the northern renaissance chapter 17 section 2. the northern renaissance began in the prosperous...

The Northern Renaissance

Chapter 17 Section 2

The Northern Renaissance began in the prosperous cities of Flanders.

•Many painters focused on the common people, creating scenes of everyday life.

•Many writers also focused on the common people.

From Flanders, ideas spread to Spain, France, and England.

Renaissance Art in Northern EuropeRenaissance Art in Northern Europe

Should not be considered an appendage to Italian art.

But, Italian influence was strong.– Painting in OIL, developed in Flanders, was widely adopted

in Italy.

The differences between the two cultures:– Italy change was inspired by humanism with its emphasis

on the revival of the values of classical antiquity.

– No. Europe change was driven by religious reform, the return to Christian values, and the revolt against the authority of the Church.

More princes & kings were patrons of artists.

Characteristics of Northern Characteristics of Northern Renaissance ArtRenaissance Art

Tendency toward realism & naturalism [less emphasis on the “classical ideal”].

Interest in landscapes.

More emphasis on middle-class and peasant life.

Details of domestic interiors.

Great skill in portraiture.

Jan van Eyck (1395 – 1441)Jan van Eyck (1395 – 1441)

More courtly and aristocratic work.– Court painter to the

Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good.

The Virgin and Chancellor Rolin, 1435.

Giovanni Giovanni Arnolfini Arnolfini and His and His

WifeWife

(Wedding (Wedding Portrait)Portrait)

Jan Van Jan Van

EyckEyck

14341434

The detail!!

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)A scholar as well as an artist.Also a scientist– Wrote books on geometry,

fortifications, and human proportions.

Self-Portrait at 26, 1498.

Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516)Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516)A pessimistic view of human nature.

Had a wild and lurid imagination.– Fanciful monsters &

apparitions.

Untouched by the values of the Italian perspective.– His figures are flat.

– Perspective is ignored.

More a landscape painter than a portraitist.

HieronymusHieronymusBoschBosch

The Garden The Garden of Earthy of Earthy DelightsDelights

15001500

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569)Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569)

Was deeply concerned with human vice and follies.

A master of landscapes; not a portraitist.– People in his works often have round, blank, heavy

faces.– They are expressionless, mindless, and sometimes

malicious.– They are types, rather than individuals.– Their purpose is to convey a message.

Bruegel’s, Bruegel’s, Tower of BabelTower of Babel, 1563, 1563

El GrecoEl Greco

Christ in Christ in Agony on Agony on the Crossthe Cross

1600s1600s

Hans Holbein, the Younger (1497-1543)Hans Holbein, the Younger (1497-1543)One of the great German artists who did most of his work in England.– Erasmus Writing,

1523 Henry VIII was his patron from 1536.Great portraitist noted for:– Objectivity &

detachment.– Doesn’t conceal the

weaknesses of his subjects.

Artist to the TudorsArtist to the Tudors

Henry VIII (left), 1540 Henry VIII (left), 1540 and the future Edward and the future Edward VI (above), 1543.VI (above), 1543.

The Elizabethan AgeThe Elizabethan Age

Queen Elizabeth reigned in England from 1558 to 1603 … more on her later.

In Gargantua and Pantagruel, two giants on a comic adventure offer opinions on religion and education.

In Utopia, he described an ideal society where all are educated and people live in harmony. The book gave us the word utopian.

Francois Rabelais was a French humanist who used comedy.

Sir Thomas More was an English humanist

who pushed for social reforms.

The towering figure of northern Renaissance literature was the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare.

Between 1590 and 1613, he wrote 37 plays which are still performed today, including:

• Romeo and Juliet

•Hamlet

• A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Shakespeare explored Renaissance ideals such as the complexity of the individual.

Well-known quotes from Shakespeare include “Neither a borrower nor a lender be” and “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

He used common language understood by all and added 1,700 words to the English language.

In 1455 Johann Gutenberg printed a complete edition of the Bible using a printing press with movable type.

The printing revolution transformed Europe.

• Printed books were far easier to produce than hand-copied books.

• More people had access to a broad range of learning.

• By 1500, the number of books in Europe had risen from a few thousand to between 15 and 20 million.