The Northern Renaissance Essential Question: How did cultural diffusion spread the ideas of the Italian Renaissance to the rest of Europe?
As these ideas spread, this “Northern Renaissance” developed its own characteristics The Renaissance spread from Italy as scholars & merchants from other areas visited Italian city-states
The Renaissance in France was most known for its unique architecture
The Renaissance in England was most known for literature, especially the plays of William Shakespeare
The Renaissance in the Netherlands was most known for realism in art Wedding Portrait by Jan Van Eyck
Renaissance ideas soon spread beyond Italy to northern Europe Northern Renaissance Renaissance ideas soon spread beyond Italy to northern Europe Trade Travel – people going to and from Italy Printed materials Universities opened
Activity: Trade in Europe Using the background reading and the map of Renaissance trade routes, answer questions 1-7 Make sure your answers are specific – you will be turning this in!
Northern Renaissance Literature Writers combined religion, fiction, and history Created philosophical works, novels, dramas, and poems Many believe William Shakespeare was the greatest writer of the Northern Renaissance Plots not original got inspiration from ancient and contemporary literature Knowledge of natural science and humanism shows up in plays
Northern Renaissance Art NOT just Italian techniques moving north! Differences: Italy: change inspired by humanism revival of ideas from ancient Greece and Rome anyone with $ could be a patron Europe change driven by religious reform princes & kings were patrons
Artists Use many Italian techniques Northern art showed a more realistic view of life Italian artists tried to capture beauty of Greek, Roman gods in paintings Northern artists tried to depict people as they really were
Northern Renaissance Art Characteristics Attention to details Focus on realism & naturalism Less emphasis on the “classical ideal” Interest in landscapes More emphasis on middle-class and peasant life Details of domestic interiors Great skill in portraiture
Flemish Realism
Van Eyck The Crucifixion & The Last Judgment 1420-1425
Comparing Scenes of the Last Judgment
Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife (Wedding Portrait) Jan Van Eyck 1434
Jan van Eyck - Giovanni Arnolfini & His Wife (details)
Rogier van der Weyden (1399-1464) The Deposition 1435
van der Weyden’s Deposition (details)
Massys’ The Moneylender & His Wife, 1514
France
Renaissance Art in France 1494: France invaded Italy – brought ideas back King Francis I Encouraged humanistic learning Invited da Vinci and others to France Collected paintings by the great Italian masters
The School of Fontainebleau Artists decorated the Royal Palace at Fontainebleau between the 1530s and the 1560s Developed their own styles and adaptations of Italian techniques Characterized by a refined elegance Paintings were crowded with figures very close to elaborate stucco works Works used a lot of symbolism Gallery [right] by Rosso Fiorentino & Francesco Primaticcio 1528-1537
Germany
Lucas Cranach the Elder Old Man with a Young Woman Amorous Old Woman with a Young Man
Dürer The Last Supper Woodcut, 1510
Comparing the Last Supper
England
Holbein’s, The Ambassadors, 1533 A Skull
Multiple Perspectives
Burghley House for William Cecil English focused on architecture The largest & grandest house of the early Elizabethan era.
The Low Countries
Hieronymus Bosch The Temptation of St. Anthony 1506-1507 Pessimistic view of human nature Had a wild and lurid imagination. Fanciful monsters & apparitions. Didn‘t use many Italian ideas, like perspective Figures are flat Perspective is ignored
Bruegel’s, The Beggars, 1568 Peter Brugel the Elder One of the greatest artistic geniuses of his age Was deeply concerned with human vice and follies A master of landscapes; not a portraitist People in his works often have round, blank, heavy faces They are expressionless, mindless, and sometimes malicious They are types, rather than individuals Their purpose is to convey a message
Bruegel’s, The Harvesters, 1565