The Northern countries of the 15th-16th centuries ----Rebirth or Reform??

• Styles and innovations develop differently than the Italian Renaissance

• Rise of the merchant class in Lowlands• Oil paint is developed and used in the

north by 1425, the same time that perspective is defined in Italy

• Paintings become portable• North does not have classical antiquity

as inspiration• More of an extension of Gothic art and

teutonic values• Interest in symbolism, meticulous

craft, as well as in observing nature• Women painters have higher status• 1517---Protestant Reformation

changes patrons--Martin Luther reacts

against the excesses of the church--Lay movement-people

should interpret Bible for themselves--John Calvin (very strict;

no ornamentation)

Portrait of a Merchantc. 1530, oil on panelJan Gossaert

Today’s Netherlands and No. France = 15th and 16th century Lowlands = Flanders, Belgium, Burgundy

• Sea port-important for trade

• Flanders/Flemish= Belgium and No. France

• Holland=the Netherlands

• Burgundy=No. France• Charles V (R. Catholic)

ruled Spain, Flanders, Germany, and Austria; tried to squash Protestant Reformation

• Northern artists traveled to other countries looking for commissions

Robert Campin (c. 1375-1444)Merode Altarpiece, c. 1425-1428

triptych, tempera on wood, Annunciation

Hubert and Jan van EyckGhent Altarpiece, 1432

• Polyptych

• Intricate, jewel-like

• Oil on wood—

• One of the first attempts using oil to create a successful surface

• Adam and Eve

clothed in

the 1800s

• Cain killing Abel— grisaille= painting in grey as though stone

• Lamb of God represents Jesus who takes away the sins of the world

van Eyck’s Mary and Jesusthe triumph of Realism and hidden symbolism

Jan van EyckThe Arnolfini Marriage, 1434 oil on wood• Record of marriage• Arnolfini was from Italy• Worked for the Medici in Bruges• Symbolism of the everyday as

well as the wealthy—shoes = domesticitydog = fidelitysingle candle lit=God’s presence (perhaps)oranges=fertility, health, wealthIn mirror=two witnesses for a marriage“vanEyck was here”

Hieronymus BoschGarden of Earthly Delights, 1505-10

oil on wood, 7’2”x 6’5”along with Creation of Eve (left) and Hell (right)

Could a science fiction illustrator do any better?(“Lovers” from center panel)

Music is evil…what else will

send you to Hell?

the antichrist is coming, in the 16th century mind….reveals the subconscious drive of human behavior

Bosch self-portrait

Albrecht Durer, Germany

• Self Portrait

• Oil on wood, 1498

• “I made this according to my appearance when I was 26.”

The Great Piece of Turf1503, watercolor and tempera on paper---Not even the smallest clump of sod is excluded from God’s gaze.

• Durer – one of the greatest masters of graphic art• Adam and Eve (1504, engraving) and the Four Horsemen

of the Apocalypse (1497, woodcut)

War, famine, death and conquering will do us in….

Durer’s Melancholia IEngraving, 1514

Perhaps part of a series on man’s “humours”: sanguine (blood); melancholic (bile); phlegmatic (phlegm); choleric (yellow bile)—describes temperaments of humans

Can you find:• an hourglass

• a magic square

• an unbalanced scale

• a faint human skull

in a rhombus shape

• a bat

• a comet

• a depressed sheep

• an empty ladder

Engraved printing = carving an image on a metal plate with a burin, then inking and pressing the plate

onto paper

Protestant Reformation---1517• Martin Luther nails

protest on the church door in Wittenberg (present day Germany)

• Objects to the Pope and Catholic Church selling indulgences

• Feels that man has “free will” to do right or wrong

• The new invention of the printing press helps to strengthen the protest by distribution of pamphlets to the masses

England pulls away from the Catholic Church---1534

•Henry VIII needs divorces from his 6 wives•Wants full control over subjects•Objects to papal power•Establishes the Anglican Church of England

Pieter Bruegel (“Peasant Bruegel”) the Elder

The Peasants’ Wedding1568, oil on wood

Where is the bride? the groom?

Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Hunters in the Snow, oil on panel,1565

The AmbassadorsHans Holbein (German)

oil and tempera on wood, 1533

• Painted for the elegant court of Henry VIII, England

• French diplomats carrying a message to the king of England

• Spiritual and worldly mix

• Hymnal is open to a song by Martin Luther

• Lute has a broken string

• Glorifies the age of exploration

• Memento mori---”you, too, shall die”