The Northern Renaissance

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The Northern Renaissance
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The Beginning

• 1450 Recovery from the plague
• Cities grew rapidly
• Northern Europe strong monarchs
• More religious than secular
• Human dignity social reform

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The Spread of Artistic Ideas

• 1494 French King Charles VIII invades Naples
• Many Italian artists fled north
• Artistic styles
• Renaissance ideas

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French Artists

• A new phase of Italian influence in France began
  with the French invasions of the Italian
  peninsula that began in 1494.
• The most important royal patron was Francis I.
• Actively encouraged humanistic learning.
• School of Fontainebleu in France
• He collected paintings by the great Italian
  masters like Titian, Raphael, and Michelangelo.

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French- Jean Clouet Portrait of Francis I, 1525
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Renaissance Art in Northern Europe

• Should not be considered an appendage to Italian
  art.
• But, Italian influence was strong.
• Painting in OIL, developed in Flanders, was
  widely adopted in Italy.
• The differences between the two cultures
• Italy ? change was inspired by humanism with its
  emphasis on the revival of the values of
  classical antiquity.
• No. Europe ? change was driven by religious
  reform, the return to Christian values, and the
  revolt against the authority of the Church.
• More princes kings were patrons of artists.

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Characteristics of Northern Renaissance Art

• The continuation of late medieval attention to
  details.
• Tendency toward realism naturalism
• less emphasis on the classical ideal.
• Interest in landscapes.
• More emphasis on middle-class and peasant life.
• Details of domestic interiors.
• Great skill in portraiture.

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German Artists
Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553)

• Court painter at Wittenberg from 1505-1553.
• His best portraits were of Martin Luther (to the
  left).

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German Artists - Albrecht DÜrer

• The greatest of German artists.
• A scholar as well as an artist.
• His patron was the Emperor Maximilian I.
• Also a scientist
• Wrote books on geometry, fortifications, and
  human proportions.
• Self-conscious individualism of the Renaissance
  is seen in his portraits.
• ? Self-Portrait 1500

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Flemish Painters

• Present day Belgium, France, and The Netherlands
• More courtly and aristocratic work.
• Court painter to the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the
  Good.
• The Virgin and Chancellor Rolin, 1435
• Jan van Eyck

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Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569)
Flemish Painters

• One of the greatest artistic geniuses of his age.
• Worked in Antwerp and then moved to Brussels.
• In touch with a circle of Erasmian humanists.
• Was deeply concerned with human vice and follies.
• A master of landscapes not a portraitist.
• People in his works often have round, blank,
  heavy faces.
• They are expressionless, mindless, and sometimes
  malicious.
• They are types, rather than individuals.
• Their purpose is to convey a message.
• P. 44 in your textbook

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Bruegels, Winter Scene, 1565
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Bruegels, Parable of the Blind Leading the
Blind, 1568
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Hans Holbein, the Younger (1497-1543)

• One of the great German artists who did most of
  his work in England.
• While in Basel, he befriended Erasmus.
• Erasmus Writing, 1523 ?
• Henry VIII was his patron from 1536.
• Great portraitist noted for
• Objectivity detachment.
• Doesnt conceal the weaknesses of his subjects.

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Hans Holbein the Younger
Henry VIII (left), 1540 and the future Edward VI
(above), 1543.
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Northern Renaissance Writers

• Erasmus (Dutch)
• More (English)
• Rabelais (French)
• Shakespeare (English)

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Northern Renaissance WritersThe Christian
Humanists

• Desiderius Erasmus (Holland)
• Wrote The Praise of Folly (1509)
• Criticism the traditional Catholic Church
• Indulgences
• Rites
• Papal hierarchy
• Criticized the superstitions as well
• Miracles through religious images
• To improve, people should study the bible
• Erasmus translated the Greek New Testament
• Promoted translation into the vernacular as well
• Rumored to be the person who laid the egg from
  which the Reformation hatched
• In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is
  king
• Remained mostly neutral during the
  Reformationalso remained Catholic

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Thomas More

• Thomas More (England)
• Wrote in Latin
• Utopia A better model for society
• Erasmus and More were close friends
• Wrote arguments against Protestantism for Henry
  VIII
• 1529 Chancellor for Henry VIII
• 1531 Refused to take the oath
• The kings great matter
• 1535 Tried and executed for treason
• His head was put on a pike in the over London
  Bridge for 1 month.

Portrait of Thomas More by Hans Holbein the
Younger
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Another Perspective

• François Rabelais (French)
• Writer, doctor, humanist
• Contrast to Erasmus and More
• Secular rather than religious focus
• Wrote in French vernacular
• Gargantua and Pantagruel a comedy
• Poked fun at society through their adventures
• Believed that humans were essentially good

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Northern Renaissance Writers

• Shakespeare (English)
• 1564-1616
• Deep understanding of human behavior
• Revered the classics
• Comedies
• Histories
• Tragedies
• Poetry

Unconfirmed Portrait of William Shakespeare
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Elizabethan Age 1558-1603

• The Golden Age in England
• Growth in English music, literature, and poetry
• Romance and a love of life
• Women enjoyed a less constrained life

• Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I

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Printing Changes the World

• Johann Gutenberg Mainz, Germany
• Movable type 1440
• Gutenberg Bible 1455
• Printing spreads learning
• Books were cheap and accessible
• People interpreted the Bible

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Page from a Gutenberg Bible
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End of the Renaissance

• Humanism-Individual achievement
• New ideas
• Expanded learning
• Democratic ideas arise
• Renaissance ends and greater changes begin