin West. He stays until 1400.
- 1397Giovanni di Bicci founds the Medici Bank in Florence
Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici separates his bank from that of his nephew Averardo and moves it from Rome to Florence. The bank funds the family's rise and is liquidated in 1494, after Charles VIII's invasion.
- c. 1406Jacopo d'Angelo translates Ptolemy's Geography into Latin in Florence
Jacopo d'Angelo, a pupil of Chrysoloras, translates Ptolemy's Geography in Florence (c. 1406-07), opening its coordinate-based map-making to Latin readers. The first printed edition with maps followed in Bologna in 1477.
- January 1417Poggio Bracciolini finds Lucretius' De rerum natura
The humanist Poggio Bracciolini discovers a manuscript of Lucretius' poem De rerum natura in a German monastery, probably Fulda. Poggio never named the place, and the find became a landmark of Renaissance manuscript hunting.
- November 11, 1417Martin V is elected pope, ending the Western Schism
At Constance on 11 November 1417, 23 cardinals and 30 council delegates elect Oddone Colonna as Martin V, reuniting the Church under one pope. He enters Rome in September 1420.
- 1420 – March 25, 1436Brunelleschi builds the dome of Florence Cathedral
Construction of Filippo Brunelleschi's dome over Florence Cathedral begins in 1420. Pope Eugene IV consecrates the church with the completed dome on 25 March 1436.
- 1434Cosimo de' Medici returns from exile and takes control of Florence
Imprisoned in September 1433 and then exiled, the banker Cosimo de' Medici returns to Florence in 1434. He begins the family's long dominance of the city, which lasts until 1494.
- c. 1435Alberti writes De pictura, setting out linear perspective
Leon Battista Alberti writes his treatise on painting, De pictura (Della pittura in Italian), setting out the rules of linear perspective and crediting Brunelleschi. Sources date the versions between 1435 and 1441.
- July 6, 1439The Council of Florence proclaims the union of the Latin and Greek churches
On 6 July 1439 Pope Eugene IV and Emperor John VIII Palaiologos sign the decree Laetentur caeli at Florence. The East rejected it, and it never took effect, even after Constantinople fell in 1453.
- 1444Cosimo de' Medici founds the Library of San Marco in Florence
Founded in 1444 and designed by Michelozzo, the Library of San Marco is the first public library in Florence. It was built with Cosimo de' Medici's support.
- 1444 – 1484Cosimo de' Medici has Michelozzo build the Palazzo Medici
Construction of the Palazzo Medici, designed by Michelozzo for Cosimo de' Medici, begins in 1444 and runs to 1484. It is the family's main residence until Piero de' Medici is exiled in 1494.
- c. 1450Fra Mauro draws his world map in Venice, drawing on Marco Polo
The Camaldolese monk Fra Mauro makes a large world map at San Michele in Isola, Venice. Its Asian annotations draw on travellers such as Marco Polo and Niccolò de' Conti.
- April 15, 1452Birth of Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo is born near the town of Vinci, in the Republic of Florence.
- c. 1462Cosimo de' Medici sets Marsilio Ficino to translate Plato
Cosimo de' Medici gives Marsilio Ficino Greek manuscripts of Plato, and Ficino begins translating the whole corpus into Latin (published 1484). His circle is later called the Platonic Academy, though the name is debated.
- August 1, 1464Death of Cosimo de' Medici, 'Father of the Fatherland'
Cosimo de' Medici dies at the family villa of Careggi on 1 August 1464. The Florentine Signoria awards him the title Pater Patriae, 'Father of the Fatherland', which is carved on his tomb.
- 1465The first dated books printed in Italy appear at Subiaco
German printers Konrad Sweynheym and Arnold Pannartz, working at Subiaco near Rome, print Cicero's De oratore (September 1465) and Lactantius' Divinae institutiones (October 1465), the first dated books printed in Italy.
- c. 1467Leonardo apprenticed to Verrocchio
At about fifteen, Leonardo is sent to Florence to train under the artist Andrea del Verrocchio. Sources date the start anywhere from 1464 to the late 1460s.
