Transcript The Northern and Late Renaissance

Reformation and
Renaissance in Northern
Europe
The Northern Renaissance
Kings, Commerce and Columbus
Northern Renaissance Courts: Francis I of
France and Leonardo da Vinci; Henry VIII
of England and Hans Holbein
Francis I’s Chateau de Chambord
The Reformation
Martin Luther: 1483-1546. 95 Theses or
complaints against the Church.
Reformation: split Western Christianity
into the Catholic Church and the
Protestant faiths.
Appealed to Germans who disliked the
Church’s taxes
Luther’s Challenge: 1520
“Only scripture, only grace, only faith”:
rejecting Catholic doctrine not biblically
based.
Salvation only through grace, not works
Individual’s direct connection to God
without priests’ intercession
Pope Leo ignored Luther
When threatened with
excommunication, Luther burned the
document
The Appeal of the Reformation
Peasants’ revolts bloodily put down by
German rulers with Luther’s blessings
Faith accessible to common believer
Luther translated the New Testament into
German
Hymns in German, not Latin
Simple worship
The Protestant Ethic
Paradox: Merchants became rich yet
condemned rich popes
Wealth: sign of God’s “elect” for
Calvinists.
Work and wealth; no pleasure-seeking
activities
Calvinism
John Calvin (1509-64) Swiss
Forced to leave Catholic France
Predestination: God determines who will
gain salvation.
Hard work and wealth: signs of election
No dancing, drinking, dissent: “Blue laws”
Rigid and intolerant social discipline
Calvinism
The religion for which they sacrificed so
much was a severe one. Calvinism
frowned upon 'dancing, dicing, cards and
indecent songs.' Calvin's 'Blue Laws'
required the host of a French public inn to
keep a Bible on the premises should
anyone wish to read it and his customers
were to be put out promptly at nine o'clock
at night.
The Elizabethan Age
The Reformation in England: Henry VIII
requested divorce from his wife Catherine
of Aragon; pope did not agree; Henry
broke away from Church and founded
Anglican Church.
Anglican faith prevailed under Elizabeth I
Repressed Puritans (Calvinists) who came
to America
Religions in Europe after the
Reformation
Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, southern
Germany, Austria, Hungary: Catholic
Northern Germany, Belgium, Netherlands,
Scandinavia: Protestant
England, Scotland, Wales: Anglican
Ireland: Catholic
Northern Renaissance Art
Intense visual realism--Jan van Eyck: jewel-like
detail and vivid colors
Oil on wood: better to reflect light than fresco
Altarpiece of Ghent; Marriage of Giovanni
Arnolfini and Giovanna Cenami ( symbols: dog,
fidelity, candle, light of Christ, fruit, fertility,
mirror reflects artist)
Mastery of light, color and pictorial space
Faith and Humanism in the
Northern Arts
Matthias Grunewald’s Crucifixion :
Bubonic plague
Durer : Self- Portrait
Pieter Bruegel : Painter of country Life:
The Parable of the Blind, The Hunter’s
Return
Genre paintings: scenes of daily life
Humanism in the North
Erasmus: satire; opposed Luther’s views
Montaigne: essays
Thomas More: Utopia
Theater in Elizabethan Age
Theater above all arts
1576: Theater of London, later Globe
Shakespeare: Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello
and King Lear. Psychological epics
Blank verse: five stressed poetic line or
pentameter
Hamlet
Palestrina and the CounterReformation
Catholic reaction against the Reformation:
Council of Trent
Palestrina: attuned to the changes in the
Church, who returned to religious
conservative music
Purification of music; music based on
plainchant
Renaissance Theater in Italy
From three to five acts; realistic
Staging design and machinery; backdrops
Palladio’s Teatro Olimpico
Camerata: revived Greek tragedies and
incorporated Gabrieli’s music: opera was
born!
Commedia dell’arte: comic theater with
invented dialogue
Camerata Fiorentina
Opera started in Florence at the end of the XVI
century by a group called Camerata fiorentina
(literally, those who met in a chamber),
comprised of artists, musicians and writers of the
time. The very first opera seems to be the
Euridice by Rinuccini and Peri, first performed
on the 6th of October 1600 to compliment Maria
de Medici who was getting married to Henry V,
King of France.
Venetian Music
Gabrieli: instruments that doubled choral
voices: soprano, alto, tenor, baritone,
bass
The different vocal parts united in a final
chord or cadences, which provided finality
or resolution to the piece
End of polyphony and Renaissance music
Palladio, Architect of Venice
Andrea Palladio: Country estates,
classical styles that influenced architects
into 19th century
Villa Rotonda
Textbook for architects for two centuries
Late Renaissance Painting
Venetians preferred oil paint; more durable
than fresco in humidity of Venice
Veronese’s Marriage at Cana
Giorgione’s The Tempest (mystery)
Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne
Parmigianino’s Madonna with the Long
Neck
Mannerism
Exaggeration, distortion and
expressiveness in an elegant and
inventive play on Renaissance style
Tintoretto’s Last Supper
Michelangelo’s Rondanini Pieta