Ch. 23 High Renaissance and Mannerism in Northern Europe and Spain

Ch. 23 Quiz Clear your desks Write your name on your paper and Ch. 23

1. Choose the incorrect statement about Adam and Eve It is an engraving. The artist used contrapposto poses. The artist studied human proportions based on arithmetic ratios. Symbolism is not used.

2. Choose the incorrect statement about Garden of Earthly Delights Painted in the 1500s. Bosch is the artist. The artist is the leading Netherlandish painter. D. It is a fresco.

3. Choose the incorrect statement about the Isenheim Altarpiece A. It is moveable B. artist= Matthias Grunewald C. a complex and fascinating monument reflecting Islamic beliefs. D. created for the Saint Anthony Hospital

4. Choose the incorrect statement about Hunters in the Snow A. painted in 1765. B. line, shape, and composition are used to draw the viewer deep into the landscape. C. Bruegel was the artist. D. Netherlandish painter.

5. Choose the incorrect statement about Law and Gospel it is a woodcut. it deals with the idea of salvation. Martin Luther impacted this artwork. D. the tree in the center symbolizes hope.

Albrecht Dürer’s contribution to the so-called Northern Renaissance is indisputable. However, so much changed in Northern Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that the era deserves to be evaluated on its own terms. Some of the most important changes in Northern Europe include the:  • invention of the printing press, c. 1450  • advent of mechanically reproducible media such as woodcuts and engravings • formation of a merchant class of art patrons that purchased works in oil on panel • Protestant Reformation and the translation of the Bible from the original languages into the vernacular or common languages such as German and French • international trade in urban centers

The printing press (images + text) Perhaps the most influential aspect of the Northern Renaissance is the combination of printed image with text together in books. The printing press was invented in Germany around 1450. Until the printing press, books were laboriously copied and illustrated by hand, one at a time. The combination of printed words and images created an explosion of information (rather like the change from typewriters to computers). The printing of books such as Luther’s translation of scripture and illustrated polemical pamphlets accelerated the Protestant Reformation, a movement that re-aligned religious and national boundaries, and ultimately would motivate migration to the New World.

While the Renaissance was happening in Italy, great artistic and social changes occurred in Germany and the Low Countries. A bias in favor of Italian art among earlier generalizations of scholars made Italy the focus of artistic invention and the Northern Renaissance a less sophisticated imitation of the real thing. One might debate whether the North experienced a Renaissance, but the artistic, institutional, and intellectual changes are evident.

The Reformation 1517 Martin Luther German movement Reform the Catholic Church Questioned Practices powers of the pope Selling of indulgences Eucharist

There is very little agreement as to the precise meaning of the work There is very little agreement as to the precise meaning of the work.  It is a creation and damnation triptych, starting with Adam and Eve and ending with a highly imaginative through-the-looking glass kind of Hell.  No one really knows why Bosch imagined the world in this particular way. 

The painting was first described in 1517 by the Italian chronicler Antonio de Beatis, who saw it in the palace of the counts of Nassau in Brussels. It can therefore be considered a commissioned work. The fact that the counts were powerful political players in the Burgundian Netherlands made the palace a stage for important diplomatic receptions and the work must have caused something of a sensation with its viewing audience, since it was copied, both in painting and tapestry, after Bosch’s death in 1516.   

Paradise: Hell God as Christ Presents Eve to Adam Alchemy Prominent theme Translations: -triptych-religious -secular-wedding (familiar theme) -warning of fate (secular) (originally) -learned audience (alchemy – study of seemingly magical chemical changes) -visionary world of Fantasy and intrigue vs. 15th c. Life -surrealism (400 years later) - Oversized fruit – fertility symbols Celebrates procreation Imaginative variations on chemical apparatus of the day Figure 23-1 HIERONYMUS BOSCH, Garden of Earthly Delights, 1505-1510. Oil on wood, center panel 7’ 2 5/8” X 6’ 4 ¾”, each wing 7’ 2 5/8” X 3’ 2 ¼”. Museo del Prado, Madrid.

Spiritual death is gaining on the Tree-Man. His trunk contains a tavern scene. Does he look at us? Or at the dissolution of his humanness? The disk on his head supports fanciful, unnatural creatures and a bagpipe, an instrument with sexual connotations. Here it is shaped like a womb, the source of carnal desire. closed

In the Christian tradition, the crescent moon (seen here atop the harp) has different and contradictory meanings. Here, in Hell, it may like the owl, symbolize nighttime, when copulation, the making of sweet music, traditionally takes place. He was skating on thin ice, now he’s going down with the ship. Bosch depicted a number of proverbial phrases, which added to the viewers’ pleasure of discovery as they explored his fantasy world.

Reflects Catholic beliefs References Catholic doctrine: Closed- Reflects Catholic beliefs References Catholic doctrine: - lamb – symbol of the son of God Crucifixion scene (top) Saint Sebastian (left), Saint Anthony Abbot (right) (legend afflicter and healer) (saints associated with the plaque and miraculous cures) Lamentation (predella) imagery dictated by location Served as warnings for increased devotion and hope for the afflicted Amputation: Predella opens of Christ’s legs, arm due to off centered opening in the center panel Figure 23-2a MATTHIAS GRÜNEWALD, Isenheim Altarpiece (closed), from the chapel of the Hospital of Saint Anthony, Isenheim, Germany, ca.1510–1515. Oil on wood, 9' 9 1/2” x 10’ 9”, (center panel), 8’ 2 1/2” x 3’ 1/2” (each wing), 2’ 5 1/2” x 11’ 2” (predella). Painted and gilt limewood, 9’ 9 1/2” x 10’ 9”. Musée d’Unterlinden, Colmar.

