Chapter 13 McKay The Renaissance in the North

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 ( ) 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 ( ) 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 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. POV? Tone

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 ( ) humanist from Antwerp Paintings often contain comentary Influenced by da Vinci Thomas More called him “the renovator of the old art” The Ugly Dutchess, 

Massys’ The Moneylender & His Wife, 1514 POV? Commentary?

Albrecht Dürer ( ) 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,

The Triumphal Arch, details

Dürer Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse woodcut, 1498

Hans Holbein, the Younger ( ) 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 ( ) 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 19 th & early 20 th Centuries

Hieronymus Bosch The Garden of Earthy Delights (details) 1500

Pieter Bruegel the Elder ( ) 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 church Note the behavior of those near the Inn

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,

El Greco’s, The Burial of Count Orgaz, (details)

El Greco’s, The Burial of Count Orgaz,

El Greco The View of Toledo

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