Northern
Renaissance
Took place in
Northern Europe
in the trade
centers of
Flanders
(N.Belgium),
Holland,
Germany, and
France.
Background
• Time period: 1400-1600
• Renaissance=rebirth
• Cities vied with one another for the most elaborately
decorated cathedrals, town halls, and altarpieces.
• More innovative in painting than in sculpture or
architecture.
• Reformation and Counter-Reformation cause
rift in Christian art
• Secular art becomes increasingly important.
• Flemish paintings integrated secular and
religious themes
Northern Painting Masters
• Painters preferred oil paint over tempera and
fresco and refined the technique.
• Northern artists shared the Italian preference for
the representation of 3D space and lifelike
figures
• Painters preferred sharp, precise details-- some
so small you need a magnifying glass to see
them.
Unique Characteristics
• Flemish interiors
• Crowded or figures too large for space
• Local landscapes
• High horizon lines
• Symbolism
The Ghent Altarpiece, Jan Van Eyck, Flemish
Renaissance, oil on panel, 1432, Belgium
Ghent Altarpiece, with wings open
The Last Supper, Dirk Bouts, Flemish
Renaissance, oil on wood, 1468
• Believed to be the first Northern painting to
demonstrate the use of a single vanishing point
for constructing an interior
– Linear perspective already being used in Italy
• All of the room's lines lead to a single point in
space in the center of the mantle piece above
Christ's head
• First Northern artist who adjusted figures' scale
to correspond to the space they occupied
• Used a hierarchal scale for Christ; Christ is the
center of focus
Linear Perspective
• Scientific/mathematical method of creating the
illusion of 3D space on a 2D surface using a
vanishing point, horizon line, and orthogonal
lines
Merode Altarpiece, Robert Campin, Flemish
Renaissance, Triptych/Oil on Wood, 1427
• Artist depicted a well-kept middle class Flemish
home as the site of the Annunciation
• Private devotional piece with images of donor
placed inside-donor portrait
• Left panel– Donors, middle class people, are kneeling before the
holy scene
• Center panel– Annunciation is taking place in everyday Flemish
interior
• Right panel– Joseph in his carpentry workshop
• Contains many Christian symbols– The towels/water basin symbolize Christ cleansing
the sins of the world
– The lilies have three buds-one unopened
– Mary is blocking the fireplace, which signifies the
entrance to hell
– Mouse trap symbolizes the capturing of the Devil
– The candlestick signifies that Mary is holding
Christ in her womb
– An angel announcing to Mary that she will be
the mother of Christ
– Tiny Jesus is comes through the window with
his cross as well
• Humanization of traditional themes: no halos,
domestic interiors, view into Flemish cityscape
• Intricate details, elegant and elongated draperies
• Steeply rising ground line
• Figures are too large for the architecture they sit in
• Each panel is seen from a different point
FYI
• Campin was known as the Master of
Flemalle
• Ingelbrecht was donor-meant angel
bringer
• Donor’s wife’s maiden name was
Scrynmaker-meant cabinet or shrine
maker
Arnolfini Wedding, Jan Van Eyck, Flemish
Renaissance, oil painting, 1434
• Thought to be wedding portrait of Giovanni
Arnolfini and Giovanna Cenami
• Intense concentration of minute details
• Everything symbolizes marriage and its
holiness:
– Candle burning represents the presence of God
– Shoes are cast off to indicate Holy Ground
– Dog symbolizes fidelity
– Ripe fruit represents fertility
– St. Margaret finial on bedpost- patron saint of
childbirth
– Medallions in the mirror's frame represent the
Passion of Christ and the promise of Salvation
• Two witnesses in the convex mirror (perhaps
Van Eyck)
Man in a Red Turban, Jan Van Eyck, Flemish
Renaissance, oil on panel, 1433
Garden of Earthly Delights, Hieronymous Bosch, Flemish Renaissance, oil on
wood, 1510
Outside,
Creation of
the World
Left Panel,
Paradise
Left panel:
1. Paradise/The Garden of Eden- the state
of humans in an ideal world
2. Signs of evil to come- animals are violent
and eating one another
3. Adam and Eve are depicted as thin
insubstantial nudes who lack backbone and
resolve and act only on their impulses.
Central Panel,
Garden of
Earthly Delights
(detail)
• Central panel:
1. The Garden of Earthly Delightsthe result of Adam and Eve's sin
2. Primitive humanity indulging in
sexual play
3. Presence of fruit and birds suggest
fertility
4. Animals suggest sexual perversity
Right
Panel,
Hell
3
• Right panel:
1. Hell- the result of the activities in
the central panel
2. Souls are tormented by demons
and made to pay for excesses on earth
3. Musical instruments are used as
symbols of torture
• Figures light and unsubstantial, lack individuality
and will, have no minds of their own
• Some scholars attribute this triptych as a Last
Judgment- a warning to the viewer of the fate
awaiting the sinful, decadent and immoral
• High horizons allow for many details to be
packed in the paintings
• Bosch's moralistic paintings suggested
inventive torments meted out a
punishment for sinners
• Future Surrealists viewed Bosch as their
patron saint
The Reformation
Reformation Background
• Catholic Church was the sole Christian church
• Dissent about the level of corruption in church
• In 1517, German monk and professor Martin
Luther nailed his list of complaints, known as
the 95 Theses, to the Ausburg Cathedral
• Religious battleground-Led to Protestantism
(non-Catholic religious branch)
Luther's Major Complaints
• Indulgences-buying way into heaven?
