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NORTHERN
RENAISSANCE
Spread of the Renaissance
■ By the late 15th century, Italian Renaissance thought and ideals had
spread to France, Germany, England, most of Northern Europe.
■ N. Renaissance differed from the Italian Renaissance in some respects
– Greater effort than in Italy to reconcile secular and Christian values
and attitudes
– Infused with a more powerful Christian spirit
– Focused more on the ancient texts of Christianity rather than of
Romans and Greeks
– Studied Latin and Greek, like in Italy, but for editing the Bible and
reading writings of Church Fathers
– Distinctly religious in character
Development of Printing
■ One of the most important events in the
Renaissance outside of Italy
■ Johannes Gutenberg of Mainz in the German
Rhineland around 1440
■ Printed edition of the Bible- 1456
■ By 1480, there were over 380 printing
presses in operation
■ Had an immense impact on European
civilization, enabling the rapid spread of
knowledge and ideas among the educated
classes
Northern Humanists
■ Humanism in the Northern Renaissance is referred to as Christian
humanism because of the humanists’ efforts to unite classical learning
with the Christian faith
■ Rejected medieval Christianity’s excessive emphasis on otherworldliness
■ Sought to achieve a balance of otherworldly and secular concerns and
regarded classics as guides in that quest
■ Desire to use knowledge of classics to deepen understanding of the
Christian faith
■ Begin to criticize Catholic Church
The Brethren of the Common Life
■ Contributed to the
development of Christian
Humanism
■ Devoted themselves to
education based on
classical learning and to
creating a deep spiritual
relationship with Christ and
a love for human beings
Erasmus (1466-1536)
■ One of the most famous of the Christian
Humanists
■ Although he was ordained to priesthood, he
devoted his life to classical studies
■ Was a master of the Greek Language
■ Made new translations of the Greek and
Latin versions of the New Testament to
create “purer” editions
■ Devout Catholic who sought to reform the
Church, not to destroy it
Praise of Folly first printed in 1511
■ Satire, ridiculed many attitudes of his own
time – ignorance, superstition, and greed
■ Satire was sharp when it was directed
against churchmen who manifested these
qualities
■ Criticized the immorality and hypocrisy of
Church leaders and the clergy
■ Best seller- only the Bible sold more by
1550
■ Written in Latin- so not for mass
consumption
■ Book inspired renewed calls for reform
and influenced Martin Luther
“Erasmus laid the egg that Luther
hatched”
Erasmian Humanism
■ Based on Erasmus’s belief that the
Christian religion offered humanity sound
guidelines for its moral conduct and that
religion and learning were bound together
■ Even though he was a critic of the abuses
of the Roman Catholic Church he was not a
Protestant
■ He had faith in the ability for humans to
reform their institutions from within
Thomas More (1478-1535)
■ England’s greatest humanist
■ Prime example of civic humanist- rose to the highest
government position of any humanist
– Lord Chancellor to King Henry VIII in England
■ Most famous work– Utopia
– Society based on reason and tolerance
– Practiced Christianity free of ignorance and
superstition
– No private property or desire for profit
– Contrasted this society with all the evils existing in
his own society
Thomas More
■ Mixes civic humanism with
religious ideals to describe a
perfect society located on an
imaginary island
■ In order to achieve harmony
and order people have to be
willing to sacrifice their
individual rights for the
common good
Jacques Lefevre d’Etables (1454-1536)
■ Leading French humanist and
good example of how Northern
Christian humanists
■ Produced 5 versions of the
Psalms that challenged a
single authoritative version of
the Bible
Francesco Ximenes de Cisneros (14361517)
■ Spanish humanist who reformed the
Spanish clergy and church so that
many of the Church abuses highlighted
in Reformation didn’t necessarily apply
to Spain
■ Grand Inquisitor of Spanish Inquisition
– Shows that not all humanists were
necessarily tolerant in views
LITERATURE OF THE
NORTHERN RENAISSANCE
French Writers
■ François Rabelais (1494-1553)
– Secular writings portrayed his
confidence in human nature and
reflected Renaissance ideals
– Gargantua and Pantagruel
