Download Chapter 23 16th Century Art in Northern Europe and Spain Notes

Chapter 23 16th Century Art in Northern Europe and Spain Notes
Spain became the dominant power in Europe by the end of the 16th century. After the
dissolution of the Burgundian Netherlands in 1477 and its absorption by France and the Holy
Roman Empire (mainly Germany), Spain achieved this through calculated marriages, and
military exploits. Monarchs increased their authority over their subjects and cultivated a
stronger sense of cultural and political unity among the populace laying the foundation for the
modern nation. The Reformation overshadowed all these political events. The establishment of
Protestantism prompted the Catholic Church’s response, The Counter Reformation.
The Reformation had its roots in the long term dissatisfaction with Church leadership. This
created a great obstacle for those who sought meaningful faith. There was the perception that
the popes were after only worldly gain and not salvation. The popes and cardinals came from
wealthy families such as the Medici. Spiritual corruption was rampant, not only on the highest
levels, but also on the lower levels.
People sought new ways to invigorate their spiritual commitment and ensure salvation. In the
15th century these attempts included pilgrimages, joining confraternities and orders, and
commissioning artworks, such as Books of Hours, rosaries, prints and paintings as visual aids in
private devotions.
The most outspoken critic to papal authority was German theologian Martin Luther (14831546). He sparked the Reformation with his posting of his Ninety-Five Theses on the Church
in Wittenberg in 1517. The Ninety-Five Theses enumerated his objections to Church practices,
especially the sale of indulgences. Indulgences were reductions in time spent in Purgatory. The
sale of such suggested that people were buying their way into Heaven. Luther’s goal was
significant reform and clarification of major spiritual issues, but these ideas led to a split in
Christendom. Luther contended that the Church’s political structure needed to be cast out for it
had no basis in scripture. The Bible and nothing else should serve as the foundational authority
for Christianity. Luther declared the pope as Antichrist (for which the pope excommunicated
him), called the Church the “Whore of Babylon,” and denounced ordained priests. He also
rejected most of the Catholic Church’s sacraments, decrying them as obstacles to salvation. He
did accept two sacraments Baptism and Communion of the Lord’s Supper. For Christianity to
be restored to its original purity, the Church needed cleansing of all the impurities of doctrine
that had developed over the ages.
Central to the reformers creed was how to achieve salvation. Rather than perceive salvation as
something which weak and sinful humans must constantly strive through good deeds performed
under the watchful eye of a punitive God. Luther proposed that faithful individuals attain
redemption by God’s bestowal of his grace. Therefore people cannot earn salvation. There is
no need for ecclesiastical machinery with its rites and indulgent forgiveness, for they could not
save. Justification was by faith alone, and faith is informed by scripture. This was the
fundamental doctrine of Protestantism. The Bible was the sole authority and the source of all
religious truth, not the Church’s councils, law, and rituals. Luther produced the first translation
of the Bible in vernacular language.
Catholicism versus Protestantism
The doctrinal differences between Protestantism and Catholicism are expressed visually in
Allegory of Law and Grace by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472 - 1553). Produced in the
years after the onset of the Reformation, Allegory is a small woodcut print. Protestants viewed
low key images such as woodcut prints as useful devotional aids. Prints provided a prime
vehicle for “educating the masses,” because artists could print them easily, permitting wide
circulation and the sale of numerous copies. The low cost of prints made them more accessible
to the masses than other costly mediums.
In Allegory of Law and Grace, Cranach depicted the difference between Catholicism (based on
Old Testament Law, according to Luther) and Protestantism (based on a belief in God’s grace)
in two images separated by a centrally placed tree. On the left half Judgment Day has arrived,
as represented by Christ at the top of the scene. Christ raises his left hand in the traditional
gesture of damnation, and below a skeleton drives off a terrified person to burn for all eternity
in Hell. This person tried to live a good and honorable life, but despite his efforts he fell short.
Moses stands to the side, holding the Tablets of the Law - the commandments Catholics follow
in their attempt to obtain salvation. The right side depicts the Protestant view that emphasizes
God’s grace as the source of redemption. Accordingly, God showers the sinner with grace, as
streams of blood flow from the crucified Christ. On the far right Christ emerges from the tomb
and promises salvation to all who believe in him. Cranach’s close relationship with Luther has
led scholars to refer to Cranach as the “painter of the Reformation.”
