How the Renaissance's Scholars were (Dark/Light) Academians before it was cool
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What happened in Italy during the Renaissance? After the Fall Of Constantinople in 1453, Byzantine scholars found refugie in Italy, where some of them had already gone due to the increasing italian interest for the classics. These Byzantine scholars brought with them copies of the ancient greek works and taught them to the Italians, who were enthousiasts of the classic culture, as it connected them with their Roman origins. At the same time, rich and learned rulers, such as the Medici in Florence, were more than willing to finance the scholars to produce knowledge and copy books establishing early libraries. In a way, art and letters became fashionable. During the next centuries, Renaissance came into the visual arts resulting in the marvellous masterpieces we see today. The idea of the homo universalis was developed reffering to the inquisitive human being who occupies one self with both the practical and the theoritical side of life.
What's happening now? According to a theory, classism never ceased to inspire; after Italy, it passed to the Netherlands and the North in general. During the 18th-19th century, there's the movement of Neoclassism which also had a great effect on the arts and letters. No matter the counter-movements, like Romanticism, classic ideas shape in a great degree the modern society. It only takes us to think what we consider "humanities" -the studies that put human at the center of their interest, like litterature and history- or "humanist principles" -moral principles with roots to the classical culture.
What Dark/Light Academia has to do with this? Well, according to wikipedia Dark Academia is, among else, a subculture associated with ancient art and classic literature. Sounds a bit familliar? More specifically, it became popular during the quarantine, as young people missed their student life. In a way, classic literature works, ancient languages, paintings and sculptures have returned once more in fashion, as young people take an interest in learning and following an academian lifestyle.
So what are the habits of (italian) Renaissance's scholars that resemble a lot our ways of self expression through Academism?
*Don't hesitate to tap on highlighted words to see pics
As it's already mentioned, Academism became popular during the quarantine because of the pandemic. Similarly, before/at the begginings of Renaissance, in 1348, Italy was struck by an epidemic known as the Black Death (bubonic plague). It's believed that Black Death worked as a catalyst for the Renaissance providing people with the urge to create and live their lives to the fullest. Italian author and scholar Boccaccio survived the plague and wrote the Decameron shortly after. Decameron is a work consisting of 100 tales that ten teenagers tell one another as they're under quarantine in a villa close to Florence in order to protect themselves from the Black Death. Quarantine and ways to use our excessively big free time... Sounds familliar?
Talking about (Late) Middle Ages, it isn't a surprise that the plague emerged again in the begginings of the 16th century in Italy, though in a smaller extend. As sculptor and goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini informs us in his autobiography:
"At that time, while I was still a young man of about twenty-three, there raged a plague of such extraordinary violence that many thousands died of it every day in Rome. Somewhat terrified at this calamity, I began to take certain amusements, as my mind suggested, and for a reason which I will presently relate. I had formed a habit of going on feast-days to the ancient buildings, and copying parts of them in wax or with the pencil". (Archive.org)
Despite the fact that Cellini wasn't only interested in peaceful activities such as drawing the ancient ruins, but he also shot pigeons confirming his fame as a "bad boy", it's truly interesting how the archaeological sites offered protection against the plague (since they're open spaces that reduce the chance of getting the sickness) and how artists visited them to get inspiration and improve their knowledge. Archaeological sites being one of the first facilities to open after the quarantine, did it cross your mind to visit one?
Actually, Renaissance artists often found inspiration in ancient ruins and artifacts, as they used them as standards they had to reach and exceed, if they could. The examples are numerous. Botticeli got inspired by the graeco-roman myths and as a result he created paintings in a truly unique style, such as The Birth Of Venus, while the same happened withTitian who painted the private rooms of Alfonso I D' Este, Duke Of Ferrara, with myths such as Bacchus And Ariadne. Moreover, they re-discovered and read works that describe ancient artworks, like Plinius' Historia Naturalis, and reveal the ancient technical mastery, like Vitruvius' De Architectura, which means they re-discovered a knowledge silenced for centuries. Even in architecture, the ancient monuments helped a lot, if we think how Rome's Pantheon gave Brunelleschi the knowledge to build Santa Maria Del Fiore's Duomo, which remains an architectural achievement even today. Just think how many artists get inspired by the graeco-roman world today and share their artworks through social media or exhibit them in art galleries.
