HISTORY OF IDEAS - The Renaissance

Summary

This script explores the Renaissance as a pivotal period in Western culture, highlighting the Medici family's influence in shaping art, philosophy, and urbanism. It emphasizes the importance of vision and intellectual patronage in fostering creativity and societal advancement, urging modern society to draw inspiration from the Renaissance to enrich contemporary life.

Takeaways

• 🎨 The Renaissance was a period of cultural rebirth in Europe, marked by a reconnection with the styles and ambitions of ancient Greek and Roman civilizations.
• 📚 Studying the Renaissance is important to retrieve and apply past ideas to modern dilemmas and problems, emphasizing the rescue of good, provocative, and inspiring thoughts.
• 🏦 Lorenzo de' Medici, a nobleman and banker, expanded the Medici Bank and was a significant patron of arts and philosophy, reflecting the Florentine upper class's interest in both wealth creation and cultural advancement.
• 💡 The Medici family's philanthropy aimed to promote beauty, truth, and wisdom, with Lorenzo de' Medici supporting philosophers and artists, and contributing to the intellectual and artistic flourishing of the era.
• 🌏 Lorenzo's patronage was not just financial but also involved in the vision and mission of the arts and philosophy, using art as a form of education to convey key philosophical truths.
• 📜 Poggio Bracciolini's discovery of lost manuscripts, such as Lucretius's 'de Rerum Natura,' exemplifies the Renaissance's practical approach to history and philosophy, seeking wisdom to improve contemporary life.
• 🏛 The Renaissance's focus on urbanism and architecture, as seen in the Palazzo Medici and other Florentine buildings, aimed to create environments that inspire dignity, calm, and a sense of community.
• 🌳 Renaissance city planners believed in the power of well-designed public spaces to shape societal values and promote the common good, contrasting with today's urban challenges.
• 🎨 The Renaissance's artistic achievements were not just due to the abundance of talent, but also the clear vision of what art should accomplish, often serving to advertise and propagate philosophical ideas.
• 🖼 Art during the Renaissance was used to make complex philosophical concepts accessible and engaging, using beauty and sensuality to draw viewers into deeper intellectual and moral considerations.
• 🚢 The script suggests that the true tribute to the Renaissance is not in tourism or memorization of facts, but in applying its lessons to inspire and drive positive change in our own societies.

Q & A

What is the Renaissance period and why is it significant in Western culture?

The Renaissance is a 300-year period in European history where there was a revival of interest in the arts, sciences, and learning, inspired by the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome. It's significant because it marked a transition from the medieval period to the modern era, fostering a cultural and intellectual rebirth that laid the groundwork for the modern world.

Why should we study the Renaissance today?

Studying the Renaissance allows us to rescue and apply lost but valuable ideas to address contemporary dilemmas and problems. It helps us understand how historical figures approached challenges and can inspire us to innovate in our own times.

Who was Lorenzo de' Medici and what was his role during the Renaissance?

Lorenzo de' Medici was a nobleman from a prominent Florentine family who took over the Medici Bank, a leading financial institution in Europe. He was a patron of the arts and philosophy, supporting and nurturing many artists and philosophers, thus playing a pivotal role in the cultural and intellectual developments of the Renaissance.

What was the Medici family's approach to philanthropy?

The Medici family believed in using their wealth to promote beauty, truth, and wisdom. They supported artists, architects, and scholars, not just financially, but with a clear vision and mission for the arts and philosophy, aiming to enhance society through their patronage.

How did the Medici family's patronage of the arts differ from modern philanthropy?

The Medici family's patronage was more than just financial support; it was guided by a vision and mission for the arts and philosophy. They were directly involved in shaping the direction and content of the works they funded, aiming to educate and elevate society through art and learning.

What was the significance of the discovery of Lucretius' 'de Rerum Natura' during the Renaissance?

The discovery of Lucretius' 'de Rerum Natura' was significant because it provided a comprehensive account of Epicurean philosophy, which had valuable insights on human passions, happiness, religion, and science. It contributed to the intellectual revival and philosophical discourse of the time.

