Northern Renaissance Questions:
1. What and when was the northern renaissance?
2. How is northern renaissance art different from southern renaissance art?
3. What symbols are used in northern renaissance art?
4. Who are the artists of the northern renaissance?
5. Did they have “help”?
6. What other arts were important in the north?
7. What ideas are important in the north?
8. Can we tame a shrew?
1. What and when was the northern renaissance?
Northern renaissance includes the arts of England, Germany, France, and the “Low Countries”
(Netherlands, Belgium -- “Flemish”)
Culture is affected by:
a. THE REFORMATION
The Reformation in brief:
Martin Luther, monk in Wittenberg, nails “95 theses” to the church door in 1517
Seeking reform not separation!
Opposed to sale of indulgences
Church teachings should be clarified
Scripture should be the final authority
Salvation by faith only; “Faith is a gift of God, not a gift of man”
Only 2 sacraments -- communion, baptism
More individual interpretation of scripture
Church hierarchy need not intercede/ are unnecessary in your relationship with God.
Reform churches in Germany and Switzerland
Nobility break from church for reasons of faith and politics
Leads over the next 100 years to Lutheran, Calvinist, Anabaptist, Church of England, etc.
b. industries of textiles, pottery, shipping, trade, and printing
c. Printing press (particularly important in the North; instrumental in Reformation!) Print culture
is emerging!
2. How is the art of the north different from the art of the south?
South:
North:
Concentration on anatomy
Away from symbol (Giotto)
Large designs- large scale (frescoes)
Chiaroscuro/ sfumato
Never looks at the social
environment
3. What symbols are used in northern renaissance art?
Apple
fall of man
Book
Mary, “the seat of wisdom”, is often pictured with a book.
Candle
God
Chalice
Holy communion
Cherries
“Fruit of paradise”; sweetness that comes from a life of good work
Cloud
presence of God
Clover
trinity
Cucumber
phallus
Dark Cave
mouth of Hell
Fish
symbolizes baptism
Fruit
if ripening, fertility; sometimes the temporal quality of life
Game
temporal quality of life, memento mori
Glass
Mary’s purity
Globe
power; in Christ’s hand, his sovereignty
Gold
light of heaven; afterlife
Goldfinch
splashed with a drop of Jesus’s blood
Grasshopper
one of the plagues visited upon the Egyptians
Lamb
Christ
Lily
purity
Lion
resurrection
Lizard
resurrection of Christ
Locusts
plague
Mirror
purity
Mountain
a life source; the ultimate source of water
Owl
night
Palm
victory over death
Parrot
curved beak comes from pulling nails out of Christ’s cross
Peacock
immortality, resurrection
Pomegranate
resurrection, the church: one fruit (religion), many seeds(churches)
Pearls
salvation, worth more that all the treasures on earth
Rabbit
lust
Red carnations
pure love
Rocks
Christ; Moses striking the rock to refresh his people
Sheep
good shepherd, sacrifice
Skull
memento mori, mortality
Shell
pilgrimage
Stag
piety, religious hope
Sun
God
Swan
purity
Wheat
bounty, communion
White Roses
Mary’s purity
4. Who are the artists of the northern renaissance?
A. Robert Campin (1375 – 1444)
Merode Altarpiece
 One of the “first great masters of the Flemish school”
 Catholic
 “Merode Altarpiece” (a triptych) shows us -- interest in shadow and light (kettle,
Joseph), detail (architecture, window), and symbol!
Portrait of a Woman
B. Jan Van Eyck (1395 – 1441)
Ghent Altarpiece
Arnolfini Wedding Portrait
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The other “first great master!”
Catholic
Created some religious/ some commercial art
Called the “father of oil painting”
Oil is best for realism, subtle, more varied colors, richer, better for blending, better range
of light and dark.
“Ghent” shows interest in detail, realism, and symbolism
“Ghent” is a polyptych
“Arnolfini” shows interest in the effects of light, symbolism, and shows ties between the
North and the South
C. Rogier Van Der Weyden (1399? – 1464) Crucifixion
 Crucifixion is “emotionally rich”
Portrait of a Lady
At the Cloisters! The Deposition
Crucifixion
D. Hieronymus Bosch (1450 – 1516) Garden of Earthly Delights
 Many different analyses
 Grew up in a family of painters
 Catholic; Brotherhood of Our Lady
 “Garden” is a triptych
 Shows creation and Eden, earthly sin, and hell
 Nowhere is salvation shown
 Note: women are responsible!
 Shows detail . . . everywhere.
 Lots of symbol: flowers, fruit, rinds and shells, fish, riding, swimming, strawberries
E. Hugo Van Der Goes (1440 – 1482)
Portinari Altarpiece
 Lives in a monastery; Catholic
 Shows incredible detail, portions of accuracy, and symbol
 Made for the Portinaris; astounded Florentines with its detail
F. Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1525 – 1569)
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Wedding Feast
Hunters in the Snow
First “genre” painter; painted everyday scenes
Catholic
“Peasant Brueghel” is well educated and prosperous
Traveled extensively
Shows us human folly, dignity, endurance, peasant attitudes and values
“Hunters” is one of 12 (5 survive) “Labors of the Months”
Peasants’ Dance
G. Albrecht Dürer (1471 – 1528)
Four Apostles
Madonna and Child
Melancolia
Self-Portrait
 Born in Nuremberg in 1471, 2nd of 18 kids!
 Catholic
 Apprenticed as a goldsmith
 At 21 -- travels around Europe
 Draws incessantly, like DaVinci and in all media –
pen and ink
watercolor
woodcuts
silverpoint
engravings
oils
 By 27 -- rich, famous, married
 Dies at 56 in Nuremberg
 Wrote 2 books on proportion and measurement to help other artists
 Self-portrait at 26 shows the Renaissance Man!
 Illustrated The Apocalypse
 Madonna and Child shows attention to detail; fascination with nature
 Melancolia is symbolic, detailed, emotional
 Four Apostles donated to Nuremberg as a reconciliation gift between Lutherans and
Catholics. Shows Italian influence (Painted two years before death)
H. Hans Holbein the Younger (1498 – 1543) The Ambassadors
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Known as one of the greatest portraitists of all times!
Trained by father; painted in Germany
Catholic
Travels to Henry VIII’s court, marries there
Remained at court until his death in 1543 (plague)
Ambassadors shows us detail, light on objects, and symbols
Other famous portraits
5. Did they have help?
 Use of optics (mirrors and lenses or a combination of the two) to create living projections
 Roger Bacon (1268), Witelo (1275), Da Vinci (1450)
 Camera lucida
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Camera obscura
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Evidence that they may have used optical helpers:
a. mirrors, lenses, reflections as optical references in pictures
b. clear understanding of perspective combined with errors
c. undersketching and the lack thereof
d. deep shadows (perhaps) created by deep lighting needed for
optics
e. size – largest mirror 12” wide
f. visual evidence
Evidence against:
6. What other arts were important in the North?
 weaving tapestries for both warmth and beauty
 drama & literature! Satire comes from the North; Shakespeare too!
 music is Italianized and performance oriented
7. What ideas are important in the Northern Renaissance?
A. Christian Humanism
St. Francis of Assisi
Erasmus
Thomas More
Aquinas
Luther
B. Reformation
o Bible v. Doctrine/ Tradition
o Reform churches & their looks
o Non-religious art is emphasized
o Patronage system changes
o Reform of other types -- satire, Utopia
8. Can we tame a shrew?