Transcript Pieter Bruegel, The Flemish Proverbs (DETAILS)

Objectives
 Understand which artists were responsible for
bringing the Italian Renaissance to the North.
 Identify the works of individual artists.
 Define the role played by the Reformation in the
works of some sixteenth century artists.
 Recognize how the Renaissance spread throughout
Europe.
Peeps You Should Know
 Reformation:
 Martin Luther of Germany
 John Calvin of Switzerland
 King Henry VIII of England
 Printing Press
Historical Context
 Leading the Catholic cause during the Reformation
was Holy Roman Emperor Charles V
 Religious strife impacted patronage
 Reformation = Destruction of Religious Art

Iconoclasm
 Still life became increasingly popular
Early 16th Century in Germany
 Albrecht Durer and Matthias Grunewald
 Renaissance Top Dawgs in Germany
 Durer
Observation of natural world
 Grunewald
German mysticism and
emotional spirituality
 Germany = Strong Businesses
Isenheim Altarpiece
 Closed = Shocking image of the Crucifixion
 Gruesome Detail
 Lamb
 Predella = Lamentation
 Opened = Happy Events
 Annunciation
 Nativity
 Resurrection
Isenheim Altarpiece
Matthias Grunewald
1510-1515
Durer…The German Michelangelo
 Apprenticed as a goldsmith and stained glass design
 Famous for painting and woodcuts
 Traveled to extend his education
 Trip to Italy introduced him to Renaissance ideas
and attitudes
 His prints made his living
Self-Portrait
 Represents himself as
an idealized Christ-like
figure
 Triangle shape = unity
 Self-Portrait
 Albrecht Durer
 1500
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
 Based on figures in Revelations
 Conquest – War – Plague/Famine – Death
 Intense overlap
 Attention to detail
Four Horsemen of
the Apocalypse
Albrecht Durer
1497-98
Engraving
Adam and Eve
 Represents his first use of ideal human
proportions
 Based on Greco-Roman sculpture
 Depicts nature in naturalistic detail
 Body fluids controlled human temperament
Excess of Black Bile = Melancholy = Elk
 Excess of Yellow Bile = Anger = Cat
 Phlegm = Lethargy = Ox
 Excess of Blood = Optimism and Pleasure of the Flesh
= Rabbit
 Mouse = Satan
 Parrot = False Wisdom

 Adam and Eve
 Albrecht Durer
 1504
 Engraving
Four Apostles
 Durer admired Martin Luther
 Professed his Lutheranism in these panels
 Left
 Elderly Peter: Back
 John: Front

“In the beginning was the Word”
 Right
 Mark: Back
 Paul: Front
Four Apostles
Albrecht Durer
1526
Oil on Wood
 “For a Christian would no more be led to superstition
by a picture or effigy than an honest man to commit
murder because he carries a weapon by his side. He
must be an unthinking man who would worship
picture, wood, or stone. A picture therefore brings
more good than harm, when it is honourably,
artistically, and well made.”

Durer
Nymph of the Spring
 Lucas Cranach the Elder
 Luther’s favorite painter
 Inspired by Italian artists
 Hence nudity
 Sleeping Nymph = Renaissance theme
 NOT ancient
Nymph of the Spring
Lucas Cranach
1537
Oil on Wood
Danube Landscape
 Landscape without figures became popular in 16th
century
 Most famous landscape painter was Albrecht
Altdorfer
 No religious significance
 Just pretty
Danube Landscape
Albrecht Altdorfer
1525
Oil
Renaissance Art in France
 Catholics V. Protestants
 Edict of Nantes
 Granted tolerance to Protestants
 1598
 King Francis I = great patron of the arts
Francis I
 Jean Clouet

Royal portrait painter
 Created an image of power
Francis I
Jean Clouet
1525
Oil/Tempera on Wood
Chateau of Chenonceau
 Chateau = Rural Palace
 Reflects classical principles
of symmetry
Chateau of Chenonceau
1513-1581
France
Palais du Louvre
 Modernized by Francis I
 Replaced the west wing