- 1468Cardinal Bessarion gives his Greek manuscripts to Venice
Basilios Bessarion, a Greek refugee cardinal, donates his library of Greek and Latin manuscripts to the Republic of Venice (letter of 31 May 1468); it becomes the core of the Marciana library and a hub for Greek learning in Italy.
- 1469John of Speyer begins printing in Venice
John of Speyer, granted a five-year printing monopoly by the Venetian Senate, prints Cicero's Epistolae ad familiares, the first book printed in Venice and the start of the city's printing trade.
- December 1469Lorenzo de' Medici, aged 20, takes the lead in Florence
After the death of his father Piero in December 1469, the 20-year-old Lorenzo de' Medici, later called 'the Magnificent', assumes the family's leading role in Florence. He rules until his death in 1492.
- 1472Leonardo joins the Florentine painters' guild
Leonardo is accepted into the painters' guild of Florence.
- 1473 – August 15, 1483Sixtus IV builds the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican
Built for Pope Sixtus IV between 1473 and 1481, the chapel receives wall frescoes by Botticelli, Perugino, Ghirlandaio and Rosselli in 1481–82. It is consecrated on 15 August 1483.
- 1475Toscanelli sets up a gnomon in Florence Cathedral
Astronomer Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli opens a hole in the cathedral's dome, about 91 metres above the floor, to cast a meridian line for observing the sun around the summer solstice.
- June 15, 1475Sixtus IV formally establishes the Vatican Library
By the bull Ad decorem militantis ecclesiae of 15 June 1475, Sixtus IV formally founds the Vatican Library. It grew from the Greek, Latin and Hebrew codices that Nicholas V gathered from 1451.
- April 26, 1478The Pazzi conspiracy strikes the Medici in Florence Cathedral
On 26 April 1478, conspirators backed by Pope Sixtus IV kill Giuliano de' Medici at High Mass; Lorenzo survives. Sixtus excommunicates Lorenzo (1 June) and puts Florence under interdict (20 June).
- August 11, 1480Ottoman fleet captures Otranto in southern Italy
Gedik Ahmed Pasha's Ottoman force takes Otranto in Apulia, alarming Italy and Rome. Mehmed II's death in 1481 ends the campaign and the town is retaken that year.
- c. 1482Leonardo moves to Milan
Leonardo leaves Florence for Milan and finds work at the court of the Sforza family. Most sources say 1482; the National Gallery gives about 1482-3.
- 1482Erhard Ratdolt prints the first edition of Euclid's Elements
The printer Erhard Ratdolt, working in Venice, issues the first printed edition of Euclid's Elements, solving the problem of reproducing geometric diagrams in print.
- 1483Van der Goes's Portinari Altarpiece arrives in Florence
Hugo van der Goes's oil triptych, painted in Flanders for the Portinari family, is installed in Florence in 1483. Florentine painters admire and imitate it, as Ghirlandaio does in 1485.
- c. 1485Botticelli paints The Birth of Venus, later at the Medici villa of Castello
Sandro Botticelli paints The Birth of Venus, probably in the mid-1480s (c. 1484–86). It hung at the Medici Villa di Castello, though no record of its commission survives and the old attribution to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco is now doubted.
- 1488The first complete printed Hebrew Bible appears at Soncino
In 1488 the Soncino printers in northern Italy publish the first complete printed Hebrew Bible, without commentary. Most sources date its completion to 22 April 1488; some give February.
- 1489 – April 8, 1492The young Michelangelo joins Lorenzo de' Medici's household
In 1489 Lorenzo de' Medici asks Ghirlandaio for his two best pupils, and Michelangelo and Francesco Granacci are sent. Michelangelo stays with the Medici until Lorenzo's death in 1492 and attends the Medici Platonic Academy.
- June 1489Josquin des Prez joins the papal choir in Rome
The Franco-Flemish composer Josquin des Prez, previously in the service of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza in Milan, sang in the papal choir from June 1489 until at least 1494 under Innocent VIII and Alexander VI.
