Northern Renaissance

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Northern Renaissance
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North vs. Italy

• Northern Renaissance applies to any European
  country outside of Italy
• Predominant areas France, Netherlands, and
  Germany
• Northern maintained Gothic period of art for a
  longer time (into the 16th century instead of
  15th)
• Northern did not have the free commerce areas
  that Italy held with one exception Burgundy
• Burgundy area that was from the middle to the
  Northern sea of what we now know as France
• Without a wealthy merchant class like Italy and
  Burgundy, there are no wealthy patrons of art
• Northern patrons interested in illuminated
  manuscripts (still), tapestries and furnishings
• To recap Italian patrons wanted paintings,
  architecture and sculpture
• Northern not happy with the religious ideals from
  Rome and created religious works intended to
  espouse their ideals

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Compositional differences

• Northern
• not as concerned with scientific influence upon
  art (proportion, linear perspective)
• interested in color before form
• incorporated extensive amounts of details
• Inverted, distant mirror reflections
• Used wood and developed oil paints due to
  geophysical factors

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Similarities

• Both included religious ideology
• Both utilized the concept of guilds or
  apprenticeships in studios to learn professional
  craft
• Both had a dominant center Italy had Florence
  and Burgundy had Flanders

5
Notable artists

• Jan van Eyck c. 1395-1441
• Belgium
• Career field in Court
• Lucrative positions that paired him with Philip
  the Good, Duke of Burgandy
• The Good became close personal friend godfather
  to one of Eycks children, supported Eycks
  widow, etc
• His financial independence allowed him to pursue
  painting as a second career

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Eycks style

• Included signature, which is unusual for time
• Painted mirrors or reflective surfaces in
  backgrounds of artworks to include other subjects
  in environment off canvas
• Mastered the new medium of oil paint

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The Arnolfini Marriage
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Albrecht Durer 1471-1528

• Born in Germany
• Father a goldsmith, where he apprenticed
• His amazing talent for figure drawing caused for
  a switch in apprenticeship to a painter
• Most known for his amazing works in print and
  drawing

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The Four Horseman of the Apocolypse
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The Knight, Death and the Devil
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Erasmus
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Self Portrait at 26
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Resources

• http//arthistory.about.com/cs/arthistory10one/a/n
  orth_ren.htm
• http//ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/eyck/arnolfini/
• http//www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/durer/

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comparative
Andrea del Verrocchio
Jan Gossaert, called Mabuse (attr. to) Madonna of
the Fireplace