The conflicts between Catholicism and Protestantism were often violent and bloody. In
Catholic France some citizens embraced Protestantism which was declared illegal in 1534 by
the king of France, Francis I. The state prosecuted the Protestants and Huguenots, and drove
them underground. The Protestants and Catholics clashed in August 1572 and was one of the
bloodiest religious massacres in European history and was part of a long running war that lasted
to the end of the 16th century.
The Reformation affected the arts and patronage and the types of art commissioned. Catholics
embraced Church decoration as an aid to communicate with God. In contrast Protestants
believed such imagery could lead to idolatry and distract viewers from their real reason in
Church, to communicate with God directly. As a result, Protestant Church's were relatively
bare and did not have extensive decorating programs. There was still use for visual images for
Protestants, especially prints as mentioned earlier. The popularity of prints both contributed to
and was fueled by the transition from handwritten illuminated manuscripts to print media in
Northern Europe during the 16th century.
Largely because of Luther’s presence, the Reformation initially had its greatest impact in the
Holy Roman Empire. The difference between Catholic and Protestant works can be seen by
comparing two German artworks, one pre-Reformation by Matthias Grunewald and one by
Albrecht Durer produced in the years after the Reformation began.
Matthias Grunewald (1480-1528) worked for the archbishops of Mainz from 1511 as a court
painter and decorator. He eventually moved to Northern Germany. Around 1510, Grunewald
began work on the Isenheim Altarpiece a complex and fascinating monument that reflects
Catholic beliefs.
The altarpiece was created for the monastic hospital order Saint Anthony of Isenheim. It
consisted of a wooden shrine (carved by sculptor Nicholaus Hagenauer in 1490) that includes
gilded and polychromed statues of Saint Anthony Abbot, Augustine, and Jerome. Grunewald’s
contribution, commissioned by the head administrator of the monastery, Guidio Guersi, consists
of two pairs of moveable wings that open at the center, Hinged together at the sides, one pair
stands directly behind the other. Painted by Grunewald between 1510 and 1515, the exterior
panels of the first pair (visible when the altarpiece is closed, present four scenes - Crucifixion
in the center, Saint Sebastian on the left, and Saint Anthony on the right, and Lamentation in
the predella. When the exterior wings are opened, four additional scenes are revealed:
Annunciation, Angelic Concert, Madonna and Child, and Resurrection. Opening this
second pair of wings exposes the interior shrine, flanked by Meeting of Saints Anthony and
Paul and Temptation of Saint Anthony.
The placement of this altarpiece in the choir of a church adjacent to the monastery hospital
dictated much of the imagery. Saints associated with diseases such as the plague and with
miraculous cures, such as Saint Anthony and Saint Sebastian, appear prominently in the
Isenheim Altarpiece. Grunewald’s panels deal with the themes of dire illness and miraculous
healing and emphasize the suffering of Saint Anthony, the orders patron saint. Grunewald’s
images served as warnings, thereby encouraging increased devotion from monks and hospital
patients. They also functioned therapeutically by offering some hope to the afflicted. Indeed
Saint Anthony’s legend encompassed his role as both vengeful dispenser of justice (by
inflicting disease) and benevolent healer. The artist enhanced the impact of this altarpiece
through his effective use of color. He intensified the contrast horror and hope by playing
subtle tones and soft harmonies against shocking dissonance of color.
One of the most memorable scenes is Temptation of Saint Anthony, to the right of the
sculpted shrine. It is a terrifying image of five temptations, depicted as ghoulish creatures in a
dark landscape, attacking the saint. In the foreground is a grotesque image of a man with
oozing boils, withered arm and bloated belly, all suggesting some horrible disease. Medical
experts have connected these symptoms with ergotism (a disease caused by a fungus that grows
on rye.) The public referred to this illness as “Saint Anthony’s Fire,” and was a disease treated
at this hospital. The gangrene that accompanied it often resulted in amputation. The front panel
with the Crucifixion and Lamentation have the figures of Christ placed so that when opened,
Christ's legs in Lamentation and his right arm in Crucifixion would be severed.
Grunewald carefully selected and presented his iconography to be particularly meaningful for
viewers of this hospital. In the interior shrine, the artist balanced the horrors of the disease and
the punishments that awaited those who did not repent with scenes such as the Meeting of
Saints Anthony and Paul, depicting the two saints, healthy and aged, conversing peacefully.
The exterior panels (the closed altarpiece) convey the same concerns. The Crucifixion
emphasizes Christ’s pain and suffering, but the knowledge that this acted redeemed humanity
tempers the misery. Saint Anthony appears in the right wing as a devout follower of Christ,
who like Christ and for Christ endured intense suffering for his faith. This reinforces the
themes that are intertwined throughout the altarpiece - themes of pain, illness, and death as well
as those of hope, comfort, and salvation.