- c. 1490Leonardo draws the Vitruvian Man
Leonardo draws a male figure inscribed in a circle and a square, a study of ideal human proportions, probably in Milan.
- April 8, 1492Death of Lorenzo de' Medici, 'the Magnificent'
Lorenzo de' Medici dies at the family villa of Careggi on 8 April 1492. He had patronised Botticelli and the humanists Ficino, Landino and Poliziano; his son Piero succeeds him, and the Medici are expelled in 1494.
- August 11, 1492Rodrigo Borgia is elected Pope Alexander VI
Rodrigo Borgia is elected pope on 11 August 1492 after a costly conclave, amid rumours of vote-buying that were never proven. His son Cesare Borgia later employed Leonardo da Vinci as a military engineer.
- 1494Aldus Manutius founds the Aldine Press in Venice
The scholar-printer Aldus Manutius founds the Aldine Press in Venice. Its first publication, in March 1495, is Constantine Lascaris' Greek grammar Erotemata with a Latin translation.
- 1494Luca Pacioli's Summa de arithmetica is printed in Venice
Luca Pacioli's Summa de arithmetica, printed in Venice, is the first published description of double-entry bookkeeping. Its fame brings him to Ludovico Sforza's court in Milan, where he works with Leonardo da Vinci.
- September 1494Charles VIII of France invades Italy, opening the Italian Wars
Claiming the Angevin right to Naples, Charles VIII crossed the Alps with a large army and artillery, starting the Italian Wars (1494-1559) between France, Spain, the Empire and Italian states.
- November 1494After the Medici are expelled, Savonarola dominates Florence
Following Charles VIII's invasion of Italy, the Florentines expel the Medici. The Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola urges them to form a republic and gains great influence over it from November 1494.
- 1495Aldus prints Aristotle in Greek
The Aldine Press issues the first printed Greek edition of Aristotle in five volumes: the Organon first, dated 1 November 1495, and the rest by 1498. It includes works of Theophrastus and ancient commentators. Sources differ on when volumes two to five appeared.
- c. 1495 – 1498Leonardo paints The Last Supper
For Duke Ludovico Sforza, Leonardo paints The Last Supper on a wall of the Santa Maria delle Grazie convent in Milan. The exact dates are undocumented; sources range from 1493 to 1498.
- February 7, 1497Savonarola's followers burn the 'vanities' in Florence
On Shrove Tuesday, 7 February 1497, followers of Girolamo Savonarola burn mirrors, cosmetics, playing cards, musical instruments, books and artworks in Florence's public square.
- 1498Aristotle's Poetics reaches print
Giorgio Valla's 1498 Latin translation is the first printed Poetics, and the Aldine Press prints the Greek text in 1508. Medieval readers had known the work through Averroes, whose reading made tragedy the art of praise. Castelvetro's Italian editions follow in 1570 and 1576.
- May 23, 1498Savonarola is hanged and burned in Florence
Excommunicated by Alexander VI in May 1497 and arrested after a failed trial by fire in April 1498, Girolamo Savonarola and two fellow friars are hanged and burned in Florence's main square on 23 May 1498.
- 1499French army drives Ludovico Sforza from Milan
A French army removes Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan and Leonardo's patron, from power.
- c. 1500Leonardo returns to Florence
After visits to Mantua and Venice, Leonardo goes back to Florence, at the end of 1499 or early in 1500.
- 1501Petrucci prints the Harmonice Musices Odhecaton in Venice
Ottaviano Petrucci published the first book of polyphonic music printed from movable type. It spread the Franco-Flemish style across Europe. Its dedication is dated 15 May 1501; the exact printing date is unknown.
- April 1501Aldus Manutius prints a pocket Virgil in italic type
In April 1501 the Aldine Press issues Virgil in a small octavo format, set in a new italic type cut by Francesco Griffo, the first italic type made for Aldus.
- 1502Leonardo maps the town of Imola
Working for Borgia, Leonardo draws a plan of Imola seen from directly above, a method unusual at the time. Most sources place it in autumn 1502.
- August 1502Leonardo becomes military engineer to Cesare Borgia
Leonardo is appointed military architect and engineer to Cesare Borgia, commander of the papal army, and inspects fortifications across central Italy.
