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Unit 1.2B
THE
RENAISSANCE
Part II
V. The Northern Renaissance
A. Christian Humanism
1. Focused on early church writings that
provided answers on how to improve
society and reform the church.
2. Drew on Hebrew and Greek texts of
the Bible and the writings of the
church fathers
3. Emphasized education and power of
human intellect to bring about
institutional change and moral
improvement
4. Criticism of the church led to the
Reformation
B. Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536):
1. Most famous of all northern humanists
2. Master of the Greek language
3. Made new translations of the Greek and
Latin versions of the New Testament to create
‘purer’ editions
Portrait of Erasmus,
Massys,1517
Oil on panel
4. In Praise of Folly (1509)
a. Best-seller; written in Latin
b. Sought to reform the church, not destroy it
c. Satirized people’s worldy ambitions,
including the clergy
d. Criticized immorality
and hypocrisy of church
leaders and the clergy
e. Inspired renewed calls
for reform and influenced
Martin Luther
-- “Erasmus laid the egg
that Luther hatched”
Portrait of Erasmus,
Hans Holbein,1523
C. Thomas More (1478-1536)
1. Civic humanist; rose to highest gov’t
position of any humanist
-- Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII
2. Utopia (1516)
a. Mix of civic humanism and religious
idealism in describing a perfect society
b. Sees accumulation of
property as a root
cause of society’s ills
c. People should sacrifice
their individual rights for
the common good
d. War, poverty, religious
Thomas More, Hans
intolerance do not exist
Holbein, 1527
D. Jacques Lefevre d’Etables (1454-1536)
1. Leading French humanist; focused on
early church writings
2. Produced five versions of the Psalms
that challenged a single authoritative
version of the Bible
-- A devout Catholic,
he was later
condemned for
heresy (like Erasmus)
E. Francesco Ximenes de Cisneros
(1436-1517)
1. Spanish humanist; reformed the
Spanish clergy
-- Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish
Inquisition
2. Complutensian Polyglot
Bible: placed Hebrew,
Greek, and Latin
versions of the Bible
in parallel columns
A page from Ximenes
de Cisneros’
Complutensian Polyglot
Bible (this version was
published in 1522)
F. Francois Rabelais (1494-1553)
1. His secular writings demonstrated his
confidence in human nature and
reflected Renaissance tastes.
2. Gargantua (1534) and Pantagruel
(1532)
a. Folk epic and comic masterpiece
satirized French
society
b. Attacked clerical
education and
monastic orders;
championed secular
learning
G. Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)
1. Developed the essay form
-- Became a vehicle for testing new ideas
2. Skepticism
a. Doubted that true knowledge could be
attained
b. Believed the skeptic must be
cautious, critical, and suspend
judgment
c. Thus, one must be
tolerant of others’ views
H. William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
1. Greatest of the English Renaissance
authors
2. His works reflect the Renaissance
ideas of classical Greek and Roman
culture, individualism, and
humanism
3. Wrote comedies,
tragedies, histories
and sonnets
I. Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616)
1. Don Quixote (1605-1616) is considered
among the greatest pieces of Spanish
literature
-- Critical of excessive religious idealism
and chivalric romance
VI. Northern Renaissance Art
A. Flemish style (Low countries)
1. Characteristics
a. Heavily influenced by the Italian
Renaissance
b. More minutely detailed paintings
compared to Renaissance Italy
c. Use of oil paints (compared to
tempera in Italy)
d. More emotion than Italian style
e. Works often preoccupied with
death
2. Jan Van Eyck (1395-1441)
a. Most famous and innovative
Flemish painter of the 15th center
b. Perfected oil painting
c. Naturalistic wood panel paintings
used much religious symbolism
d. Employed incredible detail
e. His masterpiece is the
Ghent Altarpiece (1432)
f. Arnolfini and his Wife
(1434) is his most
,
famous work Self-Portrait
1433
Jan Van Eyck, Ghent Altarpiece, open view, 1432
Jan Van Eyck:
Arnolfini Portrait
(Wedding), 1434
Detail of the mirror in
the painting.
3. Hieronymus Bosch (c.1450-1516)
a. Master of symbolism and fantasy
b. His art often looks surrealistic and
focused often on death and Hell
c. Works reflect
confusion and
anguish people
felt in the Middle
Ages
“Garden of Earthly
Delights,” c. 1500, (detail
of right pane: “Hell”)
d. Death and the Miser
(c. 1490): Depicts the
dance of death of the
Black Plague era
Detail 1: Death is shown in
(perhaps) a prostitute’s robe
holding an arrow
Detail 2: On his deathbed, the miser reaches for a bag of
gold offered by a demon while the angel points to Christ
on the crucifix (not visible)
Detail 3: Christ on the crucifix is located on the only window in the room
with a thin beam of light entering the room.
Detail 4: A demon awaits the miser’s death below.
Detail 5: In the foreground, the miser is shown as a healthy man who
collects wealth in his chest while holding a rosary (left hand).
