Transcript The Northern Renaissance

The Northern Renaissance
Reformation in Northern Europe
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Mix of civil and religious authority was
rearranged
Germany was split in its loyalty
Switzerland pursued separation
Italy remained true to the faith
England didn’t reform, but switched head
of the church
Religion and Politics
JOHN CALVIN (1509-64)
• trained in humanism and law in addition to
theology.
• John Calvin of Geneva was a sophisticated
Frenchman
• succeeded in establishing a Swiss
Protestant theocracy in the city-state of
Geneva,
• militant preaching inspired
• Protestants all over Europe.
• ultimate influence went beyond religion to
economics.
ERASMUS (1469-1536)
born in Rotterdam, Germany
• became the greatest scholar of the northern Renaissance.
• important writer/analyst for Classical literature.
• His written works gained him a reputation throughout Europe
such as
• Adages
• In Praise of Folly.
• wanted to see a massive program of education from which, he
believed, would come a universal Christian church.
• It was a gigantic task, but because the Church was rich,
Erasmus believed it could be accomplished if the Church
rethought its priorities and cut waste.
• To this end, Erasmus appealed to the princes of Europe to take
the lead in reforming the Church whenever the Church was
unwilling to reform itself.
Martin Luther
Luther was born in 1483 and died
in 1546. He wrote that…
faith is God's work in us, that
changes us and gives new birth
from God. (John 1:13). It kills the
Old Adam and makes us
completely different people. It
changes our hearts, our spirits,
our thoughts and all our powers.
It brings the Holy Spirit with it.
Yes, it is a living, creative, active
and powerful thing, this faith.
HENRY VIII of ENGLAND (1509 - 1547 )
built upon the innovations instituted by his father
The break with Rome, coupled with an increase in
governmental bureaucracy, led to the royal
supremacy that would last until the execution of
Charles I and the establishment of the
Commonwealth one hundred years after Henry's
death.
ALBRECHT DURER (1471-1528)
Durer, whom many regard as Germany's greatest artist,
could be described as the Leonardo of the northern
Renaissance.
Went to Italy to discover early Renaissance painting
techniques (i.e. the major breakthroughs)
JAN VAN EYCK (c. 1390-1441)
"The prince of painters of our age,“
work advances the new naturalism of the age
brought a new "reality" to painting in such works as The
Arnolfini Marriage.
St. Catherine on the bedpost
– patron saint of childbirth.
Mirror
reflecting
artist.
Hands clasped
Candle
symbolizing the
light of Christ.
Shoes – barefeet
on solid ground
Marriage bed
– fertility and
children
Dog symbolizing fidelity
The mirror is painted with almost miraculous skill. Its
carved frame is inset with ten miniature medallions
depicting scenes from the life of Christ. Yet more
remarkable is the mirror's reflection, which includes
van Eyck's own tiny self-portrait, accompanied by
another man who may have been the official witness to
the ceremony.
Symbol of faithfulness
Almost every detail can be interpreted as a symbol. The
companion dog is seen as a symbol of faithfulness and
love. The fruits on the window ledge probably stand for
fertility and our fall from Paradise. Even the discarded
shoes are not thought to be incidental, but to signify the
sanctity of marriage.
The artist
and the
backs of the
couple.
All around
the mirror
are scenes
from the life
of Christ.
Symbolic candle
The solitary flame burning in bright daylight can be
interpreted as the bridall candle, or God's all-seeing
eye, or simply as a devotional candle. Another symbol
is St Margaret (the patron saint of women in
childbirth), whose image is carved on the high
chairback.
An elaborate signature
As today, marriages in 15th-century Flanders could
take place privately rather than in church. Van Eyck's
Latin signature, in the Gothic calligraphy used for legal
documents, reads: ``Jan van Eyck was present'', and
has been interpreted by some as an indication that the
artist himself served as a witness.
HEIRONYMUS BOSCH (c.1450- August
1516)
Hieronymus, or Jerome Bosch, spent his entire artistic
career in the small Dutch town of Hertogenbosch, from
which he derived his name.
At the time of his death, Bosch was internationally
celebrated as an eccentric painter of religious visions
who dealt in particular with the torments of hell.
PIETER BREUGEL (c.1525 –1569)
Nicknamed ‘Peasant Bruegel’ was probably the most
significant and exciting painter in the Northern Europe during
the middle part of the sixteenth century. His nickname “Peasant
Bruegel” indicates his favorite subjects: peasant life, proverbs
and genre scenes. He also set New Testament topics among
common folks of contemporary Flanders.
Pieter Breugel (1528 – 1569)
The Triumph of Death
Flemish Proverbs (1559)
In this tour de force of 92 visualizations of local
proverbs, Brueghel shows, midpicture, Aesop’s fox duly
bibbed and frustrated, waiting for soup sustenance from
his “friend” the crane, who is happily sipping from a narrow
earthenware vase. In the right lower corner “he who spills gruel
cannot get it all up,” shows a hungry man with a big spoon trying
to scoop up the spilt kettle of gruel from the ground back into the
pot. Others included are: “He blocks up the well after the calf is
drowned,” “One shears the sheep, another the pig,” “One holds
the distaff, which the other spins,” “The pig has been stuck
though the belly”;
Upper left
Lower Left
Upper right
Lower right
Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625)
Because of his fondness of certain subjects and glowing
enamel paint, Jan, the second son of Pieter Breugel was
given the nickname “Velvet” or “Flower” Brueghel.
Jan Brueghel the Younger (1601-1678)
Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564-1638)
called Hell Breugel for his facination with fires, goblins
and the like.
The Breugel Family
Jan Breughel the Elder
Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. 1615
Jan
Brueghel
the Elder.
Bouquet
in a Clay
Vase. c.
15991607
Jan
Brueghel
the
Younger.
Paradise.
c. 1620
Pieter Breughel the Younger
The Peasant Wedding. 1620.
The Dutch Renaissance
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excelled in portraying comfortable interior
scenes that are composed with
mathematical clarity and suffused with cool,
silvery light
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Vermeer was a master of composition and
in the representation of space. He arranged
tonal values and perspective over the
foreground, into the middleground, and
farther into the distance
Jan Vermeer
Girl Asleep
At a Table
Girl
with a
Pearl
Earring