The Protestant faith had not been formally established when Hagenauer and Grunewald
produced the Isenheim Altarpiece, and the complexity and monumentality of the altarpiece must
be viewed as Catholic in orientation. Further Grunewald incorporated several references to
Catholic doctrines, such as the lamb whose wound spurts blood into a chalice in the Crucifixion
scene.
Albrecht Durer (1471 - 1528) was a dominant artist in the early 16th century in the Holy
Roman Empire, and was the first artist outside of Italy to become an international art celebrity.
Durer traveled widely and was thus personally aquatinted with many of the leading humanists
and artists of his time including Giovanni Bellini and Erasmus of Rotterdam. Durer was a man
of exceptional talents and energy, achieving wide spread fame and reputation in his own time
and since. Durer was ambitious and employed an agent to sell his prints. His wife was his
manager, and his mother sold his prints at the market. Durer bringing a lawsuit against an
Italian artist for copying his prints is believed to be the first of its kind in history over artistic
copyright. At age 15 he was apprenticed to a painter and quickly mastered the art of woodcut
and watercolor.
Like Leonardo, Durer wrote treatises on a variety of subjects, such as perspective, human
proportions and fortifications. Unlike Leonardo he finished and published his writings.
Through his prints, he exerted strong influence throughout Europe, Flanders and Italy. He was
the first northern artist to leave a record of his life and career through several excellent self
portraits, through his correspondence, and through a carefully kept, detailed and readable diary.
A native of Nuremberg, a major city and center of Reformation, Durer immersed himself in the
religious debates of his day and displayed his Lutheran sympathies in many of his art works.
Last Supper is a woodcut Durer produced six years after Luther nailed his Ninety Five Theses
on the door of the Wittenberg Church. Durer’s treatment of the traditional subject alludes to
Lutheran doctrine about Communion. Rather than promote the doctrine of transubstantiation,
the Catholic belief that when consecrated by the priest the bread and wine miraculously became
the actual literal Body and Blood of Christ, Luther insisted that Communion was
commemorative, not a reenactment.
This narrative emphasizes sorrow and community. Christ has announced his betrayal and only
eleven disciples remain. The bread and the wine appear prominently in the lower right corner
and the empty plate in the foreground refers to the commemorative function of the Lords
Supper, rather than the literal nature. Traditional depictions often have a slaughtered lamb on
the plate, conspicuously absent here.
Through his prints, Durer became famous for his mastery of graphic arts. His technical ability
and his feeling for the form creating possibilities of line enabled him to produce a body of work
in woodcuts and engravings that has seldom been rivaled for quality and number. Durer created
numerous book illustrations; he also circulated and sold prints in single sheets, which people of
ordinary means could buy, expanding his audience considerably. Aggressively marketing his
works, Durer became a wealthy man from their sale.
Emphasizing the Bible
Durer’s support of Lutheranism surfaces again in his painting Four Apostles. The work was
produced without commission and the two panels were presented to the city fathers of
Nuremberg in 1526 to be hung in the city hall suggests that this work reflected his personal
attitudes. John and Peter appear on the left panel, and Mark and Paul on the right. The title
could be argued is a misnomer; Mark was an Evangelist not an Apostle. Durer’s Lutheran
orientation can be seen in the arrangement of the figures. Peter, as representative of the pope, is
regulated to a secondary role by placing him behind John the Evangelist. John assumed
particular prominence for Luther because of the Evangelist’s focus on the person of Christ in
his Gospel. In addition, both Peter and John read the Bible, the single authoritative source of
religious truth, according to Luther. The Bible in John’s hand is open to the legible beginning
of John’s Gospel; “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God” (John 1:1). At the bottom of the panels are quotations from each of the Four
Apostle’s books, using Luther’s German translation. The excerpts warn against the coming of
perilous times and preaching of false prophets who will distort God’s Word. The individuality
of each of the four men’s faces, along with the detailed depiction of their attire and attributes,
communicate an integrity and spirituality.
Classical Ideas
Durer was among the first Northern artists to travel to Italy expressly to study Italian and its
underlying theories at their source. He journeyed their twice (1494 - 1495 first, and 15051506). After the first, he incorporated many Italian Renaissance developments into his art. Art
historians have acclaimed Durer as the first northern artist to understand fully the basic
aims of the Renaissance in Italy.
