Northern European Renaissance
Started: 1430
Ended: 1580
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KEY ARTISTS
 | Jan van Eyck Quick View Artist Page |
| Jan van Eyck |  |
| Jan van Eyck was a Flemish painter who was one of the leading artists in Early Northern Renaissance art. Credited as one of the first artists to use oil paints in his works, Van Eyck has created some of the most enduring masterpieces of the Northern Renaissance period, including the Ghent Altarpiece. Art Story: Jan van Eyck Artist Page | ||
 | Hieronymus Bosch Quick View Artist Page |
| Hieronymus Bosch | |
| Hieronymus Bosch was a Dutch painter during the Northern Renaissance that painted real and imaginary figures in vast landscapes that demonstrated allegories, narratives and morality lessons. Art Story: Hieronymus Bosch Artist Page | ||
 | Albrecht Dürer Quick View Artist Page |
| Albrecht Dürer | |
| Albrecht Dürer was a German painter and printmaker whose introduction of classical motifs whose iconic works secured his reputation as one of the most important figures of the Northern Renaissance. Art Story: Albrecht Dürer Artist Page | ||
 | Pieter Bruegel the Elder Quick View Artist Page |
| Pieter Bruegel the Elder | |
| Pieter Bruegel the Elder was one of the most important Flemish Renaissance painters who was a key influence on the Dutch Golden Age of painting. His works diverged from the tradition of religious scenes and portraits, and instead depicted landscapes and peasant scenes. Art Story: Pieter Bruegel the Elder Artist Page | ||
"I hold that the perfection of form and beauty is contained in the sum of all men."
Summary of Northern European Renaissance
The Northern European Renaissance began around 1430 when artist Jan van Eyck began to borrow the Italian Renaissance techniques of linear perspective, naturalistic observation, and a realistic figurative approach for his paintings. As other artists from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and the Low Countries began to incorporate these influences into their own work, the Protestant Reformation stepped in with its backlash against Italy's lofty idealizations of beauty surrounding the Roman Catholic Church. The extreme iconoclasm changed the face of Northern Renaissance art, leading to works that were decidedly humble, presenting a more toned down view of everyday reality. Art was taken off its glorified pedestal that had previously been occupied by only the rich and powerful and made accessible to the new burgeoning merchant classes.
Key Ideas
Beginnings:
The Mannerist Italian artist Giorgio Vasari first used the term rinascita, meaning rebirth, to define the Italian Renaissance in his The Lives of the Artists (1550). He saw the era as a rebirth of classical Greek and Roman aesthetics and ideals following the more staid Gothic era. However, the term "Renaissance" from the French came into widespread usage only following its first appearance in the historian Jules Michelet's Histoire de France (1855).
Important Art and Artists of Northern European Renaissance | |
  | Ghent Altarpiece (1431)Artist: Jan van Eyck Artwork description & Analysis: This renowned polyptych painted on both sides, creates a naturalistic divine world illustrating an epic swath of biblical narratives. The work's symbolic iconography is complex and mysterious. For instance, it is questioned whether the central figure in the upper panel who is raising two fingers in blessing is Christ as Divine King or God the Father. For Christ has already been alluded to as the lamb in the lower central panel, referencing the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, with a dove, representing the Holy Spirit, visible above him. Grisaille, oil on wood - Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium |
 | The Arnolfini Portrait (1434)Artist: Jan van Eyck Artwork description & Analysis: This iconic portrait shows a domestic scene of Giovanni di Nicolao and his wife in what is presumably their home. The man holds the woman's hand with his left hand and raises his right as if in a gesture of blessing as he faces the viewer. The woman gazes downward while her left hand bunches up the green fabric of her dress at her waist in a way that was in contemporary fashion of the time. A little Brussels griffon stands in the foreground between the couple, the texture of his bushy coat delineated in the hairs that flare up around his alert expression. On the back wall, also visible between them, a convex mirror with arms depicting miniaturized and realistic scenes of Christ's passion reveals two people reflected in its depths. A strand of amber beads hangs beside the mirror on the left, and above the mirror, an inscription is written on the wall. The two figures reflected inside the mirror appear to be standing just inside the door, facing the couple. The inscription reads "Johannes de eyck fuit hic 1434" or "Jan van Eyck was here 1434" in Latin, and the figure in red, reflected in the mirror, has been taken as the artist himself. The light comes in from the open window on the left, where a single candlestick and an orange rest on the sill, creating a sense of interior spaciousness and reflecting a diffuse glow on the surfaces of the objects in the room. Between the couple a chandelier extends from the ceiling, lit up by the light, so that it resembles both an organic form and a heavenly crown. Oil on oak panel - National Gallery, London, United Kingdom |
 | The Descent from the Cross (before 1443)Artist: Roger van der Weyden Artwork description & Analysis: This dramatic religious painting depicts Jesus being taken down from the cross by three men. Anguish is visible in the scene as all the figures bow inward toward the central figure of Christ. On his left, his mother, the Virgin Mary, faints as St. John the Evangelist and Mary Salome strive to help her up. A young man in blue damask stands on a ladder behind the cross in the upper panel, his right hand gripping two extracted bloodied nails. Nicodemus, a Pharisee, his brow lined with introverted sorrow, stands behind Jesus, holding his torso in his arms. Joseph of Arimathea, dressed in a robe patterned with gold, cradles Christ's legs. On the far right, Mary Magdalene contorts her entire body as she wrings her hands, while Mary Cleophas at the upper left buries her face in her hands. Oil on oak panel - Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain |
More Northern European Renaissance Artwork and Analysis:
Content compiled and written by Rebecca Seiferle
Edited and revised, with Synopsis and Key Ideas added by Kimberly Nichols
" Movement Overview and Analysis". [Internet]. . TheArtStory.org
Content compiled and written by Rebecca Seiferle
Edited and revised, with Synopsis and Key Ideas added by Kimberly Nichols
Available from:
First published on 16 Jul 2018. Updated and modified regularly. 
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