How did the Renaissance leaders view the role of architecture and city planning in society?

Renaissance leaders believed that architecture and city planning were crucial for shaping society. They thought that beautiful, well-planned public spaces could elevate the sanity, vigor, and happiness of the population, and they developed rules and principles for creating harmonious and functional urban environments.

What was the role of art in the Renaissance according to the script?

Art in the Renaissance was seen as a means to advertise and promote beauty, truth, and wisdom. It was used to convey philosophical ideas and elevate the public sphere, making high-minded concepts accessible and engaging to a broader audience.

How did the Renaissance approach the use of beauty and sensuality in art?

The Renaissance embraced the use of beauty and sensuality in art to attract viewers and draw them towards higher philosophical and intellectual ideas. This approach was based on the belief that beauty and sensuality could serve as a gateway to more profound human ideals.

What can we learn from the Renaissance about creating a positive impact with wealth and art?

We can learn from the Renaissance that wealth can be used strategically to support the arts and humanities to improve society. Art can be harnessed to make virtuous ideals attractive, and the power of beauty and sensuality can be employed to promote intellectual and moral values.

Outlines

00:00

🏛 The Renaissance and the Medici Legacy

The script introduces the Renaissance as a pivotal era in Western culture, spanning 300 years and marked by a revival of ancient Greek and Roman styles. It emphasizes the importance of studying history to unearth valuable ideas and apply them to contemporary issues. The narrative then shifts to Florence in 1469, focusing on Lorenzo de' Medici, a nobleman who expanded his family's bank and used their wealth to patronize art, architecture, and philosophy. Lorenzo's vision was to promote beauty, truth, and wisdom, and he supported philosophers and artists, including Michelangelo, fostering a renaissance of intellectual and artistic growth.

05:01

📜 Rediscovering the Classics and Urban Renaissance

This paragraph delves into the efforts of scholars like Poggio Bracciolini to recover lost manuscripts, highlighting his discovery of Lucretius's 'de Rerum Natura'. It underscores the Renaissance's practical approach to history and philosophy, aiming to apply ancient wisdom to contemporary society. The narrative then shifts to the architectural renaissance, focusing on the construction of the Palazzo Medici and other buildings that embodied the Renaissance spirit of rationality and harmony. The city fathers of the era are praised for their dedication to creating beautiful, functional cities that reflected their philosophical beliefs in the power of the built environment to shape society.

10:02

🎨 The Power of Art and the Renaissance Vision

The script discusses the convergence of artistic genius during the Renaissance, attributing the era's artistic achievements to a clear vision of art's purpose rather than an abundance of talent. It describes the Renaissance as an age of 'advertising' for beauty, truth, and wisdom, with art serving to make philosophical ideas accessible and compelling. The narrative explores how artists like Raphael and Titian were employed to convey complex philosophical concepts through their work, using the allure of beauty and sensuality to engage viewers with deeper themes of life, mortality, and the pursuit of virtue.

15:04

🌟 Harnessing Desire for the Greater Good

The final paragraph examines the Renaissance's strategic use of beauty and sensuality to align human desires with virtuous aspirations. It discusses the influence of philosopher Marsilio Ficino, who advocated using beauty to attract people to higher ideals. The script reflects on the Renaissance's mission-driven coherence in art and the strategic alignment of human desires with the promotion of virtue. It concludes by challenging modern society to embrace the Renaissance spirit, using the lessons of the past to inspire positive change in our own times, from urban planning to the role of art in society.

Keywords

💡Renaissance

The Renaissance, meaning 'rebirth' in French, refers to a period of cultural, artistic, political, and economic rebirth in Europe spanning roughly from the 14th to the 17th century. It is characterized by a revival of interest in the classical art, literature, and learning of ancient Greece and Rome. In the video, the Renaissance is the central theme, showcasing how figures like Lorenzo de' Medici and scholars like Poggio Bracciolini contributed to its flourishing through patronage and discovery of lost manuscripts.