An engraving, The Fall of Man (Adam and Eve), represents the first distillation of his studies
of the Vitruvian theory of human proportions, a theory based on arithmetic ratios. Clearly
outlined against a dark background of a northern forest, the two idealized figures of Adam and
Eve stand in poses reminiscent of classical statues, possibly known to Durer through prints.
Preceded by numerous geometric drawings in which the artist attempted to systematize sets of
ideal human proportions in balanced contrapposto poses, the final print presents idealism with
naturalism - a commitment to observation.
Durer demonstrated his well developed skills in the many textures and the symbolic animals
depicted. The four animals represent the four temperaments; choleric cat, melancholic elk,
sanguine rabbit, and the phlegmatic ox are based on the “four humors,” bodily liquids that were
the basis of theories of the body's function developed by the ancient Greek physician
Hippocrates and practiced in medieval physiology. The tension between the cat and mouse in
the foreground symbolizes the relation between Adam and Eve at the crucial moment in The
Fall of Man.
Beauty in Nature
Durer was allied with Leonardo’s scientific studies and the belief that observation yielded truth.
Sight became the secularized instrument of modern knowledge. “Sight is the noblest sense of
man” according to Aristotle and Durer agreed. Nature holds the beautiful for the artist who can
extract it. Thus beauty lies even in humble, perhaps ugly, things, and the ideal, which
bypasses or improves on nature, may not be truly beautiful in the end. Uncomposed and
ordinary nature might be a reasonable object of an artist’s interest, quite as much as it’s
composed and measured aspect. The Great Piece of Turf is as scientifically accurate as it is
poetic. Durer said “Depart not from nature according to your fancy, imagining to find
ought better by yourself... For verily ‘art’ is embedded in nature; he who can extract it,
has it.”
Elevating Engraving
Durer’s lifelong interest in both idealization and naturalism is depicted in his engraving Knight,
Death, and the Devil. It is one of three so called Master Engravings Durer made between 1513
and 1514. It is so technically outstanding that the texture and tonal values would be difficult to
render in the more flexible etching medium that was developed later in the century. Durer’s
early training as a goldsmith helped to develop his extraordinary proficiency with the burin, the
engraving tool.
This print depicts a mounted armored knight who rides fearlessly through a foreboding
landscape, accompanied by his faithful retriever. The knight represents a Christian Knight, a
soldier of God. Armed with his faith, this warrior can repel the threats of Death, who appears
as a crowned decaying cadaver wreathed with snakes and shaking an hourglass as a reminder of
time and mortality. The knight is equally impervious to the Devil, a pathetically horned
creature who follows him. The knight triumphs because he has “put on the whole armor of
God that he may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” Ephesians 6:11.
The knight is powerful in movement and is similar to the equestrian statues of Donatello and
Verrocchio that Durer had seen, along with Leonardo’s sketches of horses. The tremendous
variety of textural details and tones was achieved the dense hatching of fluidly engraved lines
that rivals the tonal range of painting.
Durer’s art reveals an inspired and inquisitive mind and phenomenally gifted talent. To this day
his work is a model for other arts and he deserves much the credit for expanding the capacity of
the graphic arts to convey intellectually and emotionally complex themes.
History and Politics
Though Reformation concerns were prominent in art produced in the Holy Roman Empire in
the 16th century, artists also addressed historical and political issues. The Battle of Issus by
Albrecht Altdorfer (1480 - 1538), depicts the defeat of Darius in 333 BC by Alexander the
Great at a town called Issus on the Pinarus River (announced in the inscription hanging in the
sky). The Duke of Bavaria, Wilhelm IV, commissioned the Battle of Issus in 1528 concurrent
with his commencement of a military campaign against the invading Turks. The parallels
between the two historical and contemporary conflicts were significant to the Duke. Both
involved societies that deemed themselves progressive engaged in battles against infidels - the
Persians in 333 BC and the Turks in 1528. Altdorfer encouraged this connection by depicting
the figures in contemporary armor and contemporary military alignments.
It is clear that Altdorfer loved landscape. Although the awesome landscape may seem
imaginary, the artist actually used available historic information to create the painting. The
landscape is derived from maps. He set the scene in the eastern Mediterranean with a view
from Greece to the Nile in Egypt. Altdorfer may have acquired his information about this battle
from an account written by Johannes Aventinus, a German scholar. The text describes the
bloody day long battle and Alexander’s ultimate victory. Given Alexander’s designation as the
“sun god,” the sun sets over the victorious Greeks on the right while a small crescent moon
hovers in the upper left over the retreating Persians.
