Reformation and Renaissance in Northern Europe

1. Reformation and Renaissance in Northern Europe

2. The Northern Renaissance • Kings, Commerce and Columbus • Northern Renaissance Courts: Francis I of France and Leonardo da Vinci; Henry VIII of England and Hans Holbein • Francis I’s Chateau de Chambord

3. The Reformation • Martin Luther: 1483-1546. 95 Theses or complaints against the Church. • Reformation: split Western Christianity into the Catholic Church and the Protestant faiths. • Appealed to Germans who disliked the Church’s taxes

4. Luther’s Challenge: 1520 • “Only scripture, only grace, only faith”: rejecting Catholic doctrine not biblically based. • Salvation only through grace, not works • Individual’s direct connection to God without priests’ intercession • Pope Leo ignored Luther • When threatened with excommunication, Luther burned the document

5. The Appeal of the Reformation • Peasants’ revolts bloodily put down by German rulers with Luther’s blessings • Faith accessible to common believer • Luther translated the New Testament into German • Hymns in German, not Latin • Simple worship

6. The Protestant Ethic • Paradox: Merchants became rich yet condemned rich popes • Wealth: sign of God’s “elect” for Calvinists. • Work and wealth; no pleasure-seeking activities

7. Calvinism • John Calvin (1509-64) Swiss • Forced to leave Catholic France • Predestination: God determines who will gain salvation. • Hard work and wealth: signs of election • No dancing, drinking, dissent: “Blue laws” • Rigid and intolerant social discipline

8. Calvinism • The religion for which they sacrificed so much was a severe one. Calvinism frowned upon 'dancing, dicing, cards and indecent songs.' Calvin's 'Blue Laws' required the host of a French public inn to keep a Bible on the premises should anyone wish to read it and his customers were to be put out promptly at nine o'clock at night.

9. The Elizabethan Age • The Reformation in England: Henry VIII requested divorce from his wife Catherine of Aragon; pope did not agree; Henry broke away from Church and founded Anglican Church. • Anglican faith prevailed under Elizabeth I • Repressed Puritans (Calvinists) who came to America

10. Religions in Europe after the Reformation • Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, southern Germany, Austria, Hungary: Catholic • Northern Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Scandinavia: Protestant • England, Scotland, Wales: Anglican • Ireland: Catholic

11. Northern Renaissance Art • Intense visual realism--Jan van Eyck: jewel-like detail and vivid colors • Oil on wood: better to reflect light than fresco • Altarpiece of Ghent; Marriage of Giovanni Arnolfini and Giovanna Cenami ( symbols: dog, fidelity, candle, light of Christ, fruit, fertility, mirror reflects artist) • Mastery of light, color and pictorial space

12. Faith and Humanism in the Northern Arts • Matthias Grunewald’s Crucifixion : Bubonic plague • Durer : Self- Portrait • Pieter Bruegel : Painter of country Life: The Parable of the Blind, The Hunter’s Return • Genre paintings: scenes of daily life

13. Humanism in the North • Erasmus: satire; opposed Luther’s views • Montaigne: essays • Thomas More: Utopia

14. Theater in Elizabethan Age • Theater above all arts • 1576: Theater of London, later Globe • Shakespeare: Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello and King Lear. Psychological epics • Blank verse: five stressed poetic line or pentameter • Hamlet

15. Palestrina and the Counter-Reformation • Catholic reaction against the Reformation: Council of Trent • Palestrina: attuned to the changes in the Church, who returned to religious conservative music • Purification of music; music based on plainchant

16. Renaissance Theater in Italy • From three to five acts; realistic • Staging design and machinery; backdrops • Palladio’s Teatro Olimpico • Camerata: revived Greek tragedies and incorporated Gabrieli’s music: opera was born! • Commedia dell’arte: comic theater with invented dialogue

17. Camerata Fiorentina • Opera started in Florence at the end of the XVI century by a group called Camerata fiorentina (literally, those who met in a chamber), comprised of artists, musicians and writers of the time. The very first opera seems to be the Euridice by Rinuccini and Peri, first performed on the 6th of October 1600 to compliment Maria de Medici who was getting married to Henry V, King of France.

18. Venetian Music • Gabrieli: instruments that doubled choral voices: soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass • The different vocal parts united in a final chord or cadences, which provided finality or resolution to the piece • End of polyphony and Renaissance music

19. Palladio, Architect of Venice • Andrea Palladio: Country estates, classical styles that influenced architects into 19th century • Villa Rotonda • Textbook for architects for two centuries

20. Late Renaissance Painting • Venetians preferred oil paint; more durable than fresco in humidity of Venice • Veronese’s Marriage at Cana • Giorgione’s The Tempest (mystery) • Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne • Parmigianino’s Madonna with the Long Neck

21. Mannerism • Exaggeration, distortion and expressiveness in an elegant and inventive play on Renaissance style • Tintoretto’s Last Supper • Michelangelo’s RondaniniPieta