💡Medici Bank

The Medici Bank was a financial institution established in 1397 and run by the prominent Medici family of Florence. It symbolizes the wealth and influence of the Medici family in the script, highlighting their role in the economic sphere during the Renaissance. The bank's success allowed the family to become significant patrons of the arts and philosophy, thereby influencing the cultural rebirth of the period.

💡Patronage

Patronage, in the context of the Renaissance, refers to the support, especially financial, given by wealthy individuals or institutions to artists, scholars, and philosophers. The Medici family, as mentioned in the script, were renowned patrons who funded the works of numerous artists and thinkers, thereby shaping the cultural landscape of the time.

💡Humanism

Humanism is an intellectual and cultural movement that emphasizes the study of classical antiquity, the importance of human potential, and the value of secular subjects over religious doctrine. In the script, humanism is exemplified by scholars like Poggio Bracciolini, who sought to rediscover and preserve ancient texts, thus contributing to the intellectual revival of the Renaissance.

💡Epicurean Philosophy

Epicurean philosophy, founded by the Greek philosopher Epicurus, advocates for a life of moderation, friendship, and the pursuit of happiness through the avoidance of fear and pain. In the script, the discovery of Lucretius's 'de Rerum Natura' is highlighted, which provides a comprehensive account of Epicurean thought, influencing the philosophical discourse of the Renaissance.

💡Architectural Patronage

Architectural patronage involves the sponsorship of architectural projects and the construction of buildings that reflect the values and ambitions of the patrons. The script mentions the Palazzo Medici as an example of architectural patronage, where the building's design embodies the Renaissance ideals of rationality, order, and harmony.

💡Urbanism

Urbanism refers to the design and planning of cities and the public spaces within them. The script discusses the Renaissance's focus on urbanism, where city fathers aimed to create environments that conveyed dignity and calm, influencing the behavior and well-being of the population.

💡Philosophical Art

Philosophical art is a genre where art serves to illustrate or convey philosophical ideas and concepts. The script explains how the Renaissance used art to make philosophy accessible and engaging, with artists like Raphael and Titian creating works that embody philosophical messages about life, love, and the human condition.

💡Marsilio Ficino

Marsilio Ficino was an Italian scholar and Catholic priest who was instrumental in the development of Renaissance humanism. In the script, Ficino is presented as a philosopher who influenced the Medici family's patronage, advocating the use of beauty and allure to draw people towards higher ideals and philosophical truths.

💡Sandro Botticelli

Sandro Botticelli was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance, known for his mythological and religious works. The script refers to Botticelli as an artist who was influenced by the ideas of Ficino, creating works that were not only aesthetically pleasing but also imbued with philosophical and moral messages.

💡Venice

Venice is a city in northeastern Italy, known for its beauty and as a center of art and culture during the Renaissance. The script mentions the Frari Church in Venice, where Giovanni Bellini completed a triptych, demonstrating the power of Renaissance art to depict realistic and emotionally resonant religious scenes.

Highlights

The Renaissance is a 300-year period in Europe where there was a reconnection with ancient Greek and Roman styles and ambitions.

Studying the Renaissance helps to rescue good, provocative ideas from the past to address modern dilemmas and problems.

Lorenzo de' Medici, a nobleman and banker, expanded the Medici Bank and was a patron of philosophers and artists, promoting beauty, truth, and wisdom.

The Medici family's intellectual patronage included the establishment of The Medici Library and support for pioneering research into Greek philosophy.

Lorenzo de Medici's court artists included renowned figures like Verrocchio, Leonardo, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, and Michelangelo.

The Medici family's spending on intellectual patronage, architecture, and art was significant but not unparalleled by today's wealthiest individuals.

The Renaissance's impact was due to the Medici's vision and mission for the arts and philosophy, not just their financial support.

Poggio Bracciolini's discovery of Lucretius's 'de Rerum Natura' was a significant find, offering a complete account of Epicurean philosophy.

The Renaissance's practical view of history and philosophy aimed to improve society and build magnificent cities, not just to investigate the past.