Hans Holbein the Younger (1497 - 1543) was a painter to the English Court. He produced
portraits in the northern tradition of close realism that had emerged in the 15th century art of
Flanders. Yet they also incorporated Italy ideas about monumental composition, bodily
structure and sculpturesque form. While the English Court painter, Holbein painted The
French Ambassadors, a superb double portrait of the French ambassadors to England.
Holbein’s abilities are on full display here. This painting may have been Holbein’s favorite
because it is the only one he signed with his full name. The two ambassadors, who were both
ardent humanists, stand at each end of a side table covered with an oriental rug and a collection
of objects reflective of their worldliness and their interest in learning and the arts. These
include mathematical and astronomical models and implants, a lute with a broken string,
compasses, a sundial, flutes, globes, and an open hymnbook with Luther’s translation of Veni,
Creator Spiritus and the Ten Commandments.
Of particular interest is the long gray shape that slashes diagonally across the picture plane and
interrupts the stable, balanced, serene composition. This form is an anamorphic image, a
distorted image recognizable when viewed with a special device, such as a cylindrical mirror, or
by viewing the painting at an acute angle. Viewing this painting while standing off to the right
reveals this gray slash is a skull. The meaning of the skull is not clear but is probably related to
death. Artists commonly incorporated skulls into paintings as reminders of mortality; another
skull is on the metal medallion on the hat of the ambassador on the left. Holbein may have
intended the skulls, in conjunction with the crucifix that appears half hidden behind the curtain
in the upper left corner, to encourage viewers to ponder and resurrection.
This painting may allude to the growing tension between secular and religious authorities. Jean
de Dinteville on the left was a titled landowner, Georges de Selve, on the right, was a bishop.
The inclusion of Luther’s translations next to the lute with a broken string (the symbol of
discord) may also subtly refer to religious strife. What ever the meaning, Holbein rendered the
objects, figures, textures, and patterns with the same exquisite skill. He hoped this painting
would impress Henry VIII after Holbein had arrived in England.
France
France in the early 16th century continued efforts to be viewed as a major political power.
Under the rule of Francis I (1515 - 1547), the French established a firm foothold in Milan and
its environs. France waged a campaign against Charles V (the Spanish King and Holy Roman
Emperor) from 1521 - 1544. These wars involved disputed territories - southern France, the
Netherlands, the Rhineland, northern Spain, and Italy - and reflect France’s central role in the
shifting geopolitical landscape. Despite these military preoccupation's, Francis I also
endeavored to elevate his countries cultural profile. To that end, he invited Leonardo da Vinci
and Andrea del Sarto to his court. Francis’ attempt to glorify the state and himself meant
that the religious art dominating the Middle Ages no longer prevailed, for the king and
not the Christian Church held the power.
The portrait Francis I painted by Jean Clouet (1485-1541), shows a worldly prince
magnificently bedecked in silks and brocades, wearing a gold chain with the medallion of the
Order of Saint Michael, a French Order founded by Louis XI. Legend has it that the “merry
monarch” was a great lover and the hero of many “gallant” deeds; appropriately he appears
suave and confident, with his hand resting on the pommel of a dagger. Despite the careful
detail, the portrait exhibits an elegantly formalized quality. This characteristic is due to
Clouet’s suppression of modeling, resulted in a flattening of the features, seen particularly
in Francis’ neck. The disproportion between the small size of the king’s head in relation
to his broad body, swathed in heavy layers of fabric, adds to the formalized nature.
A Painted and Plastered Palace
The personal tastes of Francis and his court must have run to an art at once elegant, erotic, and
unorthodox. Appropriately Mannerism appealed to them most. Among the Italian artists who
had a strong impact on French art were Mannerists Rosso Fiorentino and Benvenuto Cellini.
Rosso became the court painter to Francis I shortly after 1530. The king put Rosso Fiorentino
(1504-1570) along with fellow Florentine Francesco Primaticcio (1504-1570), in charge of
decorating the new royal palace at Fontainebleau. Scholars refer to the sculptors and painters
who worked together on this project as the school of Fontainebleau. When Rosso and
Primaticcio decorated the gallery of Francis I at Fontainebleau, they combined painting, fresco,
imitation mosaic, and stucco sculpture in low and high relief. The abrupt changes in scale and
in texture of the figurative elements are typically Mannerist, as are the compressed space,
elongated grace, and stylized poses. The formalized elegance of the paintings also appears in
the stucco relief figures and caryatids, and a shift in scale between the painted and stucco
figures adds tension. The combination of painted and stucco relief decorations became
extremely popular from that time on and remained a favorite ornamental technique
throughout the Baroque and Rococo periods of the 17th and early 18th centuries.