4. Peter Brueghel the Elder (1520-1569)
a. Focused on lives of ordinary people
b. Little influenced by the Italian
Renaissance
“Peasant Dance,” c. 1560
Brueghel: “Battle Between Carnival and Lent,” 1559
Brueghel: “Children’s Games,” 1560
B. Germany
1. Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)
a. Foremost northern Renaissance artist
b. Master of the woodcut
c. First northern artist to master Italian
Renaissance techniques of
proportion, perspective, and
modeling
d. Notable works include Adam and Eve;
Knight, Death, and the Devil; and Four
Apostles
e. Painted numerous self-portraits
Albrecht Dürer
Adam and Eve,
1504, woodcut
Albrecht Durer:
The Knight,
Death and Devil,
1514,
woodcut
Albrecht
Dürer
Portrait of the
Moorish
Woman
Katharina
c.1521
Dürer: Self-Portraits
1500, oil on wood
panel
1498, oil on wood
panel
2. Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543)
a. Premier portrait painter of his era: painted
Erasmus, More, several of King Henry VIII,
and Henry’s family members
b. The Ambassadors (1553) encompasses several of
the major themes of the era: exploration,
religious discord, preoccupation with death,
and the rising tide of international relations in
an age of expansion
Hans Holbein
the Younger, The
French
Ambassadors,
1553
Holbein:
Portrait of
King Henry
VIII, 1540
Holbein:
Jane Seymore,
1536
3. Fugger family in Germany was
significant in patronizing art of the
Northern Renaissance
-- Their fortune was the result of
international banking (like the
Medicis in Florence)
Albrecht
Dürer
Portrait of
Jacob Fugger,
1518
VII. Women during the Renaissance era
A. Wealthy women
1. Querelles des Femmes (“ The Problem of
Women”): A new debate emerged over the
proper role of women in society (starting
with Christine de Pisan in the 14th
century)
2. Women enjoyed increased access to
education.
3. Yet, lost status compared to women in the
Middle Ages; women now functioned as
“ornaments” to their middle- or upper-class
husbands
4. Women were to make themselves
pleasing to the man (Castiglione);
only applied to upper-class women
5. Sexual double-standard: women were
to remain chaste; men were expected
to be sexually active
6. Important Renaissance noblewomen
at court in education and culture
a. Christine de Pisan (c.1363-c.1434): The
City of Ladies (1405)
• Chronicle of accomplishments of great
women in history
• Renaissance woman’s survival manual
• Pisan was perhaps Europe’s first
feminist
b. Isabella d’ Este (1474-1539): “First Lady”
of the Renaissance
• Set an example for women to break
away from their traditional role as
mere ornaments to their husbands
• Ruled Italian city-state of Mantua after
her husband died
• She and her siblings
were well-educated
• Major patron of the arts
• Founded a school for
young women
• Wrote over 2,000 letters
that provide insight into
politics and courtly life
Portrait by Titian,
1534-36
at that time
c. Artemesia Gentileschi (1593-1652):
Baroque painter
• Perhaps the first female artist to gain
recognition in the post-Renaissance era
• First women to paint historical and
religious scenes: e.g. her series of
“Judith” paintings
• Female artists at this
time were largely limited
to portrait painting and
imitative poses
Self-Portrait as the
Allegory of Painting,
1538-39
B. Peasant and lower-class women
1. Status did not change much compared to the
Middle Ages
2. Marriage
a. European family pattern
• Nuclear family: poor people tended to be
unable to support extended family
• Wealthier people often had extended
family living with them
b. Based on economic considerations; not love
• Parents played a large role when property
was involved
• Dowries extremely important in wealthier
families; also in common families
• Women tended to have a more significant
economic role in northern Europe.
c. Average age for women: less than 20; for
men it was mid- to late-20s.
• Class issues: rich tended to marry earlier
than middle classes, and poor tended to
marry earlier, too, or not at all
• In Italy, the age gap between husbands
was much larger than in northern
Europe.
• Women tended to have a more significant
economic role in northern Europe.
d. Increased infanticide and abandonment
(among the poor)
• Increase in foundling hospitals (2/3 of
abandoned babies were girls)
• Low rate of illegitimate births
e. Dramatic population growth until 1650
3. Divorce available in certain areas (still very
limited) compared to the Middle Ages where
divorce was non-existent
-- Due to a modest increase in divorce in
Reformation countries
4. Rape was not considered a serious crime.
5. Prostitution was more common than during
the Middle Ages.
C. Important female rulers
1. Caterina Sforza in Milan
2. Isabella I of Spain: unified Spain along
with her husband, Ferdinand I
3. Mary Tudor: ruled England (1553-58)
4. Elizabeth I: ruled England (1558-1603)
5. Catherine de Medici: ruled France as
regent from 1559 to 1589
D. Witch hunts mostly affected women (see
next chapter)
E. Joan Kelly (historian): Did Women have a
Renaissance?
1. Asserts middle class women especially suffered
a marked decline in their status along with
that of noble women during the Italian
Renaissance
2. Middle class women were exclusively relegated
to the private sphere while men monopolized
political and economic issues in the public
sphere.
3. Sexual chastity was essential for both women
of the nobility and the bourgeoisie; a doublestandard existed as chastity was not expected
of men
4. Medieval feudalism permitted homage to
female vassals but in Renaissance Italy
feudalism was replaced by powerful city-states.
Thus, the political power of women in many
cases vanished.
•Noble women thus experienced a state of
almost universal dependence on her family
and husband
5. Non-military education by tutors for young
noblemen (and women) had often been done
by females in the Middle Ages. During the
Renaissance female tutors were replaced with
male humanistic tutors or boarding schools
(that emphasized patriarchal and misogynous
bias), thus reducing female tutors.