Name: Class: Date:
The Northern Renaissance (17.2)
The Northern Renaissance began in the of Flanders.
· From Flanders, ideas spread to Spain, France, and England.
· Many painters focused on the people, creating scenes of life.
· Many writers also focused on the common people.
Renaissance Art in Northern Europe
· The difference between the Italian and Northern Renaissance Art
o Italy: change was inspired by with its emphasis on the revival of the values of classical antiquity.
o Northern Europe: change was driven by reform, the return to Christian values, and the revolt against the authority of the .
· More Princes & Kings were patrons of artists in the north (instead of the in Italy)
Characteristics of Northern Renaissance Art
· Tendency towards and (less emphasis on the “classical ideal”)
· Interest in landscapes
· More emphasis on middle class and life.
· Details of domestic interiors
· Great skill in portraiture
Important Artists
· Jan van Eyck (1395-1441)
o More courtly and aristocratic work
o “Giovanni Arnolfini and “ (1434)
· Albrecht Durer (1471-1528)
o A scholar as well as an artist
o Also a
· Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516)
o A view of human nature
o Had a wild and lurid imagination
o Untouched by the values of the Italian
o More a landscape painter than a portraitist
o Describe “The Garden of Earthly Delights”:
· Pieter Bruegal the Elder (1525-1569)
o Was deeply concerned with human vice and follies
o A master of landscapes, not a portraitist
§ People in his works often have round, , heavy faces
o Describe “Tower of Babel”:
· El Greco
o Spanish for “The Greek”
o Describe “Christ in Agony on the Cross”:
· Hans Holbein, the Younger (1497-1543)
o One of the great artists who did most of his work in England
o Henry VIII was his patron from 1536 onward.
o Great portraitist noted for:
§ Objectivity and detachment
§ Doesn’t the weaknesses of his subjects
The Elizabethan Age
· Queen Elizabeth reigned in from 1588-1603 (more on her later)
· Sir was an English humanist who pushed for social reforms
o In Utopia, he described an ideal society where all are educated and people live in harmony.
o The book gave use the word (perfect/ideal)
· Francois Rabelais was a French humanist who used
o In Gargantua and Pantagruel, two giants on a comic adventure offer opinions on religion and education.
· The towering figure of the northern Renaissance literature was the English playwright and poet William
o Between 1590 and 1613, he wrote plays which are still performed today, including:
§ Romeo and Juliet
§ Hamlet
§ A Midsummer Night’s Dream
o Shakespeare explored Renaissance ideals such as the of the