1. THE NORTHERN RENAISSANCE
Art & Literature

2. Northern Renaissance
Gradual spread northward – France, Low Countries, England, Poland, Hungary, Germany, Scandinavia
late 15th – 16th centuries
Wealthy patrons in France, Germany, England begin importing Italian Renaissance art and culture

3. Northern Renaissance Christian Humanists – “ethical way of life”
Reform based on Christian ideals
Stressed the use of reason rather than the dogma of the RCC
Nature of Man – good
Expansion of education, literacy
Studied Classics - BIBLE

4. Italian vs. Northern Renaissance
More Religious – Christian Humanism
Less secular than Italy
Printing press
C Johannes Gutenberg
Vernacular

5. Renaissance Literature
Dante – Divine Comedy
Petrarch – Father of Humanism
Boccaccio – Decameron
Castiglione – Courtier
Mirondola – On the Dignity of Man
Valla – The False Donation of Constantine
Machiavelli – The Prince

6. Dante Alighieri The Divine Comedy (printed 1555) (1265-1321)
Literary masterpiece
Written in Vernacular
Epic poem – imaginary trip through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven
Guide Roman Poet Virgil

7. Francesco Petrarch 1304-1374 Italian Father of Humanism “new learning”
Literary culture – anyone who was considered educated and civilized
Sonnets – romantic love, appreciation of nature

8. Giovanni Boccaccio 1313-1375 The Decameron Italian Humanist
Description of the Black Death
Portrays acquisitive, sensual, and worldly society
Does not condemn the enjoyment or accumulation of wealth

9. Baldassare Castiglione
Italian Humanist
The Courtier
Defined the ideal Renaissance Man
Man who could compose a sonnet, wrestle, sing, play an instrument, ride expertly, solve mathematical problems, and above all speak and write eloquently

10. Pico della Mirandola 1463-1494 Oration of the Dignity of Man
Italian Humanist
Man’s place b/w the beasts and angels, because he was made in the image of Adam – no limits to what he can accomplish

11. Lorenzo Valla 1407-1457 Italian Humanist
The False Donation of Constantine
Donation of Constantine – forgery written in 8th century not 4th century
Linguist, studied grammar and rhetoric
Father of modern historical criticism

12. NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI (1469-1527) Italian Diplomat
Held a number of political positions in Florence
14 years – diplomatic missions to foreign nations
Met Cesare Borgia (son of Pope Alexander VI)
1512 Spain invade Florence – Machiavelli exiled
1513 The Prince – short political treatise
Dedicated to Lorenzo de Medici – wanted to regain a political position in the Florentine gov’t

14. Northern Renaissance Literature
Erasmus
Praise of Folly
Sir Thomas More
Utopia
William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet
Hamlet
Macbeth

15. ERASMUS 1466?-1536 Dutch Praise of Folly Education key to reform
Satire – criticizes RCC
Erasmus laid the egg that Luther hatched

16. Sir Thomas More 1478-1535 Utopia – 1516 “nowhere” English
Ideal community on an imaginary island
Protested abuses of contemporary society

17. Northern Renaissance Art
OPTIC
Observe?
Parts?
Title?
Interpretations?
Conclusions?

25. Jan Van Eyck 1385-1441 Flemish The Arnolfini Portrait (1434)
32.4 x 23.6
National Gallery, London
Oil on Canvas
Compare to Italian Renaissance?

26. Albrecht Dürer German 1471-1528 Self-Portrait (1500)
Woodcutter, engraver, painter, mathematician

27. Albrecht Dürer
The Last Supper (1510)
German
Wood cut

28. Hans Holbein German born - England Portrait of Erasmus (1523)
Portrait of Thomas More (1527)
Portrait of Henry VIII (1536)

29. Heironymus “Jerome Bosch”
The Low Countries (Netherlands)
Death and The Miser (1510)
The Last Judgment (1500’s)
Garden of Earthly Delights (1500)
Compare/Contrast?

30. EL GRECO Spain “The Greek” (1541-1614) Born island of Crete
Move to Spain 1577
View of Toledo ( )
The Holy Trinity ( )

31. Northern Renaissance Knowledge of the Classics
Christian Ethics, A Unified Peaceful Christendom
Reform and Improve society through Reason and Education
Erasmus, Thomas More
Criticism of the Church laid the foundation for Protestant Reformation