The Renaissance in the North

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The Renaissance in the North
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Outline Chapter 14
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
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Timeline Chapter 14
Timeline Chapter 14 The Renaissance in the
North c.1505-1510 Bosch, Garden of Earthly
Delights 1516 Thomas More, Utopia 1517
Martin Luther, 95 Theses (Reformation begins in
Germany) 1533 Holbein, The Ambassadors
1545-1564 Council of Trent (Catholic
Reformation) 1546 Square Courtyard of the
Louvre 1558-1603 Queen Elizabeth I of England
1559 Index of prohibited books 1559-1567
Bruegel, Children's Games Peasant Wedding
Dance 1580 Montaigne, Essays 1600
Shakespeare, Globe Theater, London 1620
Bacon, Novum Organum (The New Instrument)
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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 VIII1536 Hans Holbein the
Younger
Martin Luther at age 46 (Lucas Cranach the
Elder, 1529)
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Religions of Europe 1600 AD
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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
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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.
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Albrecht Dürer
Self-Portrait, 1500
The Adoration of the Trinity1511, Oil on
lindenwood
The Nativity1514, Pen
Rhinoceros1515Pen drawing
The Stork1515, Pen drawing
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Matthias Grünewald
Isenheim Altarpiece (first view)c. 1515Oil on
wood
The Mocking of Christ1503Oil on pine panel,
Munich
Isenheim Altarpiece (second view)
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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.
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Hieronymus Bosch, The Seven Deadly Sins, c. 1480
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Hieronymus Bosch, Garden of Earthly Delights, c.
1500
central panel of the triptych
right wing
left wing
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Pieter Bruegel, the Elder
The Tower of Babel1563
The Triumph of Deathc. 1562
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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
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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)
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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.