From Castles to Chateaux
During his reign, Francis I indulged a passion for building by commissioning several large scale
chateaux, among them the Chateau de Chambord. Reflecting more peaceful times, these
chateaux, developed from old castles, served as country houses for royalty, who usually built
them near forests for use as hunting lodges. Construction of Chambord began in 1519, but
Francis I never saw its completion. Chambord’s plan, originally drawn by a pupil of Giuliano
da Sanallo, includes a central square block with four corridors, in the shape of a cross, and a
broad central staircase that gives access to groups of rooms - ancestors of the modern suite of
rooms or apartments. At each of the four corners, a round tower punctuates the square plan, and
a moat surrounds the whole. From the exterior, Chambord presents a carefully contrived
horizontal accent on three levels, its floors separated by continuous moldings. Windows align
precisely, one exactly over another. The Italian palazzo served as the model for this matching
of horizontal and vertical features, but above the third level the structure’s lines break
chaotically into a jumble of high dormers, chimneys and lanterns that recall the soaring ragged
Gothic silhouettes on the skyline.
The Louvre
Chambord essentially retains French architectural characteristics. During the reign of Francis’
successor, Henry II (1547-1559), strong Italian influence appeared because of translations of
Italian architectural treatises and more Italian architects came to work in France. The French
also turned to Italy for study and travel. Such exchanges caused a more extensive revolution in
style than earlier, although certain French elements derived from Gothic tradition persisted.
This incorporation of Italian architectural ideas can be seen in the redesigning of the Louvre in
Paris, originally a medieval palace and fortress. Since Charles V’s renovation of the Louvre in
the mid 14th century, the castle languished relatively empty and had thus fallen into a state of
disrepair. Francis I initiated this project to update and extend the royal palace, but died before
the work was well underway. His architect Pierre Lescot (1510-1578), continued under Henry
II and, with aid of the sculptor Jean Goujon (1510-1565), produced the classical style later
associated with 16th century French architecture.
Although Chambord incorporated the formal vocabulary of the Early Renaissance, particularly
from Lombardy, Lescot and his associates were familiar with the 16th century architecture of
Bramante and his school. As the west facade of the Square Court shows, each of the
Louvre’s stories forms a complete order, and the cornices project enough to furnish a
strong horizontal accent. The arcading on the ground story reflects the ancient Roman
use of arches and produces more shadow in the upper stories due to its recessed
placement, thereby strengthening the designs visual base. On the second story, the
pilasters rising from the bases and the alternating curved and angular pediments
supported by consoles have direct antecedents in several High Renaissance palaces. Yet
the decreased height of the stories, the scale of the windows (proportionately much larger
than in Renaissance buildings), and the steep roof suggest northern models. Especially
French are the pavilions jutting from the wall. A feature the French long featured -
double columns framing a niche - punctuates the pavilions. The building’s vertical lines
assert themselves. Openings deeply penetrate the wall, and sculptures abound. Other
northern countries imitated this French Classical manner - its double columned pavilions,
tall and wide windows, profuse statuary, and steep roofs - although with local variations.
The modified classicism the French produced was the only classicism to serve as a model
for northern architects through the 16th century. Some scholars believe that the west
courtyard facade is the best of the French 16th century architecture. Eventually the French
purged their architecture of Italian features and architects, such as, Francois Mansart (15981666) and Philibert De L’Orme (1500/15 - 1570) established a unique French classical
architectural style.
Lightness, Ease, and Grace
The statues in the Louvre courtyard facade, now much restored, are Goujon’s work. His
Nymphs reliefs; four of the six are shown, from the Fountain of the Innocents in Paris
originally decorated two facades of a fountain. The nymphs carry or stand next to the vases of
flowing water. Like the architecture of the Louvre, Goujon’s Nymphs recall the Italian,
particularly Mannerist canon of figure design. Surely their figura serpentinata poses are
Mannerist. Their flowing, clinging, draperies parallel the ancient “wet” drapery of Greek
sculpture - the figures on the parapet of the Temple of Athena Nike for example. Goujon’s
slender sinuous figures perform their steps within a confined, unspecified space, and they
appear to make one continuous motion, an illusion produced by reversing the gestures, as they
might be seen in a mirror. The style of Fontainebleau guided the sculptor here, but Goujon
learned the manner so well that he created originality within it.
