Northern Renaissance: Art, Reformation, and Science

1. The Renaissance, Part II

2. Masaccio’s Holy Trinity

3. Venice, Italy

4. (on right) Titian’s “Assumption of the Virgin,” painted in Venice. Note the geometrical organization. What effect does the use of oil paint instead of fresco plaster have on the representation of this classic Christian theme?

5. The High Renaissance in Venice • Tradition of easel painting • Use of oil paints • Brilliance of color • Subtlety of light • Eye for close detail • Love of landscape

6. Giorgione’s “Le Concert Champêtre”

7. Titian’s “Venus of Urbino.” Renaissance artists, working for wealthy secular patrons, reflect a frank love of the human body (the chest in the background is a wedding chest; the dog symbolizes faithfulness).

8. The invention of the printing press in the 15th century aids the spread of new and old ideas alike through Europe • Johan Gutenberg in Germany invents movable type; the first mass-produced book printed with movable type is the Bible, issued in 1455. • Aldus Manutius founds the Aldine Press in Venice; created italic type fonts and used fine paper; made pocket-size, inexpensive editions of Classical authors from Aristotle to Xenophon. • Between 1455 and 1500, European presses had already printed almost nine million books. This, perhaps more than any other factor, is what led to the spread of the humanist ideas and ideals we associate with the Renaissance.

9. We now leave Venice and turn to Northern Europe in the 16th Century • Synthesis of new ideas from Italy • Alternatives to traditional religious doctrine • Emphasis on individualism • Culture and Politics • Francis I, The Hapsburgs, The Tudors rise to power in Europe; Italian city-states are conquered by northern European armies. • Scientific, religious revolutionary movements

10. We see the Northern Renaissance emphasis on individualism in Shakespeare’s sonnets and plays • Express individuality in the way they are written (idiosyncratic metaphors and similes) • Express the interior state of the artist in lyrics • Express the interior state of characters in drama (i.e. Hamlet’s soliloquy)

11. We also see a new emphasis on individualism in the Protestant Reformation itself • Martin Luther’s 95 Theses critique the practices of the Roman Church such as the selling of indulgences to pay for all those giant frescos and posh cathedrals. It is his own opinion launched against the vast authority of the church. • Luther’s writing sold about 300,000 copies in three years. • In addition to Luther’s attack, there were many causes for the reformation: • Economic and nationalistic self-interests • Unfair political and economic papal demands • Maturation of reformation ideals • Desire for more personal, interior piety • Moral and intellectual depravity of clergy • Wealth of monastic and episcopal lords • Print technology enables mass distribution of new humanist/reformist ideas, as well as religious texts for the masses.

13. Cultural Significance of the Reformation • Spread of literacy • Diffusion of literature • Proliferation of vernacular texts • Latin loses its authority as language of scholarship • Focus on the Word • Aural vs. visual • Church patronage of sculpture and painting dies out in the north • Hymns and Bibles are best-sellers • Stained glass is removed from churches • Visual art will now be produced for a secular audience, not a sacred one

14. Luther’s German Psalter, a best-seller in northern Europe

15. Intellectual Developments rooted in Renaissance humanism and individualism • New Renaissance Scientists • Rejection of traditional methods, practices, assumptions • New emphasis on personal observation

16. The Scientific Revolution. Scientists such as Andreas Vesalius literally peeled the skin off of Classical subjects to see how human bodies really worked. Note how the poses are drawn from Classical sculptures.

17. Based on his “re-reading” of the heavens, Astronomer Nicholas Copernicus advanced a new theory that the sun was the center of the universe (left), not the earth (below), as was held by the Church.

18. Because Reformation culture is aural and not visual, the Visual Arts in Northern Europe largely don’t follow Renaissance models but rather offer radical new artistic visions Matthias Grünewald (c. 1470-1528) • Rejected Renaissance innovations • Traditional religious themes • Isenheim Altarpiece, Crucifixion (1515) • Political, religious sympathies • Tortured images • Lack of perspective, proportion

20. Matthias Grunewald’s otherworldly “Resurrection.” How is Grunwald’s risen Christ different from his crucified Christ?

21. Painting in the Netherlands Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516) • Pessimistic view of human nature • Human folly • Inevitable punishment for sin • Garden of Earthly Delights (1505-1510) • Pleasures of the body lead to damnation • Private and complex symbolism

22. Garden of Earthly Delights (1505-1510)

24. Painting in the Netherlands Pieter Bruegel, the Elder (1525-1569) • Futility of human existence • Pervasiveness of sin • Order, purpose in natural cycles • Triumph of Death (1562-1564) • Hunters in the Snow (1565) • Scenes from peasant life