The Palazzo Medici, designed by Michelozzo di Bartolomeo, exemplifies the Renaissance spirit of rationality, order, and harmony.

Renaissance urbanism was a philosophical mission, emphasizing the influence of the built environment on society's character.

Renaissance architects and urbanists believed in rules for creating aesthetically pleasing and functional public spaces.

The Renaissance saw public opulence as essential for a healthy society, encouraging civic engagement and preventing private withdrawal.

Giovanni Bellini's triptych in the Frari Church, Venice, demonstrates the Renaissance's ability to render religious scenes with lifelike realism.

The Renaissance's success in nurturing artistic talent was due to a clear vision of the purpose and mission of art.

Art in the Renaissance served as 'advertising' for great truths, promoting philosophy and life's brevity through beauty and seduction.

Marsilio Ficino's theory of love and attraction through beauty influenced the Renaissance's approach to art, using sensuality to convey noble ideals.

The Renaissance aimed to align basic human desires with the pursuit of virtue, using the allure of beauty and sensuality to promote intellectual and moral ambitions.

To truly honor the Renaissance, we should apply its lessons to our own societies, focusing on wise spending, improving lives through the humanities, creating beautiful cities, and using art to make goodness attractive.

Transcripts

The phenomenon known as the Renaissance

is one of the standard stops on any tour through the history of Western culture.

It encompasses a roughly 300 year period in Europe,

where architects, poets and philosophers reconnected with the style and ambitions of ancient Greek and Roman civilization.

The reasons for studying the Renaissance nowadays are often left a bit unclear.

To the high-minded and respectful the rationale may seem utterly obvious,

or to the more impatient or technologically focused

the exercise can equally will appear a complete waste of time.

We believe that the main reason to study history

is to rescue certain good, provocative and inspiring ideas

that have been lost in the past,

in order to put them to use in relation to the dilemmas and problems of our own times.

Our tour of the Renaissance while seemingly about some old long dead guys

will hence really be about us.

Florence, Italy, 1469

A 20 year-old nobleman from one of the grandest families of Florence, Lorenzo de' Medici

takes over the family business:

The Medici Bank,

that's been going since 1397

and is the most respected financial institution in Europe

with flourishing branches in Florence, Venice, Rome and Geneva.

Lorenzo like his uncles and his father before him has a great gift for business.

During his lifetime, the bank will open new outposts in Basel, Bruges, Avignon, Pisa,

and lend significant sums of money to royal courts, aristocrats and entrepreneurs.

Lorenzo and his family are typical of the Florentine upper classes of his age

in honoring the business of making money

without any of the traditional suspicion of trade found in most Christian societies.

But not only are Medicies interested in making money

they are also extremely ambitious about how to spend money.

They believe that the express purpose of what we would now call philanthropy is

to promote beauty, truth and wisdom in the world.

Lorenzo de Medici's grandfather had started the collection of books

that became known as The Medici Library

and Lorenzo now expanded it decisively

with his researchers scouring Europe's monasteries, courts and libraries for

lost or overlooked text from antiquity.

Lorenzo was a patron of many philosophers

including Marsilio Ficino, Poliziano and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.

Under his guidance, these philosophers undertook pioneering researches into Greek philosophy.

They absorb the ideas of Epicurus, Cicero and Aristotle

and try to harmonize Plato's theories with Christianity.

Lorenzo is perhaps best known as a patron of art.

His court artists included Verrocchio, Leonardo, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and Michelangelo.

The patronage was extremely intimate and involved.

Michelangelo lived with Lorenzo and his family for five years,

dining at his table and participating in discussions led by Marsilio Ficino.

Although the Medici were quite rich by modern standards,

their fortune was a relatively moderate one.

Across four crucial decades, from the 1430s to the 1470s,

it's estimated that the Medici family spent the equivalent of around half a

billion US dollars on intellectual patronage, architecture and art works,

which is a huge sum by comparison with average incomes but it's not very

substantial by comparison with the wealth of the richest people today.

The Medici family resources would be roughly those of Rosa Cafferata whose wealth

from a fishery business in Peru is around 1.5 billion US dollars.