• Bible was the only true authority, not Pope
• Church was elitist-everything in Latin
• Catholic priests breaking vows and
fathering illegitimate children-- who were
then given special titles in the church
Religious Split
• Countries that were Christian the shortest
length of time-turned Protestant
– Germany, Scandinavia, and the Netherlands
• Countries with longer Christian traditions
remained Catholic
– Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Poland
Reformation and Art
• Luther thought
– Artwork was distracting
– Religious art would lead to idolatry
• Started huge iconoclasm again
• Protestants would storm churches and destroy
paintings and sculptures of holy figures
• Catholics thought
– Art was a visual aid in communicating with
God
Influence of Reformation on Art:
• Iconoclasm
• Art in Protestant countries had to diversify because
religious art not as popular
–
–
–
–
Genre painting
History painting
Landscape painting
Portrait painting
• Growing importance of Book Illustration and
Graphic Arts-small and private devotionals
Isenheim Altarpiece, Mathias Grunewald, 1510-1515, oil on
panel, German Renaissance, (closed)
3
nd
2
view
Altarpiece Opened
• Created for the Monastic hospital order
Saint Anthony’s Monastery in Isenheim.
– Specialized in skin disease known as St.
Anthony’s Fire.
– Plague spreading through Germany
• Expresses torment and hope
– 4 layers of painted surfaces- two sets of folding
wings enclosing the final altarpiece
– predella
• 1st pair of wings on Crucifixion and lamentation
(predella).
• 2nd pair with the Resurrection and Healing.
• Saint Anthony and Saint Sebastian were
associated with suffering and healing.
• Images served as warnings; encouraged
devotion from the monks and hospital
patients; offered hope to the afflicted.
• Intensified the contrasts of horror and hope
by subtle tones and soft harmonies.
Allegory of Law and Grace, Lucas
Cranach the Elder, German
Renaissance
• This small woodcut expresses the doctrinal
differences between Catholicism and
Protestantism
• Split in two by the image of a tree.
– Left side=Last Judgment: Christ, Adam and Eve,
Moses. Shows Luther’s belief that no matter how
hard humans try to follow the 10 commandments
they will fail
– Right Side-message that Christ’s sacrifice provided
the grace necessary for salvation. No good works
could earn salvation it was Christ’s gift.
• It was made to be printed and distributed for use
as a teaching tool
Albrecht Durer
• “Leonardo of the North”
• Elevated artist status from craftsman to near
prince
• Diverse interests, cultured gentleman
• Embraced High Renaissance love of symmetry,
proportion, and scientific study
• First to use PRINTMAKING as a major medium in
art
Self Portrait,
Albrecht Durer,
German
Renaissance
• 1st painting, shows his influence of Leonardo. Set up
like the Mona Lisa. His features are idealized and
softened
• Durer greatly admired Leonardo.
• Durer paints himself in a Christ-like pose, reminiscent
of Byzantine icons, indicating the exalted status of the
artist (not to mention his high opinion of himself).
Printmaking Review
• Artwork on paper
• Make one master, print multiple artworks
• Full set of prints known as an edition
• Relief
• Printing press was invented in Germany in the
1400’s-more use for illustrative graphic work
Two main types of printmaking
• Woodcut
–
–
–
–
Typically work in reversed negative
Cut away what you don’t want to print
Prints in opposite direction
Often look primitive
• Intaglio (Engraving and Dry Point)
–
–
–
–
Work on a metal plate with a burin
Scratch in drawing or burn/etch lines often using acid
Lines take ink
Prints in opposite direction
Adam and Eve AKA
The Fall of Man,
Albrecht Durer,
1504, Engraving
• Depicts Durer’s studies of the Vitruvian theory of
human proportions, a theory based on arithmetic
ratios.
• Idealized body types of a classical God and Goddess.
• Contrapposto stance.
• Uses cross-hatching to create modeling.
• Gnarled bark of trees and feathery leaves makes the
scene along with the creatures underneath.
• Cat, elk, rabbit, and ox all represent humanity’s
temperaments- coexisting together
• Tension between the cat and mouse is symbolic of
the crucial moment between Adam and Eve, of the
fall of man.
• The cat=devil pouncing on humanity.
• It’s the moment just seconds before their fall from
grace. The branches are already covering their
nudity- as if they know what’s getting ready to
happen.