Northern Renaissance

North vs. Italy• “Northern” Renaissance applies to any European country outside of

Italy• Predominant areas: France, Netherlands, and Germany• Northern maintained Gothic period of art for a longer time (into the

16th century instead of 15th)• Northern did not have the free commerce areas that Italy held with

one exception: Burgundy• Burgundy: area that was from the middle to the Northern sea of what

we now know as France• Without a wealthy merchant class like Italy and Burgundy, there are

no wealthy patrons of art• Northern patrons interested in illuminated manuscripts (still),

tapestries and furnishings• To recap: Italian patrons wanted paintings, architecture and

sculpture• Northern not happy with the religious ideals from Rome and created

religious works intended to espouse their ideals

Compositional differences

***Northern:

• not as concerned with scientific influence upon art (proportion, linear perspective)

• interested in color before form

• incorporated extensive amounts of details

• Inverted, distant mirror reflections

• Used wood and developed oil paints due to geophysical factors

Similarities

• Both included religious ideology

• Both utilized the concept of guilds or apprenticeships in studios to learn professional craft

• Both had a dominant center: Italy had Florence and Burgundy had Flanders

Notable artists

• Jan van Eyck c. 1395-1441• Belgium• Career field in Court• Lucrative positions that paired him with Philip the

Good, Duke of Burgandy• The Good became close personal friend:

godfather to one of Eyck’s children, supported Eyck’s widow, etc

• His financial independence allowed him to pursue painting as a second career

Eyck’s style

• Included signature, which is unusual for time

• Painted mirrors or reflective surfaces in backgrounds of artworks to include other subjects in environment off canvas

• Mastered the new medium of oil paint

The Arnolfini Marriage

Albrecht Durer 1471-1528

• Born in Germany

• Father a goldsmith, where he apprenticed

• His amazing talent for figure drawing caused for a switch in apprenticeship to a painter

• Most known for his amazing works in print and drawing

The Four Horseman of the

Apocolypse

The Knight, Death and the

Devil

Erasmus

Self Portrait at 26

Resources

• http://arthistory.about.com/cs/arthistory10one/a/north_ren.htm

• http://ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/eyck/arnolfini/

• http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/durer/