The Northern Renaissance (17.2)

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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