 Italian Renaissance = mainly secular
 Northern = a mixture of secular and Christian
attitudes.
 Northern Humanism- Tried to unite classical learning
and Christian faith, called Christian humanist.
 Hated the worldliness of church excess
 wanted a balance of afterlife and secular concerns
 emphasized bible readings
 wanted to reform church, but also maintain church.
 Will lead to Luther’s reformation
 Christian Humanist used education to rescue church.
 Printing Press- Gutenberg invented movable type.
Printed mainly the bible…help spread Renaissance ideas
along trade routes throughout Europe…except Russia
Writers






Erasmus- (1466-1576) ‘prince of the humanists’ and ‘voice of
moderation’. Wrote ‘Praise of Folly’ (1512) that ridiculed
society’s attitudes, such as ignorance, greed and superstition.
Famous intellectual…called for tolerance. ‘Erasmus laid the egg
that Luther hatched.’…books placed on the ‘Index of
Prohibited Books’
Thomas More- greatest English humanist. Wrote ‘Utopia’ about
a flourishing society with no private ownership, ignorance or
superstition. A satire of 16th C Europe about living better.
Very radical!!!
William Shakespeare- wrote about entire range of human
experience and emotions.
Cervantes-wrote ‘Don Quixote’…’greatest novel ever written’…
about medieval chivalry.
Rabelais- wrote ‘Gargantua' about giants who believed in
unrestrained lives and having many pleasures.
Montaigne- wrote ‘Essay’ about religious skepticism and human
behavior.
Renaissance Art in Northern
Europe
 Should not be considered an appendage to
Italian art.
 The differences between the two cultures:
 Italy  change was inspired by humanism with
its emphasis on the classical antiquity.
 Northern Europe  change was driven by
religious reform, the return to Christian values,
and the revolt against the authority of the
Church. Tendancy toward realism.
 Both have an attention to details.
 Northern Renaissance focused on religious
scenes, portraits, peasants and landscapes.
Giovanni
Arnolfini and
His Wife
(Wedding
Portrait)
Jan Van Eyck
(1395 – 1441)
1434
Jan van Eyck - Giovanni Arnolfini &
His Wife
(details)
Massys’ The Moneylender & His Wife,
1514
Chateau Fontainebleau
,
Gallery [right] by Rosso
Fiorentino & Francesco
Primaticcio
,
1528-1537
Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)
,
,
The greatest of German
artists.
 Self-Portrait at 26,
1498.
Dürer – Self-
Portrait in
Fur-Collared
Robe, 1500
Dürer
The Last
Supper
woodcut,
1510
Hans Holbein, the Younger (14971543)
,
One of the great German
artists who did most of his
work in England.
 Erasmus Writing, 1523 
,
Henry VIII was his patron
from 1536.
Artist to the Tudors
Henry VIII (left), 1540
and the future Edward VI
(above), 1543.
Anne of Cleves
Holbein’s, The Ambassadors,
1533
A Skull
The English Were More Interested in
Architecture than Painting
Hardwick Hall, designed by Robert Smythson in the 1590s,
for the Duchess of Shrewsbury [more medieval in style].
Burghley House for William Cecil
The largest & grandest house
of the early Elizabethan era.
Bruegel’s, Hunters in the Snow,
1565
Bruegel’s, Winter Scene, 1565
Bruegel’s, The Harvesters, 1565
El Greco
Christ in
Agony on
the Cross
1600s
El Greco
Portrait of a
Cardinal
1600
El Greco’s, The
Burial of Count
Orgaz, 15861588
El Greco’s, The Burial of Count
Orgaz, 1586-1588 (details)
El Greco
The View
of Toledo
15971599