She is at present 1200th richest person in the world.

Lorenzo would seem economically unimpressive next to Giorgio Armani, 8.5 billion,

and a nonentity next Bill Gates, 79 billion.

Money was important to what Lorenzo and his family achieved no doubt.

So in that respect the world is amazingly well placed to continue in his footsteps.

There's no shortage of money to do the sorts of things he did.

But what's holding us back today is a shortage of vision.

For the price of this yacht, Lorenzo fueled the Renaissance for 30 years.

The secret to the Medici's impact was that they didn't see themselves as there

simply to hand over the cash to allow artists, architects and scholars to do whatever they wanted.

The Medicies had a vision, a mission for the arts and for philosophy,

and we're extremely direct and didactic and putting it forward usefully so.

Guided by his philosopher friend Ficino, Lorenzo thought of art the kind of education.

Under his patronage, artists were therefore asked to

illustrate key philosophical truths about say the importance of kindness and compassion.

They promoted serenity and glorified the best qualities of the state and of good leadership.

The Renaissance would never be remembered if its leading members that simply made piles of cash.

No one cares about that for any length of time.

The real source of its glory was the imagination and intelligence

with which its great bankers and finances set about spending their money.

Monastery of Fulda, Germany, January 1417

An Italian scholar and humanist, Poggio Bracciolini is on a tour of Germany and Switzerland,

looking for lost Greek and Roman manuscripts.

He is spending a few weeks in a Benedictine Monastery,

hunting around the dusty shelves of its great library,

when in a forgotten nook, he makes one of the great discoveries of the whole Renaissance.

He comes across what still remains the only surviving manuscripts Lucretius, de Rerum Natura,

On The Nature of Things which gives us the most complete account we possess of the

philosophy and worldview of the Greek philosopher Epicurus.

Bracciolini and his circle are astonished.

Epicurus has hugely valuable ideas about the human passions, happiness,

religion, communal life and science.

This is only the highlight of a career spent rescuing lost manuscripts.

In time, Bracciolini is to go on to discover key text by Cicero, Quintillion and Vitruvius.

When he couldn't by text, he wasn't averse to a little skulduggery to get what he wanted.

He famously bribed a monk to abstract a copy of Livy, the Roman historian

from the library of Hersfeld Abbey in Germany.

Bracciolini was hugely interested in classical texts but he was

not a scholar as we would understand the term,

that is someone who wants to investigate the past for its own sake

and respects the inherent nobilty of old books.

The Renaissance attitude to history and philosophy was very different.

Its intellectual leaders took a relentlessly practical view of things.

They wanted first and foremost to run their societies successfully,

to make their people wise and to build magnificent cities.

The Epicurean philosophy Bracciolini dog up with its emphasis on

friendship, simplicity and the acceptance of limitations

wasn't exciting to him because it was old, but because its wisdom was still needed.

He wasn't looking for ancient idea so he could fill in missing details about how the past used to be

perhaps in order to gain a professorship in a university,

Bracciolini was urgently searching for help in creating better ways of thinking for the present.

Central Florence, 1484

Michelozzo di Bartolomeo one of Cosimo de Medici favorite architects completes the family home:

The Palazzo Medici, just near the city's new cathedral.

Michelozzo has studied Roman antiquities closely

and the building's tripartite elevation beautifully expresses

the characteristic Renaissance spirit of rationality, order and harmony.

This is a golden age of construction in Florence.

Leon Battista Alberti has done the facade of the Church of Santa Maria Novella,

Brunelleschi has put up the Spedale degli Innocenti

and the city's new cathedral dome

and many less well-known names of completing squares, fountains and thoroughfares.

The same is true for the other great Renaissance cities of Siena, Venice, Urbino, Mantua and Rome.

City fathers across the Italian peninsula have fallen in love with a remarkable new idea:

that their cities should be the focus of an unparalleled attention to beauty.

It's slightly embarrassing to contrast these efforts with our own mess.