Christ and the 12 disciples (predella) Open: Christ and the 12 disciples (predella) Polychromed statues of Saint Anthony Abbot and Jerome Temptation of Saint Anthony: ghoulish creatures in a dark landscape (symptoms of a feared disease) Iconography: Interior- balance of horrors of disease and punishment – those who do not repent with scenes of healthy and aged conversing peacefully Exterior- Christ pain and suffering – act redeemed mankind – Themes: pain, illness and death with hope, comfort and salvation Figure 23-2b MATTHIAS GRÜNEWALD, Isenheim Altarpiece (open), from the chapel of the Hospital of Saint Anthony, Isenheim, Germany, ca.1510–1515. Oil on wood, 9' 9 1/2” x 10’ 9”, (center panel), 8’ 2 1/2” x 3’ 1/2” (each wing), 2’ 5 1/2” x 11’ 2” (predella). Shrine carved by Nikolaus Hagenauer in 1490. Painted and gilt limewood, 9’ 9 1/2” x 10’ 9”. Musée d’Unterlinden, Colmar.

Handout Class Quiz https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance- reformation/northern-renaissance1/england-france-tyrol/e/isenheim- altarpiece-quiz

Albrecht Durer: “Leonardo of the North” Travelled widely through Europe and became an international celebrity Took trips to Italy to study Renaissance art First artist to synthesize Northern European stylistic features (intricate detail, realistic rendering of objects, symbols hidden as everyday objects) and blend them with Italian features (classical body types, linear perspective) --- admired the work of Leonardo First artist to keep a thorough record of his life (self- portraits, treatises on his thoughts, and a diary) Important graphic artist --- best known for his engravings Influenced significantly by Martin Luther and Protestant Reformation

Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) German – Northern Renaissance 1 of 18 kids (3 survived) Made his $ on engravings In the thick of the Protestant Reformation

Albrecht Dürer is the indisputable rock star of the German Renaissance Albrecht Dürer is the indisputable rock star of the German Renaissance. In addition to being a successful painter, Dürer built his reputation on his prints, both woodcut and engravings. Because prints can be made in multiples, he had an unusually broad audience.  Mechanically reproducible media such as woodcuts and engraving not only helped Dürer disperse his ideas, they also made it possible for Northern artists to see Italian art without traveling. Dürer likely had his first exposure to Italian art in Germany, in woodcut or engraved copies of Italian works. Looking at an Italian work of art in Germany may seem unremarkable to us. However, until prints were available all works of art were one of a kind, and the only way to see a new work of art was to travel. Prints were typically far less expensive than paintings and much lighter and therefore more portable.  The switch from one-of-a-kind works of art to prints is in some ways comparable to the switch from buying or borrowing picture books to searching for images on Google. 

Dürer. Adam and Eve Engraving c. 1504 Eve receives the apple from the serpent, while Adam stretches his hand out to take it.

Book illustrations and single sheet prints – affordable – exposure Businessman: 1506 – lawsuit against artist for selling his prints (considered the first over artistic copyright) Aggressively marketed his prints (agent, wife, mother) Studies of Vitruvian theory of human proportions (arithmetic ratios) Idealized figures Poses – classical statues (Greek-contrapposto) Ideal with naturalism (accurate and detailed rendering of the forest) Symbolism: cat and mouse tension – Adam and Eve, cat, elk, ox, and rabbit – humanities temperaments Figure 23-5 ALBRECHT DÜRER, The Fall of Man (Adam and Eve), 1504. Engraving, 9 7/8” x 7 5/8”. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (centennial gift of Landon T. Clay).

Judgment day Doctrinal differences between Protestantism (God’s grace) and Catholicism (old testament law) Regarding how to achieve salvation 1520’s violent waves of iconoclastic (characterized by attack on cherished beliefs or institutions) “Great Iconoclasm”– Germany – John Calvin 1566 Calvinists – Netherland Churches - damage to art work Religious fervor and power of art Figure 23-8 LUCAS CRANACH THE ELDER, Allegory of Law and Grace, ca. 1530. Woodcut, 10 5/8” x 1’ 3/4”. British Museum, London.

https://www. khanacademy https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance-reformation/northern-renaissance1/antwerp-bruges/v/bruegel-hunters 5 min. class quiz Bruegel, Return of the Hunters. 1565, oil on wood panel

Series of 6 illustrating seasonal changes (some believe there were 12) Based on the tradition from the Books of Hours Depicts severe winter of 1565 Illusionistic techniques Color/tonal values Detail everyday scene in a realistic setting Diagonal – draws viewer into the work Figure 23-22 PIETER BRUEGEL THE ELDER, Hunters in the Snow, 1565. Oil on wood, approx. 3’ 10 1/8” x 5’ 3 3/4”. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Work on Timeline and Cue Cards Ch. 12 Romanesque (2 image) Ch. 13 Gothic Art (2 images) Ch. 14 Late Medieval Italy (1 image) Ch. 20 Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Northern Europe (1 image) Ch. 21 The Renaissance on Quattrocento Italy Ch. 22 Renaissance and Mannerism in Cinquecento Italy (3 images)- Essay #2 Ch. 23 High Renaissance and Mannerism in Northern Europe and Spain (1 image)