The Northern Renaissance 1400 1600 Early Northern Renaissance

The Northern Renaissance 1400 - 1600

Early Northern Renaissance Art ● Tapestries ○ ○ ● Expensive, delicate, handcrafted objects ○ ○ ○ ● Often simply used to decorate sculpture Sculpture was viewed as the most impressive art form ○ ● Gold, jewels, and other expensive materials Often only displayed for a short time Were melted down to create new objects to show off Painting was not originally seen as the greatest art form ○ ● Enormous in size Hung to cover walls in wealthy homes Used on buildings, monuments, and in church altarpieces Books of Hours ○ ○ ○ Highly illustrated personal prayer books In the tradition of illuminated manuscripts Painted illustrations became more and more realistic and 3 dimensional

Jan Van Eyck, 1390 - 1441 ● Most influential Northern Renaissance artist - first celebrity painter ● Painted in an incredible, never-before-seen realistic manner ● Complex details and attention to the way light hits objects in real life ● Painted jewels so realistically, some people thought he had found a way to turn paint into precious stones ● Developed oil painting as we know it today ● Responsible for raising the status and importance of painting ● Responsible for raising the status of the painter in art ● Responsible for raising the status of portrait painting ● Most famous work: The Ghent Altarpiece

Renaissance Ideas in Northern Europe ● From 1400 s on, ideas and artistic ideals began to spread from Italy. ● Early Northern Renaissance continued in tradition of Jan Van Eyck, who was Northern Europe’s famous virtuoso painter at the time. ● Dutch and Flemish artists were masters of Northern Renaissance painting. ● Antwerp Mannerism refers to Northern painters who showed some Italian influence, as well as the traditional style of Northern painters.

Hieronymus Bosch ● 1450 -1516 ● Famous Northern European painter ● Unusual style unlike his peers ● Most famous work is The Garden of Earthly Delights ● Known for dark and disturbing visions, which he represented in his art ● Painted religious themes, especially concerned with morality ● Belonged to the Brotherhood of Our Lady, a Catholic organization that commissioned many of his early works. Analysis of The Garden of Earthly Delights