Transcript The Northern Renaissance

The Northern
Renaissance
Chapter 1, Section 2
Spread of Ren. Ideas
In the 1400s, the ideas of the Italian
Renaissance began to spread to Northern
Europe
Specifically these ideas spread to England,
France, Germany, and Flanders
Northern Renaissance Begins
 By 1450, the population in Northern Europe was
growing again because the Bubonic Plague began
to subside, and the 100 Years War ended
 As a result, cities grew rapidly (beginning in
Flanders)
 Patronage increase dramatically
 Rich monarchs could afford to patronize the arts
Artistic Ideas Spread
 In the Northern Renaissance, there is an emphasis
on realism (making art look as realistic as possible)
 One major cause of the spread of artistic ideas
begins in 1494, when the French king claims the
Kingdom of Naples (in Italy) for himself.
 As a result of the fighting, there is trading of ideas
from people travelling between the two areas
Albrecht Dürer
German artist who specialized in
woodcuttings and engravings
His work included religious subjects,
classical myths, and realistic landscapes
Dürer is widely regarded as the greatest
artist of the Northern Renaissance
Hans Holbein the Younger
Influenced by Dürer
Created paintings that were almost
photographic in nature
Immigrated to England, painted Henry VIII
Flemish Painters
During the 15th century, Flanders was the
artistic center of Northern Europe
Jan Van Eyck (1390-1441) was a very
influential Flemish painter
 Used oil-based paint, he would apply many
layers of paint to capture rich color
 His paintings were very realistic, and seemed to
convey personality
Flemish Painters
Peaked in 1550 with Pieter Bruegel
Bruegel portrayed incredible detail and
individual people
Scenes were from daily life: weddings,
dances, and harvests
Northern Writers Try to Reform
Society
 The northern writers want to revive classical
languages and texts
 Northern humanists were critical of the failure of
the Christian Church to inspire people to live a
Christian life
 Created Christian humanism-focused on reforming
society; they would achieve this by emphasizing
education for men AND women
Christian humanist writers
Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), a
Catholic priest from Holland
In 1509 he wrote The Praise of Folly, which
poked fun at greedy merchants, heartsick
lovers, quarrelsome scholars and pompous
priests.
He believed in Christianity of the heart, not
ceremony or rules
Christian humanist writers
 Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), he was an English
lawyer, philosopher, author, statesman, and
humanist
 Best known for writing Utopia (1516), a book that
described an ideal society, originally written in
Latin
Women’s Reforms
 The vast majority of the
European population could
not read or write
 Any family that could afford
schooling would probably
send sons
 Christine de Pizan was a
highly-educated female
writer who wrote short
stories, biographies, novels,
and military manuals, all in
French
The Elizabethan Age
 The Renaissance spreads to England in the mid 1500s
 The Elizabethan Age is so named for the Queen of England
who reigned from 1558-1603
 She was the daughter of King Henry VIII (the guy with 6
wives)
 Elizabeth was religious, but she held many Renaissance
ideas that people were capable of impacting their own lives
 Spoke French, Italian, Latin, and Greek
 Wrote poetry and music
William Shakespeare
 Lived 1564-1616, regarded as the greatest writer in the
English language, greatest playwright of all time
 He revered the classics, and often used them as inspiration
and plots
 His most famous works include Macbeth, Hamlet, Othello,
Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
and the Taming of the Shrew
 Still popular today: The Lion King, Gnomeo and Juliet, 10
Things I Hate About You, Aladdin
Printing Spreads Ren. Ideas
The Chinese invented block printing-carved
letter or word on a wooden block, inked
block, then printed
Movable type was created in 1045 by Bi
Sheng, but it was regarded as impractical
since there are thousands of characters in
the Chinese language
During the 13th century, block printed items
began to enter Europe from Asia (still
dealing with the Middle Ages in Europe at
that time)
Process was still too slow
At that time, it would take a person 5
months to hand copy a book
Johann Gutenburg
 Around 1440, Gutenburg developed the modern
printing press by combining several techniques
 He printed a Bible, called the Gutenburg Bible in
1455
 This enabled printers to produce hundreds of
copies (about 500 copies in 5 months
 For the first time, books are cheap enough that
many people could afford to buy them
The Legacy of the Renaissance
Period of great change
Break from medieval ideas about the
church and God
Gradual rise of democratic ideas
Historians argue that the impact of movable
print may be more important than
computers
Legacy of Renaissance
 Change in Arts
 Drew on techniques and
styles of classical Greece
and Rome
 Paintings and sculptures
portrayed individuals and
nature in a more realistic
way
 Secular and religious works
 Writers used the vernacular
 Praised individual
achievement
 Change in Society
 Printing made information
available and inexpensive
 More books prompted an
increased desire for
learning and a rise in
literacy
 Published discoveries spur
creativity
 Published legal proceedings
clarify the law
 Christian humanists’
attempts to reform society
change views about how life
should be lived