The Netherlands
At the beginning of the 16th century, the Netherlands was made up of what are now the modern
countries of Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg. This area was the most commercially
advanced and prosperous in all of Europe. Because of the rivers and ocean, sea trade and ship
building made up much of the economy. The commercial center changed from Burges to
Antwerp after 1510. As many as 500 ships a day passed through Antwerp’s harbor. Large
trading companies from other countries established themselves in the city.
Phillip II of Spain controlled the Netherlands for much of the 16th century, having inherited the
region from his father Charles V (1519-1556). The economic benefit of the region encouraged
Phillip to solidify his control over the area. These heavy handed tactics led to revolt in 1579.
This led to the formation of two federations. The Union of Arris, a Catholic union of Southern
Netherlandish provinces, remained under Spanish domination. The Union of Utrecht, a
Protestant union of Northern provinces, became the Dutch Republic.
The increasing number of citizens converting to Protestantism affected the arts, as evidenced by
a corresponding decrease in large scale altarpieces and religious works, though Catholic
Churches continued the commissions. Secular subjects became more pronounced.
Women Artists
With the accumulation of wealth in the Netherlands, portraits increased in popularity. The self
portrait by Caterina Van Hemessen (1528-1587), is purportedly the first known northern
European self portrait by a woman. Van Hemessen’s father Jan Sanders van Hemessen, a well
known painter trained her. Caterina ensured proper identification (and credit) through the
inscription in the painting: “Caterina van Hemessen painted me / 1548 / her age 20.”
Levina Teerlinc (1515-1576) of Burges established herself as such a respected artist that she
was invited to England to paint miniatures for the courts of Henry VIII and his successors.
There, she was a formidable rival of some of her male contemporaries on the court, such as
Holbein, and received greater compensation for her work than they did for theirs. Teerlinc’s
skill is evident in her portrait Elizabeth I as Princess. Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry
VIII and Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth was probably in her late 20’s when she sat for this portrait.
That female artist like van Hemessen and Teerlinc were able to achieve such success is a
testament to their determination and skill. Despite the difficulties for women obtaining artistic
training women artists contributed significantly to the lofty reputation enjoyed by Flemish
artists. Women were also significant patrons. Like other art patrons these women
commissioned art not only for the aesthetic pleasure it provided, but also for the status it
bestowed on them and the cultural sophistication it represented.
Landscape
Landscape also flourished. Particularly well known for his landscapes was Joachim Patinir
(died 1524). The word landscape (Landschaft) first emerged in German literature as a
characterization of an artistic genre when Durer described Patinir as a “good landscape painter.”
In Landscape with Saint Jerome, Patinir subordinated the biblical scene to the exotic and
detailed landscape. Jerome, removing a thorn from a lion’s paw, is dwarfed by the scene.
Atmospheric perspective is masterfully used to create the sense of great depth.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
The early high horizoned landscapes of Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1528-1569) reveal both an
interest in the interrelationship of human beings and nature and Patinir’s influence. But in
Bruegel’s paintings, no matter how huge a slice of the world the artist shows, human activities
remain the dominant theme. Like many of his contemporaries, Bruegel traveled to Italy, where
he seems to have spent almost two years, going as far south as Sicily. Unlike other artists,
however, Bruegel chose not to incorporate classical elements into his paintings. The impact of
his Italian experiences emerges in his work most frequently in Italian or Alpine landscape
features, which he recorded in numerous drawings during his journey.
Hunters in the Snow is one of five surviving paintings of a series of six illustrating seasonal
changes in the year, and refers back to older Netherlandish traditions of depicting seasons and
peasants found in the Book of Hours. Production of this painting in 1565 coincided with a
particularly severe winter. The weary hunters return with their hounds, women build fires,
skaters skim the frozen pond, and the town and its Church huddle in their mantle of snow;
beyond this typical Netherlandish landscape lies a bit of Alpine landscape. Aside from this
trace of fantasy, the artist rendered the landscape in an optically accurate manner. Bruegel’s
consummate skill in using line and shape and his subtlety in tonal harmony make this one of the
great landscape paintings and an occidental counterpart of the masterworks of classical Chinese
landscape.