A sentimental view says that the Renaissance city fathers made nice places because they were lucky:

They didn't need to plan for cars,

they didn't have the zoning laws and happen to have access to good quality building materials

like lovely stone you can get from quarries outside Florence.

However, successful urbanism is never an accident.

For the Renaissance, it was a philosophical mission.

The Renaissance built such great cities because of an idea:

that we are to a large extent shaped by the character of the buildings around us.

Making sure that the public realm conveys dignity and calm is more than a luxury.

It can help to ensure the sanity, vigor and happiness of a whole population.

What's more, the urbanists and architects believed in rules.

They didn't think it was chance that a city looks good.

They wrote volumes codifying what works and what must be avoided,

in their efforts to systematize and in their careful thinking about what makes a good street corner, pavement or bench.

They put our own efforts and urbanism to shame.

They believed in ideal dimensions for squares,

that a square should be small enough

that a mother can call from an upper window to her child playing at the other side.

They thought that all good squares should have large elaborate fountains in the middle,

but that the surrounding buildings should mostly be fairly plain.

They knew that building should be around five storeys in height

and there should be graceful covered arcades,

so that citizens could amble in all kinds of weather.

Renaissance leaders like the Medici were marked by the views of the ancient Roman historian Sallust

who had been deeply hostile to a situation that are developed in the decadent periods of Rome,

where they had been in his words "Publice egestas privatim opulentia",

public squalor and private opulence.

Sallust believed and the Renaissance leaders hugely embraced his idea that in a healthy society the

public sphere itself should be opulent that is beautiful refined and appealing.

That way the richer people in society will never be tempted to withdraw and

concentrate exclusively on their own private estates and comforts

and all citizens will be uplifted by pleasing vision of communal life.

It's a tribute to these efforts that there are still very few cities on earth

nicer than those created over a few hundred years on the Italian peninsula.

But it's also testimony to our desperate lack of ambition and vision

that we can count on one hand the number of cities constructed since the Renaissance

that are prettier than say Florence or Venice.

Ideally, we wouldn't have to be so impressed by Renaissance cities.

We'd be inspired to arrival and equal their achievements in the architectural idiom of our own times.

Frari Church, Venice, 1488

A 58 year old Venetian painter, Giovanni Bellini

completes a triptych, featuring in the central panel baby Jesus and his mother.

Christian artists have been painting this scene for many centuries

but things have only become this powerful in convincing in the last hundred or so years.

Hitherto, Mary and her little boy have looked stiff often gone and wooden,

but with Bellini, Jesus is just like a real little boy.

A kind we might see looking at seagulls on the Lido,

down to his stocky legs slightly swollen tummy and searching eyes.

Marry feels equally alive, vibrant and deeply attractive and interesting.

we can imagine her melancholy thoughts,

and Intuit her kind sympathetic and dignified nature.

If there was some childcare available,

you might be lovely to invite her out to the gelateria Grom just a few steps away from the Frari Church.

It's often been remarked how odd and wondrous it is that so many geniuses of

art came to the fore in such a short period in one place.

Renaissance Italy gave world civilization

Donatello, Frangelico, Whichello, Masaccio, Filippo Lippi, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titan and so on.

How did it happen? how do you get so much talent in one go?

It's arguable that every age has roughly similar amounts of latent talent among its artists.

What makes certain ages extraordinary,

one thinks of the Golden Age of Athens, Holland, 19th century France or 1960s America

is that they know what to do with the talent.

They give artist a mission.

They have a clear sense of what art is for,

and they therefore reward and invest in artist properly.

What distinguishes the Renaissance is not therefor a freakish preponderance of artistic skill.

It's an intensely clear vision of what art should be.

The Renaissance could be described as a heroic age of advertising.

Yet the focus was not on selling consumer goods.

It was on selling beauty, truth and wisdom.

The energy we still feel behind their art arose from a coherent ideological program.

The Renaissance wanted to put painting in the service of ideas

and to make these ideas palpable, effective and life changing.

One thing the Renaissance was constantly advertising is philosophy.

