Northern Renaissance

Took place in Northern Europe

in the trade centers of Flanders

(N.Belgium), Holland,

Germany, and France.

Background

• Time period: 1400-1600

• Renaissance=rebirth

• Cities vied with one another for the most elaborately decorated cathedrals, town halls, and altarpieces.

• More innovative in painting than in sculpture or architecture.

• Reformation and Counter-Reformation cause rift in Christian art

• Secular art becomes increasingly important.

• Flemish paintings integrated secular and religious themes

Northern Painting Masters• Painters preferred oil paint over tempera and

fresco and refined the technique.

• Northern artists shared the Italian preference for the representation of 3D space and lifelike figures

• Painters preferred sharp, precise details-- some so small you need a magnifying glass to see them.

Unique Characteristics

• Flemish interiors

• Crowded or figures too large for space

• Local landscapes

• High horizon lines

• Symbolism

The Ghent Altarpiece, Jan Van Eyck, Flemish Renaissance, oil on panel, 1432, Belgium

Ghent Altarpiece, with wings open

The Last Supper, Dirk Bouts, Flemish Renaissance, oil on wood, 1468

• Believed to be the first Northern painting to demonstrate the use of a single vanishing point for constructing an interior – Linear perspective already being used in Italy

• All of the room's lines lead to a single point in space in the center of the mantle piece above Christ's head

• First Northern artist who adjusted figures' scale to correspond to the space they occupied

• Used a hierarchal scale for Christ; Christ is the center of focus

Linear Perspective

• Scientific/mathematical method of creating the illusion of 3D space on a 2D surface using a vanishing point, horizon line, and orthogonal

lines

Merode Altarpiece, Robert Campin, Flemish Renaissance, Triptych/Oil on Wood, 1427

• Artist depicted a well-kept middle class Flemish home as the site of the Annunciation

• Private devotional piece with images of donor placed inside-donor portrait

• Left panel-– Donors, middle class people, are kneeling before the

holy scene

• Center panel-– Annunciation is taking place in everyday Flemish

interior

• Right panel-– Joseph in his carpentry workshop

• Contains many Christian symbols-– The towels/water basin symbolize Christ cleansing

the sins of the world

– The lilies have three buds-one unopened

– Mary is blocking the fireplace, which signifies the entrance to hell

– Mouse trap symbolizes the capturing of the Devil

– The candlestick signifies that Mary is holding Christ in her womb

– An angel announcing to Mary that she will be the mother of Christ

– Tiny Jesus is comes through the window with his cross as well

• Humanization of traditional themes: no halos, domestic interiors, view into Flemish cityscape

• Intricate details, elegant and elongated draperies

• Steeply rising ground line

• Figures are too large for the architecture they sit in

• Each panel is seen from a different point

FYI

• Campin was known as the Master of Flemalle

• Ingelbrecht was donor-meant angel bringer

• Donor’s wife’s maiden name was Scrynmaker-meant cabinet or shrine maker

Arnolfini Wedding, Jan Van Eyck, Flemish Renaissance, oil painting, 1434

• Thought to be wedding portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and Giovanna Cenami

• Intense concentration of minute details

• Everything symbolizes marriage and its holiness: – Candle burning represents the presence of God– Shoes are cast off to indicate Holy Ground– Dog symbolizes fidelity– Ripe fruit represents fertility

– St. Margaret finial on bedpost- patron saint of childbirth

– Medallions in the mirror's frame represent the Passion of Christ and the promise of Salvation

• Two witnesses in the convex mirror (perhaps Van Eyck)

   

Man in a Red Turban, Jan Van Eyck, Flemish Renaissance, oil on panel, 1433

Garden of Earthly Delights, Hieronymous Bosch, Flemish Renaissance, oil on

wood, 1510

Outside, Creation of the World

Left Panel, Paradise

Left panel: 1. Paradise/The Garden of Eden- the state of humans in an ideal world

2. Signs of evil to come- animals are violent and eating one another

3. Adam and Eve are depicted as thin insubstantial nudes who lack backbone and resolve and act only on their impulses.

Central Panel, Garden of Earthly Delights (detail)

• Central panel:       1. The Garden of Earthly Delights-

the result of Adam and Eve's sin

      2. Primitive humanity indulging in sexual play

      3. Presence of fruit and birds suggest fertility

      4. Animals suggest sexual perversity

Right Panel, Hell

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• Right panel:       1. Hell- the result of the activities in

the central panel

      2. Souls are tormented by demons and made to pay for excesses on earth

      3. Musical instruments are used as symbols of torture

• Figures light and unsubstantial, lack individuality and will, have no minds of their own

• Some scholars attribute this triptych as a Last Judgment- a warning to the viewer of the fate awaiting the sinful, decadent and immoral

• High horizons allow for many details to be packed in the paintings

• Bosch's moralistic paintings suggested inventive torments meted out a punishment for sinners

• Future Surrealists viewed Bosch as their patron saint

The Reformation

• Catholic Church was the sole Christian church

• Dissent about the level of corruption in church

• In 1517, German monk and professor Martin Luther nailed his list of complaints, known as the 95 Theses, to the Ausburg Cathedral

• Religious battleground-Led to Protestantism (non-Catholic religious branch)

Reformation Background

• Indulgences-buying way into heaven?