Spain
Spain emerged as the dominant European power at the end of the 16th century. Under Charles
V of Habsburg (1516-1556) and his son Phillip II (1556-1598), the Spanish Empire dominated a
territory greater in extant than any ever known - a large part of Europe, the western
Mediterranean , a strip of North Africa, and vast expanses in the New World. Spain acquired
many of its New World colonies through aggressive overseas exploration. Columbus (14511506), Balboa (1475-1517), Magellan (1480-1521), Cortez (1485-1547), and Pizarro (14701541), were notable conquistadors sailing under the Spanish flag. The Hapsburg Empire,
enriched by New World plunder, supported the most powerful military force in Europe. Spain
defended and promoted the interests of the Catholic Church in its battle against the Protestant
Reformation. Phillip earned the title “Most Catholic King.” Spain’s crusading spirit, formed
by centuries of war with Islam, engaged body and soul in forming the most Catholic civilization
in Europe and the Americas. In the 16th century, for good or ill, Spain left the mark of Spanish
power, religion, language, and culture on two hemispheres.
El Greco
Domenikos Theotopoulos, called El Greco (1547-1614), was born on Crete but immigrated to
Italy as a young man. In his youth he absorbed the traditions of Late Byzantine frescos and
mosaics. While still young, El Greco went to Venice, where he connected with Titian’s
workshop, although Tintoretto’s paintings seemed to have greater influence on him. A brief trip
to Rome explains the influences of Roman and Florentine Mannerism on his work. By 1577 he
had left for Spain to spend the rest of his life in Toledo.
El Greco’s art had a strong personal blending of Late Byzantine and late Italian Mannerist
elements. The intense emotionalism of his paintings appealed to the pious fervor of the
Spanish, and a great reliance on color bound him to 16th century Venetian art and to
Mannerism. His strong sense of movement and use of light prefigured the Baroque style. El
Greco’s art was not strictly Spanish, for it had no Spanish antecedents and little effect on later
Spanish painters. Nevertheless, El Greco’s hybrid style captured the fervor of Spanish
Catholicism. The fervor is vividly expressed in the artist’s masterpiece, The Burial of Count
Orgaz, painted in 1586 for the church of Santo Tome in Toledo. El Greco based the artwork on
the legend that the Count of Orgaz, who had died some three centuries before and who had been
a great benefactor of Santo Tome, was buried in the Church by Saints Stephen and Augustine,
who miraculously descended from heaven to lower the Count’s body into the sepulcher.
In the painting the brilliant Heaven that opens above irradiates the earthly scene. El Greco
carefully distinguished the terrestrial and celestial spheres. He represented the terrestrial with a
firm realism whereas he depicted the celestial, in his quite personal manner, with elongated and
undulating figures, fluttering draperies, and a visionary swirling cloud. Below the two saints
lovingly lower the Count’s armor clad body. The armor and draperies are painted with all the
sensuousness of the Venetian school, a solemn chorus of black clad Spanish personages fill the
background. In the careful individualized features of the figures, El Greco demonstrated that he
was also a great portraitist. These men call to mind both the conquistadors of the early 16th
century and the Spanish navel officers who, two years after the completion of this painting, led
the Great Spanish Armada against both Protestant England and the Netherlands.
The upward glances of some of the figures below and the flight of the angel above link the
painting’s lower and upper spheres. The action of the angel, who carries the counts soul in his
arms as Saint John and the Virgin Mary intercede for it before the throne of Christ, reinforces
this connection. El Greco’s deliberate change in style to distinguish between the two levels of
reality gives the viewer an opportunity to see the artist’s early and late manners in the same
work, one below the other. The lower earthly portion of the painting, sumptuous and realistic,
is strongly rooted in Venetian art, but the abstractions and distortions of the depicting the
immaterial world of Heaven, characterize his later style. His elongated figures existing in
undefined spaces, bathed in a cool light of uncertain origin, explain El Greco’s usual
classification as a Mannerist, but it is difficult to apply that label to him without reservations.
Although he used Mannerist formal devices, El Greco’s primary concerns were emotional and
conveying his religious fervor or arousing that of his observers. The forcefulness of his
paintings is the result of his unique, highly developed style.
Conclusion
The 16th century in northern Europe and Spain was a century of upheaval, both religious and
political. The Reformation and the creation of Protestantism brought about far reaching change.
Protestants promoted a spiritual model different from Catholicism in its emphasis on absolute
faith and reliance on the Bible. These beliefs led to less ostentatious forms of art; in particular
Protestants discouraged the production of expansive decoration programs such as those
regularly found in Catholic Churches. The 16th century in the North was also characterized by
extreme military hostilities. Yet despite the conflicts between the various European countries,
extensive dialogue transpired among artists in these countries, and artistic influence and ideas
traveled in many directions. In such a climate, the arts flourished. In the next century, as
modern nation-states and capitalist economies solidified, development in the arts took new
directions, in a period known as the Baroque.