ART HISTORY STUDY GUIDE: Chapter 20 - Northern Europe 15th C
Key Ideas:
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Symbolic layers of meaning in Painting in Flanders
Secular art becomes increasingly important.
Capitalist society inspires cultural growth and expansion.
Gothic influences and Gothic International Style dominates
Introduction of oil paint
Introduction of printmaking, the first mass-produced artform
Historical Timeline
1460 - First stock exchange established.
Prosperous commercial and mercantile
interests - affluent trading - stimulates the
arts.
Cities in competition with one another for
best cathedrals, town halls and altarpieces.
Patronage and Artistic Life
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Affluent commission altarpieces including
donor portraits
Artists becomes “brands” - move about
seeking commissions
ART HISTORY STUDY GUIDE: Chapter 20 - Northern Europe 15th C
Innovations in Painting
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Most important invention of the period is movable type by Johann Gutenberg. Cheap books.
Printmaking illustrations - first woodcut, then engraving, then etching
Advantage of printmaking for the artist - marketing for the artist; sell more work;
Second important development - oil painting
• Takes longer to dry
• Colors are more rich and accurately imitate natural hues and tones
• Surface finish is luminous (sheen)
• Preserves well in wet climates
Altarpieces - stand directly behind the altar, many are hinged and open
Frames were as important as the paintings
International Gothic Style - influences painting - courtly style - S-shaped curve of the bodies
and thin, graceful figures; wearing the latest fashions of the period in rich fabrics; gold is used
in abundance.
Paintings opened walls to see into rooms
Figures encased in rooms rather than proportional to surroundings
Ground lines, tabletops and flat surfaces tend to tilt up
Symbolism - everyday items that would be included naturally hold symbolic meaning on
several levels - sacred and secular
Religious figures placed in domestic settings of the region and the time
ART HISTORY STUDY GUIDE: Chapter 20 - Northern Europe 15th C
Major Artistic Characteristics:
• Oil paint - rich colors, intricate detail, naturalism, sheen on
surface
• Printmaking - lines to convey form, use of cross hatching
• Book making - ink on vellum; printed text with hand-drawn
illustrations; mass produced printed books as well sumptuous
hand painted manuscripts
Innovations in Architecture
• Gothic influences
• Business section; chapel;
living quarters
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Innovations in Sculpture
Figure now completely
separate from architecture
Modeled on classical
sculpture with contrapposto
evident again
Drapery moves with the
figure; cascades of folds
ART HISTORY STUDY GUIDE - Chapter 20 Northern Europe 15th C
Innovations in Luxury/Alternative Arts:
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Vocabulary
Vocabulary
Altarpiece
Book
of
Hours
Donor
Engraving
Etching
Grisaille
Polyptych
Triptych
Woodcut
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Images to Know
The Very Rich Hours of the
Duke of Berry.Limbourg
Brothers
The Merod Triptych/Campin
The Ghent Altarpiece/van Eyck
The Arnolfini Wedding/van
Eyck
Man in a Red Turban/Van Eyck
Deposition/van der Weyden
The Last Supper (Central
Panel)/Bouts
Portinari Altarpiece (Central
Panel)/van der Goes
St. Anthony Tormented by
Demons/Schogauer
The Well of Moses/Sluter