■ Folk epic and comic masterpiece
that satirized French society
■ Attacked clerical education and
monastic orders- championed
secular learning
French Writers
■ Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)
– Developed the essay form
■ A vehicle for testing new ideas
– His father was Catholic, while his mother
was of Spanish Jewish decent
– The mixed religious background of his
parents may have led to his skepticism
about religious beliefs
– Believed that since one could not know
anything with absolute certainty, must
be tolerant
British Literature
■ Elizabethan period
■ Shakespeare (1564-1616)
– Greatest of the English Renaissance authors
– Reflected ideas of classical Greek and Roman culture,
individualism, and humanism
– Wrote comedies, tragedies, histories, and sonnets
– Taming of the Shrew, Midsummer Night’s Dream, The
Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar,
Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and
Cleopatra
Spanish Literature
■ Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616)
– Don Quixote – major work
– Critical of excessive religious idealism and
chivalric romance
– Satire of medieval chivalry- telling story of
nobleman who travels the countryside in
search of romantic adventures and his
accomplice who has common sense and
prudence
– Presented characters of all kinds and classes
NORTHERN
RENAISSANCE ART
Italian v. Northern Renaissance Art
Italian
Northern
Specialty:
Ideal Beauty
Intense Realism
Style:
Simplified forms, measured
proportions
Lifelike features, unflattering
honesty
Subjects:
Religious and mythological
scenes
Religious and domestic scenes
Figures:
Heroic male nudes
Prosperous citizens, peasants
Portraits:
Formal, reserved
Reveal individual personality
Technique:
Fresco, tempera, and oil
paintings
Oil paintings on wood panels
Emphasis:
Underlying anatomical
structure
Visible appearance
Basis of Art:
Theory
Observation
Composition:
Static, balanced
Complex, Irregular
Jan Van Eyck (1390-1441)
■ Most famous and innovative Flemish painter of the 15th
century
■ Brother Hubert was also a painter- they were first major
painters to use oil successfully
– Da Vinci actually learned about oils from them
■ Great attention to minute detail, microscopic detail in vivid
color- trained illuminator of manuscripts
■ Master of portrait painting
Van Eyck: The Marriage of
the Arnolfini (1434)
The Adoration of the Lamb, 1432
Bosch (1450-1516)
■ Netherlands
■ Master of symbolism and fantasy
■ His art often times look surrealistic (similar to Dali of the 20th
century)
■ Focused on death and torments of Hell
■ Inventive torments as punishments for sinners
■ Monsters
■ He believed that a corrupt mankind, seduced by evil, should suffer
calamitous consequences
“The Garden of
Earthly Delights”
Brueghel (1525-69)
■ Flemish
■ Not influenced much by the Italian
Renaissance
■ Focused on the lives of ordinary
people, especially peasants
Breughel: The Battle Between Carnival and Lent
(1559)
The Battle Between Carnival and Lent
(detail)
Breughel: Children’s Games
(1559)
Breughel: The Corn Harvest (1565)
The Corn Harvest (detail)
Breughel: Hunters in the Snow (1565)
Breughel: Peasant Wedding (1568/69)
Peasant Wedding (detail)
Dürer (1471-1528)
■ Native of Nuremberg- major German Renaissance artist
■ Master of the woodcut
■ “Leonardo of the North”
■ First northerner to master Italian techniques of proportion,
perspective, and modeling
■ Painted numerous self-portraits
■ Painted both religious and classical subjects
Durer: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,
woodcut (1498)
Durer: Knight, Death, and the Devil
engraving, (1513)
Grünewald (1475-1530)
■ German Rhineland
■ Primarily religious
works
■ Somber and awefilled crucifixion
scenes
■ The Isenheim
altarpiece is best –
known work
Holbein the Younger (1497-1543)
■ Premier portrait artist of the era
– Painted Erasmus and numerous
portraits of Henry VIII
■ Considerable Italian influence
■ His father was an important painter in
Gothic tradition of medieval German Art
El Greco (1541-1614)
■ Greatest painter of the Spanish Renaissance
■ Studied in Italy with Titan
■ His paintings reflected his intense religious
mysticism and characterized by elongated
and distorted figures ‘
■ Dramatic lighting effects
Mannerism
■ Reaction against the Renaissance ideals of balance, symmetry, simplicity, and
realistic use of color
■ Used unnatural colors with elongated shapes