- c. 1503Florence commissions The Battle of Anghiari
The Florentine Republic commissions Leonardo to paint a mural in the Palazzo Vecchio. He leaves it unfinished in 1505. Sources date the commission to October 1503 or to 1504.
- May 1503 – April 1504Josquin serves Duke Ercole I d'Este at Ferrara
Josquin des Prez arrived at the Este court by May 1503 and left by April 1504; there he wrote the Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae, printed by Petrucci in 1505.
- November 1, 1503Giuliano della Rovere is elected Pope Julius II
Giuliano della Rovere is elected pope on 1 November 1503. He will lay the foundation of a new St. Peter's in 1506, commission Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling in 1508 and convene the Fifth Lateran Council in 1512.
- 1506Leonardo returns to Milan
Leonardo goes back to Milan, now under French rule.
- April 18, 1506Julius II lays the foundation stone of the new St. Peter's Basilica
On 18 April 1506 Pope Julius II lays the foundation stone of a new basilica in Rome, to Donato Bramante's design. It replaces the fourth-century church of Constantine, which had stood for more than a thousand years.
- 1508 – October 31, 1512Michelangelo paints the Sistine Chapel ceiling for Julius II
Commissioned by Pope Julius II in 1508, Michelangelo paints nine scenes from Genesis, with prophets and sibyls, on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The full work is unveiled on 31 October 1512.
- c. 1510Leonardo dissects human bodies with Marcantonio della Torre at Pavia
Leonardo da Vinci works with the anatomist Marcantonio della Torre at Pavia on human dissections, planning a treatise that was never published. Della Torre died of plague in 1511. Some drawings may date to 1513.
- May 3, 1512 – March 16, 1517The Fifth Lateran Council meets in Rome
Called by Julius II in response to a rival council at Pisa, the council (3 May 1512–16 March 1517) annuls Pisa and sets reforms such as a minimum age of 30 for bishops. Few of its decrees were put into practice.
- March 9, 1513Giovanni de' Medici is elected Pope Leo X
Giovanni de' Medici, second son of Lorenzo the Magnificent and a cardinal since the age of 13, is elected pope on 9 March 1513. He backs Raphael's work in the Vatican and on St. Peter's.
- 1516Leonardo enters the service of Francis I of France
Leonardo moves to France at the invitation of King Francis I, who gives him use of the Manoir du Cloux (now Clos Lucé) near Amboise. He never returns to Italy.
- 1516Pomponazzi argues from Aristotle against the soul's immortality
Pietro Pomponazzi's On the Immortality of the Soul (1516), following Alexander of Aphrodisias, holds that Aristotle's soul cannot exist apart from the body. The Venetian Senate orders it burned in 1517; Leo X's admonition is revoked in 1518 after Bembo intervenes.
- 1517Daniel Bomberg prints the first Rabbinic Bible in Venice
In 1517 the Venetian printer Daniel Bomberg issues the first Mikraot Gedolot, the Hebrew Bible with Aramaic translations and commentaries. A corrected second edition under Jacob ben Hayyim became the standard.
- May 2, 1519Death of Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo dies at the Château du Clos Lucé in Amboise, France, at the age of 67.
- November 19, 1523Giulio de' Medici is elected Pope Clement VII
Giulio de' Medici is elected pope on 19 November 1523. Under the Peace of Barcelona of 1529 Charles V agrees to restore the Medici in Florence, and Clement installs his nephew Alessandro as duke in 1530.
- May 6, 1527Imperial troops sack Rome and besiege Clement VII
On 6 May 1527 the unpaid army of Charles V, with some 14,000 German Landsknechts and 6,000 Spanish soldiers, storms Rome. Clement VII surrenders on 6 June and agrees to a 400,000-ducat ransom. The sack is often called the end of the High Renaissance.
- 1532Alessandro de' Medici becomes the first hereditary Duke of Florence
Named head of state after the 1530 siege of Florence, Alessandro de' Medici arrives in 1531 and is made hereditary duke in 1532, ending the Florentine Republic. Sources give the grant as spring 1532.