Not only the artists, but the writers too got inspired by the antiquity. Petrarch wrote friendly letters (which were also reviews) to Titus Livius, Cicero and Homer. Furthermore, he wrote Africa, an epic poem about the Second Punic War inspired by the Roman poets. This poem gave him so much fame that he was crowned with laurels in Rome in the style of classical antiquity's winners of poetry competitions! Continuing the imitatio of the classics, a book called Il Paradiso degli Alberti (Albertis' Paradise) describes the philosophical discussions of the different Italian scholars, including Coluccio Salutati, that took place at the Villa Alberti close to San Niccolo; this kind of discussions with real scholars getting concerned about a philosophical problem resemble a lot the platonic dialogues, where Socrates troubles his debaters with questions and eventually leads them to the truth. This book also gives us an idea about what the philosophers discussed, as it's important to remember that the Italian scholars didn't only imitate the classics, but aimed at producing something new, too. Classical literary works continue to inspire modern novels from Madeline Miller's Song Of Achilles to Jame Joyce's Ulysses.
Like the Academians, Renaissance scholars loved books. And in their case, we're talking of manuscripts which had to be copied by hand in order to reach you. This means that a whole "industry" of scribes was developed. Copying wasn't easy, since calligraphy was neccessary and the quality of material played an important role, too. Considering that they thought printed books a shame (at least at the beggining), scribes and copies became vital -for example, during the plague of 1450, Pope Nicolas V took with him in his villa his scribes and translators of fear he'd lose them because of the epidemic! Scholars didn't hesitate to fight over manuscripts; for instance, Niccoló Niccoli, who was always in debt because of his costly search for manuscripts, got seriously insulted when another scholar denied to lend him one of his manuscripts to copy it. Who can disagree? All for the books!
Renaissance scholars are also the ones to thank for their contribution to the development of the libraries. Their love for manuscripts lead to huge collections that turned out as libraries. Cosimo De Medici The Elder, ruler of Florence and arts' patron, formed the core of the Medici collection and founded numerous libraries, including San Marco Library which hosted Niccoló Niccoli's collection; Niccoló Niccoli died in debt and consequently his collection would have been foreclosed, if Cosimo hadn't intervered. Niccoló Niccoli was the first to conceive the idea of a public library and Cosimo fullfilled his wish. Later, under the patronage of Pope Clement VII, the Laurentian Library in Michelangelo's design was founded to host the whole Medici collection. So, next time you're at the library reading your favorite book or making research, spare a thought for these early library founders.
Renaissance scholars were fans of philosophy and they showed it. Like modern students (at least in greek high school where Aristotle and Platon are obligatory classes), they didn't hesitate to fight over who was best: Aristotle or Plato? During the Council Of Ferrara-Florence where Byzantines and Italians had gathered to find a resolution in religious matters that divided them a Plato vs Aristotle fight occured. Some time later, Pletho Gemistus (out of boredom because of a sickness that kept him secluded in his home) wrote an essay about the difference between the two philosophers and valued Plato over Aristotle; this enraged other scholars who answered with counter argument essays. Actually, Pletho was the one who brought Neoplatonism in Italy and inspired Cosimo the Elder to found the Neoplatonic Florentine Academy, where many platonists, such as Marsilio Ficino, took part aiming at reviving the ancient Academy of Plato. The Platonic Academy ran a yearly symposium (on 7th November, if anyone's interested *wink*) where they read platonic texts to honour Plato. Sounds like Dead Poets Society, doesn't it?
Finally, I'll close with a typical example of antiquity enthusiasm. After having arrived in Rome to attend lectures by the humanist Lorenzo Valla, a young man called Giulio Pomponio Leto wrote this letter to his parents who had asked him to return to his hometown: "Pomponius Laetus cognatis et propinquis suis salutem. Quodpetitis fieri non potest. Vale." ("Pomponius Laetus salutes his parents and relatives. What you ask cannot be done. Farewell"). Julious Pomponius Laetus under his new roman-ized name went on to create the Roman Academy, a semisecret society whose participants discussed about the ancient Rome from an early archaeological point of view and even celebrated Romulus' birthday. After raising suspisions for performing pagan rituals, they were hunted by the Pope, but at the end their reputation was restored. There goes Donna Tartt's Secret History.
In conclusion, the interest in antiquity and the classics is continued today in many different forms, one of them being the Academia movement. I'm not saying that we're living a second Renaissance or that we're equals to the great scholars of the era, but that we have a similar mindset and share the same enthusiasm. It's quite exciting to think that classic literary works, ancient philosophy and art are still engaging and have never stopped inspiring humanity.
*Besides wikipedia's aid, my main source for this post is Umanesimo by Nicola Festa, which I read in its brilliant greek translation.
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