The Renaissance In The North

The Renaissance in the North

Chapter 14: The Renaissance in the North OUTLINE The Reformation Causes of the Reformation Renaissance Humanism and the Reformation Cultural Significance of the Reformation Intellectual Developments Montaigne's Essays The Growth of Science The Visual Arts in Northern Europe Painting in Germany: Dürer, Grünewald, Altdorfer Painting in the Netherlands: Bosch and Bruegel Art and Architecture In France Art in Elizabethan England Music of the Northern Renaissance Music in France and Germany Elizabethan Music English Literature: Shakespeare

Outline Chapter 14

Timeline Chapter 14 Timeline Chapter 14: The Renaissance in the North c.1505-1510 1516 1517 1533 1545-1564 1546 1558-1603 1559 1559-1567 1580 1600 1620

Bosch, Garden of Earthly Delights Thomas More, Utopia Martin Luther, 95 Theses (Reformation begins in Germany) Holbein, The Ambassadors Council of Trent (Catholic Reformation) Square Courtyard of the Louvre Queen Elizabeth I of England Index of prohibited books Bruegel, Children's Games ; Peasant Wedding Dance Montaigne, Essays Shakespeare, Globe Theater, London Bacon, Novum Organum (The New Instrument)

The Cultural Consequences of the Reformation The political and cultural life of northern Europe was profoundly changed by the Reformation. After centuries of domination by the Church of Rome, many northern countries gradually switched to one of the various forms of Protestantism, whose ideas and teachings were rapidly spread by the use of the newly invented printing press. The consequences of this division did much to shape modern Europe, while the success of the Reformation movement directly stimulated the Counter-Reformation of the seventeenth century. Portrait of Henry VIII 1536 Hans Holbein the Younger

Martin Luther at age 46 (Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1529)

Religions of Europe 1600 AD

Printing and Literature The growth of literacy both north and south of the Alps made possible by the easy availability of books produced a vast new reading public. Among the new literary forms to be introduced was that of the essay, first used by Montaigne. Epic poems were also popular; the works of Lodovico Ariosto and Torquato Tasso circulated widely and were imitated by a number of writers, including Edmund Spenser. The revival of interest in classical drama produced a new and enthusiastic audience for plays; those written by Elizabethan dramatists like Christopher Marlowe combined high poetic and intellectual quality with popular appeal. The supreme achievement in English literature of the time-and perhaps of all time-can be found in the works of William Shakespeare. Furthermore, in an age when the importance of education was emphasized, many advances in science were made and important scientific publications appeared. They included Vesalius' work on anatomy and Copernicus' revolutionary astronomical theories. Gutenberg printing press

Painting in Germany: Durer and Grunewald In the visual arts the sixteenth century saw the spread of Italian Renaissance ideas northward. In some cases they were carried by Italian artists like Benvenuto Cellini, who went to work in France. Some major northern artists, like Albrecht Durer, actually traveled to Italy. Durer's art was strongly influenced by Italian theories of perspective, proportion, and color, although he retained the strong interest in line typical of northern art. But not all his contemporaries showed the same interest in Italian styles. Matthias Grunewald's paintings do not show Renaissance concerns for humanism and ideal beauty; instead, they draw on traditional medieval German art to project the artist's own passionate religious beliefs, formed against the background of the bitter conflict of the Peasants' War.

Albrecht Dürer

Self-Portrait, 1500

The Adoration of the Trinity 1511, Oil on lindenwood

The Nativity 1514, Pen Rhinoceros 1515 Pen drawing The Stork 1515, Pen drawing

Matthias Grünewald Isenheim Altarpiece (first view) c. 1515 Oil on wood

The Mocking of Christ 1503 Oil on pine panel, Munich Isenheim Altarpiece (second view)

Painting in the Netherlands: Bosch and Bruegel The two leading Netherlandish artists of the century, Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel the Elder, were also influenced by contemporary religious ideas. Their work has other characteristics in common: a pessimistic attitude toward human nature and the use of satire-yet the final effect is very different. Bosch's paintings are complex and bizarre; Bruegel shows a broader range of interest in human activities, together with a love of nature.

Hieronymus Bosch, The Seven Deadly Sins, c. 1480

Hieronymus Bosch, Garden of Earthly Delights, c. 1500

left wing

central panel of the triptych

right wing

Pieter Bruegel, the Elder

The Tower of Babel 1563

The Triumph of Death c. 1562

Elsewhere in northern Europe… …artistic inspiration was more fitful. The only English painter of note was the miniaturist Nicholas Hilliard, while in France the principal achievements were in the field of architecture. Even in Germany and the Netherlands, by the end of the century the Reformation movement's unsympathetic attitude to the visual arts had produced a virtual end to official patronage for religious art. Shakespeare Title Page of the First Folio, London, 1623

CLOUET, Jean Portrait of François I, 1525-30

Musical Developments in Reformation Europe Music, on the other hand, was central to Reformation practice: Luther himself was a hymn writer of note. In England, after Henry VIII broke with Rome to form the Anglican Church, the hymns devised by the new church generally followed Reformation practice by using texts in the vernacular rather than in Latin. The music, however, retained the complexity of the Italian style; as a result the religious works of musicians like Tallis and Byrd are among the finest of northern Renaissance compositions. Secular music also had a wide following throughout northern Europe, particularly as the printing of music became increasingly common. The form of the madrigal, originally devised in Italy, spread to France, Germany, the Netherlands, and England. Many of the works of the leading composers of the day, including the French Clement Janequin and the Flemish Heinrich Isaac, were intended for a popular audience and dealt with romantic or military themes. (see Musical Selections and Text, pages 362 – 364)

Renaissance artistic ideas, new Reformation religious teachings, and the developments in the Sciences Thus the combination of new Renaissance artistic ideas and new Reformation religious teachings roused northern Europe from its conservative traditions and stimulated a series of vital cultural developments. The 16th century was not merely a turning point in the history of art and religion. It was also a decisive age in the history of science. The new Renaissance scientist would test his or her hypotheses through practical tests to determine their validity. This procedure layed the foundation for the scientific method. For example, modern medicine began in 1543 with the publication of the first complete textbook of human anatomy, De Humanis Corporis Fabrica by Andreas Vesalius. Advances in physics, astronomy, and the other sciences set the stage for the scientific revolution.