- 1536 – 1541Michelangelo paints the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel
Michelangelo paints the Last Judgment on the Sistine Chapel's altar wall between 1536 and 1541, begun for Clement VII and completed under Paul III. Critics attack its nudity, and Daniele da Volterra later paints drapery over nearly 40 figures.
- January 1537Cosimo I becomes Duke of Florence after Alessandro's assassination
After his cousin Alessandro is murdered on 6 January 1537, Cosimo I de' Medici, aged 17, succeeds him as Duke of Florence. He strengthens Medici power, expands Florentine territory and becomes a major patron of the arts.
- 1543Boscán and Garcilaso's poems bring Italian verse to Spain
Barcelona prints Boscán's works with those of Garcilaso de la Vega, who died in 1536. Their Italian-style sonnets and hendecasyllables transform Spanish poetry.
- June 1543Vesalius publishes De humani corporis fabrica in Basel
Andreas Vesalius, aged 28 and formerly professor of anatomy at Padua, publishes his illustrated De humani corporis fabrica, printed by Oporinus in Basel. Based on his own dissections, it corrects about 300 of Galen's errors.
- 1559Ramusio's Navigationi et viaggi prints an Italian text of Marco Polo
The second volume of Giovanni Battista Ramusio's Delle navigationi et viaggi (1559) includes an Italian version of Polo's Travels, a widely used text of the book in the Renaissance.
- 1560 – 1581Cosimo I has Vasari build the Uffizi in Florence
Giorgio Vasari begins the Uffizi in 1560 for Cosimo I, housing Florence's magistracies and guilds under one roof; it is completed in 1581. Its top floor becomes the Medici gallery, and it opens to the public in 1769.
- 1569Cosimo I de' Medici becomes the first Grand Duke of Tuscany
Pope Pius V raises Cosimo I de' Medici to Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1569, giving the Medici a higher rank. Sources differ on the day (Cosimo's article gives 21 August).
- January 14, 1573The Florentine Camerata meets at Count Bardi's house
The earliest recorded meeting of the Florentine circle of humanists and musicians, patronised by Count Giovanni de' Bardi, took place on 14 January 1573. Its debates on ancient Greek drama led to the first operas.
- c. 1581Vincenzo Galilei publishes the Dialogo della musica antica et della moderna
The Florentine lutenist and theorist Vincenzo Galilei attacked polyphony for obscuring the text and urged solo song that followed speech, an idea central to the birth of monody and opera. Published 1581-1582.
- 1597Giovanni Gabrieli publishes the Sacrae symphoniae in Venice
Gabrieli, organist at St Mark's Basilica, issued works for separated choirs and instruments that developed into the Baroque concertato style and drew pupils such as Heinrich Schütz from across Europe.
- c. 1597Peri and Rinuccini stage Dafne in Florence, the first opera
Jacopo Peri and the poet Ottavio Rinuccini produced Dafne, generally regarded as the first opera; its music is lost. Sources give 1597 or 1598 (some earlier), so the date is approximate.
- October 6, 1600Peri's Euridice premieres at the Palazzo Pitti in Florence
Staged on 6 October 1600 for the wedding of Maria de' Medici and Henry IV of France, Euridice by Jacopo Peri (libretto by Rinuccini) is the earliest surviving opera.
- 1602Caccini publishes Le nuove musiche in Florence
Giulio Caccini's collection of madrigals and arias for solo voice with basso continuo, dated February 1601 in Florentine reckoning but issued in July 1602, made the new monodic style a model across Italy.
- 1605Monteverdi defends the seconda pratica against Artusi
Answering the theorist Giovanni Maria Artusi's attacks of 1600 and 1603, Claudio Monteverdi announced in the preface to his fifth book of madrigals his 'second practice', in which the text governs the music.
- April 1606 – April 1607Paul V places Venice under interdict
In April 1606 Pope Paul V lays an interdict on Venice after it asserts control over its clergy and church property. Venice, backed by Paolo Sarpi, resists, and French mediation ends the quarrel in April 1607.