The Northern Renaissance - Ethical Ideals and Artistic Innovation

1. Chapter 13McKay 438-441 The Renaissance in the North

2. Northern Renaissance • Renaissance ideals spread outside Italy after 1450 • Much more religious • Led by Christian Humanists • Fused Classical and Christian cultures in order to develop an ethical way of life • Stoicism and broadmindedness fused with love, faith, and hope • Also stressed reason over dogma • Believed humans were fundamentally good • Could be improved through education Artist: Jan van Eyck Completion Date: 1436 Style: Northern Renaissance Series: The Madonna of Canon van der Paele

3. Thomas More (1478-1535) • Deeply religious lawyer and adviser to Henry VIII • Very influenced by Plato’s ideas on the theory of forms, perfection and materialism • Utopia (1516) • Described Ideal “perfect” socialist society • No private property • Absolute social equality • continuous education in Greco-Roman classics to build rational citizens • Citizens divide time between manual labor, business, and learning • Used gold for chamber pots (placed no value on material wealth) • Contradicted pessimistic medieval view of humans • Asserted that private property is the source of conflict and evil • Major idea: If you improve society’s institutions, you will improve people

4. Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) • Major ideas • Education is means to moral and intellectual improvement • Philosophy of Christ • Stressed philosophy of the Beatitudes over ceremony • Used his humanistic learning to better understand the Bible • The Education of a Christian Prince (1504) • Calls for use of Classics (Cicero, Plato) to form ethical rulers • The Praise of Folly • Satirical criticism of corrupt Church Amongst the learned the lawyers claim first place, the most self-satisfied class of people, as they roll their rock of Sisyphus and string together six hundred laws in the same breath, no matter whether relevant or not, piling up opinion on opinion and gloss on gloss to make their profession seem the most difficult of all. Anything which causes trouble has special merit in their eyes.

5. Renaissance Art in Northern Europe • Should not be considered an appendage to Italian art • But, Italian influence was strong • Painting in OIL, developed in Flanders • The differences between the two cultures: • Italy change was inspired by humanism with its emphasis on the revival of the values of classical antiquity • Northern Europe  change was driven by religious reform, the return to Christian values, and the revolt against the authority of the Church • More princes & kings were patrons of artists

6. Characteristics of Northern Renaissance Art • Continuation of late medieval attention to details • Tendency toward realism & naturalism (not the classical ideal) • Fascination with mysterious supernatural • less emphasis on the “classical ideal” • Interest in landscapes • More emphasis on middle-class and peasant life • Catholic Church had little or no hold on power • Details of domestic interiors • Great skill in portraiture 48-55

7. Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife(Wedding Portrait)Jan Van Eyck1434

8. Quentin Matsys (Massys) (1465-1530) • humanist from Antwerp • Paintings often contain commentary on society, religion • Influenced by da Vinci • Thomas More called him “the renovator of the old art” • The Ugly Duchess, 1525-1530 • Likely a real person who suffered from Paget's disease

9. Massys’ The Moneylender & His Wife, 1514 POV? Commentary?

11. Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) • Greatest of German Renaissance artists • Also a scientist • Wrote books on geometry, fortifications, and human proportions • Self-conscious individualism of the Renaissance is seen in his portraits • Used woodcuts to mass produce his works • Began cult of personality • Signed every work with monogram AD •  Self-Portrait at 26, 1498.

12. Dürer – Self-Portrait in Fur-Collared Robe, 1500

13. Albrecht Dürer’s Praying Hands, pen-and-ink drawing (c. 1508)

14. Dürer’s Adam and Eve

15. Dürer FourHorsemenof theApocalypsewoodcut, 1498

16. Hans Holbein, the Younger (1497-1543) • One of the great German artists who did most of his work in England • While in Basel, he befriended Erasmus • Erasmus Writing, 1523  • Henry VIII was his patron from 1536 • Great portraitist noted for: • Objectivity & detachment • Doesn’t conceal the weaknesses of his subjects • Rejected the classic ideal of Italian Renaissance

17. Artist to the Tudors Henry VIII (left), 1540 and the future Edward VI (above), 1543.

18. Holbein’s, The Ambassadors, 1533

19. Castiglionesque

20. Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569) • One of the greatest artistic geniuses of his age • Flemish style (Flanders) • Painted common man, his activities, • referred to as "Peasant Bruegel“ • rituals of village life—including agriculture, hunts, meals, festivals, dances, and games • Unsentimental, not romanticized • Paintings often contain a commentary of contemporary life • Biblical themes • master of landscapes; not a portraitist • People in his works often have round, blank, heavy faces • Not concerned with proportion, perspective

21. The Corn Harvest (1565)

22. Children’s Games • Painted from God’s perspective • 80 different games • roll hoops, walk on stilts, mock tournaments & weddings … • children focused on their games with the seriousness displayed by adults in their daily activities • mankind is compared to children who are entirely absorbed in their foolish games and concerns

23. The Peasant Wedding (1568)