Transcript Northern Renaissance

Northern Renaissance
North vs. Italy
• “Northern” Renaissance applies to any European country
outside of Italy
• Predominant areas: France, Netherlands, and Germany
• Northern maintained Gothic period of art for a longer
time (into the 16th century instead of 15th)
• Northern did not have the free commerce areas that Italy
held with one exception: Burgundy
• Burgundy: area that was from the middle to the Northern
sea of what we now know as France
• Without a wealthy merchant class like Italy and
Burgundy, there are no wealthy patrons of art
• Northern patrons interested in illuminated manuscripts
(still), tapestries and furnishings
• To recap: Italian patrons wanted paintings, architecture
and sculpture
• Northern not happy with the religious ideals from Rome
and created religious works intended to espouse their
ideals
Compositional differences
***Northern:
• not as concerned with scientific influence
upon art (proportion, linear perspective)
• interested in color before form
• incorporated extensive amounts of details
• Inverted, distant mirror reflections
• Used wood and developed oil paints due
to geophysical factors
Similarities
• Both included religious ideology
• Both utilized the concept of guilds or
apprenticeships in studios to learn
professional craft
• Both had a dominant center: Italy had
Florence and Burgundy had Flanders
Notable artists
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Jan van Eyck c. 1395-1441
Belgium
Career field in Court
Lucrative positions that paired him with Philip the
Good, Duke of Burgandy
• The Good became close personal friend:
godfather to one of Eyck’s children, supported
Eyck’s widow, etc
• His financial independence allowed him to
pursue painting as a second career
Eyck’s style
• Included signature, which is unusual for
time
• Painted mirrors or reflective surfaces in
backgrounds of artworks to include other
subjects in environment off canvas
• Mastered the new medium of oil paint
The Arnolfini
Marriage
Albrecht Durer 1471-1528
• Born in Germany
• Father a goldsmith, where he apprenticed
• His amazing talent for figure drawing
caused for a switch in apprenticeship to a
painter
• Most known for his amazing works in print
and drawing
The Four
Horseman of the
Apocolypse
The Knight,
Death and the
Devil
Erasmus
Self Portrait at
26
Resources
• http://arthistory.about.com/cs/arthistory10o
ne/a/north_ren.htm
• http://ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/eyck/arnolfi
ni/
• http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/durer/