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The Renaissance in the North Chapter 13 McKay 438-441 Northern Renaissance • Renaissance ideals spread outside Italy after 1450 • Much more religious • Led by Christian Humanists • Fused Classical and Christian cultures in order to develop an ethical way of life – Stoicism and broadmindedness fused with love, faith, and hope • Also stressed reason over dogma • Believed humans were fundamentally good • Could be improved through education Artist: Jan van Eyck Completion Date: 1436 Style: Northern Renaissance Series: The Madonna of Canon van der Paele Thomas More (1478-1535) • Deeply religious lawyer and adviser to Henry VIII • Very influenced by Plato’s ideas on perfection and materialism • Utopia (1516) • Described Ideal socialist society – No private property – Absolute social equality – continuous education in Greco-Roman classics to build rational citizens – Citizens divide time between manual labor, business, and learning – Used gold for chamber pots (placed no value on material wealth) – Contradicted pessimistic medieval view of humans • Asserted that private property is the source of conflict and evil • Major idea: If you improve society’s institutions, you will improve people Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) • Major ideas – Education is means to moral and intellectual improvement – Philosophy of Christ • Stressed philosophy of the Beatitudes over ceremony • Used his humanistic learning to better understand the Bible • The Education of a Christian Prince (1504) – Calls for use of Classics (Cicero, Plato) to form ethical rulers • The Praise of Folly – Satirical criticism of corrupt Church Amongst the learned the lawyers claim first place, the most self-satisfied class of people, as they roll their rock of Sisyphus and string together six hundred laws in the same breath, no matter whether relevant or not, piling up opinion on opinion and gloss on gloss to make their profession seem the most difficult of all. Anything which causes trouble has special merit in their eyes. Francois Rabelais • French humanist and writer • Gargantua and Pantagruel • Literature that spoofs contemporary society and a call for educational reform • Gargantua’s travels are interrupted by conversations with absurd characters – Indirectly pokes fun at clergy, professors, lawyers • Believes institutions mold individuals POV? Tone Supper being ended, they consulted of the business in hand, and concluded that about midnight they should fall unawares upon the enemy, to know what manner of watch and ward they kept, and that in the meanwhile they should take a little rest the better to refresh themselves. But Gargantua could not sleep by any means, on which side soever he turned himself. Whereupon the monk said to him, I never sleep soundly but when I am at sermon or prayers. Let us therefore begin, you and I, the seven penitential psalms, to try whether you shall not quickly fall asleep. Renaissance Art in Northern Europe • Should not be considered an appendage to Italian art • But, Italian influence was strong – Painting in OIL, developed in Flanders – The differences between the two cultures: – Italy change was inspired by humanism with its emphasis on the revival of the values of classical antiquity – Northern 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 Renaissance Art • Continuation of late medieval attention to details • Tendency toward realism & naturalism (not the classical ideal) • Fascination with mysterious supernatural – 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) • More courtly and aristocratic work – Court painter to the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good • Invented oil-based paint • The Virgin and Chancellor Rolin, 1435 Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife (Wedding Portrait) Jan Van Eyck 1434 Jan van Eyck - Giovanni Arnolfini & His Wife (details) Quentin Massys (1465-1530) • humanist from Antwerp • Paintings often contain comentary • Influenced by da Vinci • Thomas More called him “the renovator of the old art” • The Ugly Dutchess, 1525-1530 Massys’ The Moneylender & His Wife, 1514 POV? Commentary? Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) • Greatest of German artists • Also a scientist – Wrote books on geometry, fortifications, and human proportions • Self-conscious individualism of the Renaissance is seen in his portraits – Used woodcuts to mass produce his works – Began cult of personality – Signed every work with monogram AD • Self-Portrait at 26, 1498. Dürer – Self-Portrait in Fur-Collared Robe, 1500 Dürer The Last Supper woodcut, 1510 Durer – The Triumphal Arch, 15151517 The Triumphal Arch, details The Triumphal Arch, details Dürer Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse woodcut, 1498 Hans Holbein, the Younger (1497-1543) • One of the great German artists who did most of his work in England • While in Basel, he befriended Erasmus – Erasmus Writing, 1523 • Henry VIII was his patron from 1536 • Great portraitist noted for: – Objectivity & detachment – Doesn’t conceal the weaknesses of his subjects – Rejected the classic ideal of Italian Renaissance Artist to the Tudors Henry VIII (left), 1540 and the future Edward VI (above), 1543. Holbein’s, The Ambassadors, 1533 The Ambassador (details) Castiglionesque 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 Quattrocento, like mathematical perspective – His figures are flat. – Perspective is ignored • More a landscape painter than a portraitist • Philip II of Spain was an admirer of his work • Anticipates surrealism of the late 19th & early 20th Centuries Hieronymus Bosch The Garden of Earthy Delights (details) 1500 Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569) • One of the greatest artistic geniuses of his age • Flemish style (Flanders) • Painted common man, his activities, – referred to as "Peasant Bruegel“ – rituals of village life—including agriculture, hunts, meals, festivals, dances, and games – Unsentimental, not romanticized • Paintings often contain a commentary of contemporary life • Biblical themes • master of landscapes; not a portraitist – People in his works often have round, blank, heavy faces – Not concerned with proportion, perspective The Wedding Dance (1556) Pieter Bruegel the Elder The Fight between Carnival and Lent The Inn -symbol of enjoyment The Church -symbol of religion Note the behavior of those near the Inn Note the behavior of those near the church The Beggars, 1568 The Corn Harvest (1565) Children’s Games • Painted from God’s perspective • 80 different games – roll hoops, walk on stilts, mock tournaments & weddings … • children focused on their games with the seriousness displayed by adults in their daily activities • mankind is compared to children who are entirely absorbed in their foolish games and concerns The Peasant Wedding (1568) El Greco • Domenikos Theotokopoulos1(541 – 1614) • Most important Spanish artist of this period was Greek • deliberately distorts & elongates his figures, and seats them in a lurid, unearthly atmosphere • Often exude a foreboding mood • uses an agitated, flickering light • ignores the rules of perspective, and heightens the effect by areas of brilliant color • Greatest Spanish Counter-Reformation painter • Considered a Mannerist style or Baroque – Reactionary Movement El Greco Christ in Agony on the Cross 1600s The Last Supper, 1570 El Greco Portrait of a Cardinal 1600 El Greco’s, The Burial of Count Orgaz, 15861588 El Greco’s, The Burial of Count Orgaz, 1586-1588 (details) El Greco’s, The Burial of Count Orgaz, 15781580 El Greco The View of Toledo 15971599 Conclusions • The artistic production of Northern Europe in the 16c was vast, rich, and complex • The Northern Renaissance ended with a Mannerist phase, which lasted a generation longer in the North than it did in Italy, where it was outmoded by 1600