Philosophers were in the minds of many, then as now rather abstract and remote figures.

So the Renaissance got one of its most talented artists, Rafael

to lend them a bit of life on the walls of the Vatican,

to shows Aristotle and Plato and others as belonging to a group of glamorous, fascinating individuals.

For his part, Titian was employed to convey a central philosophical message about the brevity of life.

In his Three Ages of Man, existence is depicted as desperately fleeting.

The child is soon an adult and the adult soon ages

and in retrospect, it all seems to have occurred incredibly fast,

which makes it essential that we use our time properly,

that we forgive one another for our frailties,

and focus on our potential while there is still time.

Titian and his patrons knew that most people don't care to think about how brief life is.

That's where art comes in and has a huge advantage over philosophy.

Titian starts with things that everyone in the Renaissance already liked:

sexy couples and cute baby angels.

The picture is designed to take you without you even noticing it's happening into an interest in hilosophy

so that you naturally start to engage with matters of life and death.

The move is a bit like that made by the best adverts of today

that hope to get you subliminally interested in buying a chocolate bar or an SUV

while charming you with a beautiful couple or sublime landscape.

Only in the Renaissance the philosophical end goal of art was worth the effort.

The Renaissance concept of art as advertising for the great truths was

underpinned by an ideology worked out by the philosopher Marsilio Ficino.

The figure who taught by Renzo de Medici and spoke to Michelangelo at dinner every day for many years.

Ficino argued that we are all creatures who love

and love is attracted first to beauty,

so whatever we wish people to love we must first make beautiful and beauty is

first encountered as sexiness.

So the path to the highest possible human ideals tends to go down a complex root:

first to sex, then

to beauty

and then to love.

With such a theory to hand and its impact on the art of the Renaissance

cannot be overestimated.

Ficino was able to use what we might term sexiness, lust, glamour and celebrity

to serve the most noble and high-minded intellectual ambitions

rather than being relegated as they often are in our own times

to selling handbags or mobile phones.

Never before or since have so many big ideas been so beautifully and often sexually treated by great artists.

Ficino and lorenzo de medici was fascinated by

the idea of getting Botticelli to engage our sexuality in order to excite us

about ideas that they thought were most useful to humanity.

That's why there are an awful lot of very cute people in Botticelli's work.

The hugely alluring figures in his Primavera are for example

thoughtful, kind and serious and sometimes rather sad.

They're filled with tenderness towards human sorrows and failings and

a keen to remind us of the need to appreciate the cycle of life.

They're also highly seductive.

You don't have to believe in the virtues to want to be like them.

But because you instinctively want to be like them,

you will therefore aspire to be virtuous.

This genius move shared by philosophers like Ficino rich political leaders like Lorenzo

and artists like Botticelli was to line up our basic desire on the side of the good.

So that we become a kinder and sweeter and more intellectually ambitious not

because we've rejected all the charms of the world which hardly anyone ever can

but with the help of all the charms of the world.

Instead of abandoning beauty and sexiness to vanity and silliness,

the leaders of the Renaissance, deeply

scholarly and earnest people, cease these and use them to their own ends.

It's this move above all that helps to give the art of the Renaissance its mission-driven coherence

and means the artist still so charming to us today.

In our society the Renaissance has a lot of prestige.

We think we're being true to it by going around its main cities, memorizing dates and taking off key works

but this isn't really what paying tribute to the renaissance should mean.

It's not about looking at their world through our eyes

it's about using their eyes to look at our world.

We should be trying to generate a Renaissance in our own societies with the help of these geniuses.

Learning lessons from them about how to spend big money

perhaps earned in finance wisely,

how to use the humanities to improve our lives rather than to impress a scholarly community,

how to devote proper energy to creating livable beautiful cities

and how to harness the power of art so is to make the good things in the world attractive and desirable.

If rather than being just dutifull tourist we learn to

absorb the ambitions of our nation's leaders we might come away from a study of the Renaissance ready

as all the great Renaissance figures would have wanted us to be

to do the thing that really matters,

try to change our world for the better.