Cour Carre
 French Flamboyant Style
Cour Carre
Palais Du Louvre
Pierre Lescot
1546
Paris
Spain and Portugal
 High point of political power
 King Phillip =


art collector
Navy = Spanish Armada

Halted the advance of Islam in
the Mediterranean
El Escorial
 Monastery complex
 Outside Madrid
 Built by Phillip
 Summoned Juan Bautista de Toledo from Italy

Used Bramante’s principles of design
 HUGE
 Embodies Italian classicism in its geometric clarity
and symmetry
El Escorial
Juan Bautista de Toledo and Juan de Herrera
1563
Madrid
El Greco
 “The Greek”
 Trained as an icon painter
 Byzantine Manner
 Native of Crete
 Studied in Titian’s studio
 Settled in Toledo, Spain
Burial of Count Orgaz
 Commissioned by the Orgaz family
 Count Orgaz = Church benefactor
 Saints Augustine and Stephen were said to have
lowered his body in the tomb
 Filled the space with portraits of local aristocracy and
religious peeps
 Eliminated spatial setting

Sound familiar???
Burial of Count Orgaz
El Greco
1586
Oil
View of Toledo
 Mystical
 Naturalism V.
 POWER OF NATURE
View of Toledo
El Greco
1610
Oil on Canvas
Netherlands
 16th century = Bitter religious and political conflict
 Led artists to to seek patronage outside the Church
 Carel van Mander = The Flemish Vasari
 Recorded artists
 Characterized by Imaginative art
Bosch
 Fantastic imagination
 Religious
 Labeled a mystic and social
critics
Garden of Earthly Delights
 Triptych
 Christian belief of human being’s natural state of sinfulness
 Right = Damned
 Left = Adam and Eve
 Center = Everything you shouldn’t do




Gluttony
Lust
Greed
Sloth
 Strawberry = Sexual symbolism
 Converted into a tapestry
Saint Luke Painting the Virgin Mary
 Jan Gossaert
 Served Phillip
 Influenced by
 Jan Van Eyck
 Italian Mannerism
 Ancient Rome
 Artists studio scene
 Classical structures
 Mary and Christ appear to Saint Luke in a vision
 Saint guided by an angel
 Moses in the background
Saint Luke Painting
the Virgin Mary
Jan Gossaert
1520
Oil
The Banker and His Wife
 Marinus van Reymerswaele
 Painted “everyman”
 Banker counts his money
 Recalls the sins of lust and greed
The Banker and His Wife
Marinus van Reymerswaele
1540
Oil
Caterina van Hemessen
 Portraits became a major
source of work for artists as
religious art declined

Reformations fault
 Caterina from Antwerp
 Learned to paint by her
father
Self-Portrait
Caterina van Hemmessen
1548
Oil
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
 Began his career by imitating Bosch
 Often painted large narrative works
 Crowded figures
 Moralizing and satirical subject matter
 Traveled Italy
 Reflected contemporary social, political, and
religious conditions
Fall of Icarus
Peter Bruegel the Elder
1555
Oil
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
The Tower of Babel. 1563. Oil on panel.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
The Flemish Proverbs. 1559. Oil on panel.
Pieter Bruegel, The Flemish Proverbs (DETAILS), 1559.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
The Hunters In the Snow. 1565. Oil on panel.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
The Peasant Wedding. 1568. Oil on panel.
England
 Tudor dyansty
 Music, literature, and art flourished
 Henry VIII
 Loyal to the Catholic Church…At first
 Broke with the church and became head of the Church of
England
 Dissolved monasteries
 Elizabethan Age = 16th Century
 Lots of royal portraits
Henry VIII
 Han Holbein
 Appointed court painter
 French fashion
 Enhanced Henry’s figure
Henry VIII
Hans Holbein the Younger
1540
Oil
Princess Elizabeth
 Painted by levina Bening
Teerlinc
 Designed Elizabeth’s first
official seal
Princess Elizabeth
Levina Teerlinc
1559
Oil
Hardwick Hall
 Home of Countess Elizabeth
 Medieval Hall
Hardwick Hall
Robert Smythson
1591
England