• Bible was the only true authority, not Pope

• Church was elitist-everything in Latin

• Catholic priests breaking vows and fathering illegitimate children-- who were then given special titles in the church

Luther's Major Complaints

• Countries that were Christian the shortest length of time-turned Protestant– Germany, Scandinavia, and the

Netherlands

• Countries with longer Christian traditions remained Catholic– Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Poland

Religious Split

• Luther thought – Artwork was distracting– Religious art would lead to idolatry

• Started huge iconoclasm again• Protestants would storm churches and

destroy paintings and sculptures of holy figures

• Catholics thought– Art was a visual aid in communicating

with God

• Artists in the middle

Reformation and Art

• Iconoclasm

• Art in Protestant countries had to diversify because religious art not as popular– Genre painting– History painting– Landscape painting– Portrait painting

• Growing importance of Book Illustration and Graphic Arts-small and private devotionals

Influence of Reformation on Art:

Isenheim Altarpiece, Mathias Grunewald, 1510-1515, oil on panel, German Renaissance, (closed)

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2nd view

Altarpiece Opened

• Created for the Monastic hospital order Saint Anthony’s Monastery in Isenheim. – Specialized in skin disease known as St.

Anthony’s Fire.– Plague spreading through Germany

• Expresses torment and hope– 4 layers of painted surfaces- two sets of

folding wings enclosing the final altarpiece

– predella

• 1st pair of wings on Crucifixion and lamentation (predella).

• 2nd pair with the Resurrection and Healing.

• Saint Anthony and Saint Sebastian were associated with suffering and healing.

• Images served as warnings; encouraged devotion from the monks and hospital patients; offered hope to the afflicted.

• Intensified the contrasts of horror and hope by subtle tones and soft harmonies.

Allegory of Law and Grace, Lucas Cranach the Elder, German Renaissance

• This small woodcut expresses the doctrinal differences between Catholicism and Protestantism

• Split in two by the image of a tree.– Left side=Last Judgment: Christ, Adam and

Eve, Moses. Shows Luther’s belief that no matter how hard humans try to follow the 10 commandments they will fail

– Right Side-message that Christ’s sacrifice provided the grace necessary for salvation. No good works could earn salvation it was Christ’s gift.

• It was made to be printed and distributed for use as a teaching tool

• “Leonardo of the North”

• Elevated artist status from craftsman to near prince

• Diverse interests, cultured gentleman

• Embraced High Renaissance love of symmetry, proportion, and scientific study

• First to use PRINTMAKING as a major medium in art

• First artist to do multiple self portraits

Albrecht Durer

Self Portrait, Albrecht Durer,

German Renaissance

• 1st painting, shows his influence of Leonardo. Set up like the Mona Lisa. His features are idealized and softened

• Durer greatly admired Leonardo.

• Durer paints himself in a Christ-like pose, reminiscent of Byzantine icons, indicating the exalted status of the artist (not to mention his high opinion of himself).

• Artwork on paper

• Make one master, print multiple artworks

• Full set of prints known as an edition

• Relief

• Printing press was invented in Germany in the 1400’s-more use for illustrative graphic work

Printmaking Review

• Woodcut– Typically work in reversed negative– Cut away what you don’t want to print– Prints in opposite direction– Often look primitive

• Intaglio (Engraving and Dry Point)– Work on a metal plate with a burin– Scratch in drawing or burn/etch lines often

using acid– Lines take ink– Prints in opposite direction

Two main types of printmaking

Adam and Eve AKA The Fall of Man, Albrecht Durer,

1504, Engraving

• Depicts Durer’s studies of the Vitruvian theory of human proportions, a theory based on arithmetic ratios.

• Idealized body types of a classical God and Goddess.

• Contrapposto stance.

• Uses cross-hatching to create modeling.

• Gnarled bark of trees and feathery leaves makes the scene along with the creatures underneath.

• Cat, elk, rabbit, and ox all represent humanity’s temperaments- coexisting together

• Tension between the cat and mouse is symbolic of the crucial moment between Adam and Eve, of the fall of man.

• The cat=devil pouncing on humanity.

• It’s the moment just seconds before their fall from grace. The branches are already covering their nudity- as if they know what’s getting ready to happen.