APAH Northern Renaissance:Reformation

Range of Renaissance Period

1400-1500

Reformation, Martin Luther's 95 thesis (complaints)

- The catholic church had no basis in scripture

- The bible and nothing else could serve as the foundation in Christianity

- Luther declared the pope as the Antichrist and rejected most of catholicism's sacraments>he did, however, accept two sacraments: baptism and communion (the lord's Supper)

- Salvation was not earned, but faithful individuals attain redemption by god's bestowal of GRACE.

- The fundamental doctrine of Protestantism>justification by faith alone, with the guidance of scripture

Inventor of the Printing Press

Johann Gutenberg

Northern Renaissance Materials and Techniques

oil paints, printing, and engravings

Location of Northern Renaissance artists

Northern Europe; Flanders (Belgium), Holland, Germany, the Netherlands, and France

Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel, Giotto di Bondone, Lamentation

- late gothic art in Italy

- 1305 and Commissioned by Enrico Scrovegni (committed the sin of usury (charging interest on a loan) which made him fear Hell so did this as a deed)

- Frescoes done by Giotto Di Bondone

- Three layers: top layer (life before Christ - Mary and his grandparents), second layer is Christ's life, third layer is the passion (Christ's death and Christ after death)

- Lamentation Scene: after Christ has been crucified and taken down from the cross, he is being mourned by his mother and his followers

- There are two figures who we can only see their backs; never would have been added in a medieval scene because we don't know who they are; provides no context to narrative → just frame Christ and Mary

- Dead tree on the right - symbol of winter that could grow leaves in the spring - an analogy for Christ and resurrection

- Old testament scene in the border - Jonah being swallowed by the whale

Robert Campin's Anunciation Triptych

- Northern Renaissance

- 1425-1428; oil on wood (canvas not invented yet)

- In the middle is the annunciation scene where the Angel Gabriel is telling to the Virgin Mary that she was going to be the mother to Christ

- You can see that the Holy Spirit is there in the form of "wind" (It is blowing through the window, past the book, extinguishing the candle, and going straight to her womb)

- Proportions seem to be a little off because Mary and the Angel would both be massive if they were to stand up

- First time we see a holy scene in a contemporary Flemish home

- There is a lot of symbolism (Mary's purity and the lilies in the vase, Mary is placed in front of the furnace and there is a gate infront of the fireplace (fire represents hell and she is blocked from it))

Jan Van Eycke, The Arnolfini Portrait

- Northern Renaissance

- reason of meeting is unknown/ wedding, business,

- 1434

- Oil on wood

Albrecht Dürer, Adam and Eve

- Northern Renaissance

- Germany; 1504; engraving

- Human was desperate to try and accurately depict human proportions in art

- The forms of the man and woman are extremely similar, each with their right arms raised, controposso

- Adam is holding a branch from the tree of Tree of Life

Eve is holding a fig (forbidden fruit) from the tree of knowledge

- Four animals = Four temperaments (Cat = choleric, Rabbit = sanguine, Ox = phlegmatic, Elk = melancholic)

Lucas Cranach the Elder, Allegory of Law and Grace

- Northern Renaissance

- 1530, woodcut

- Because printing allowed for artpieces to be copied and then sold for cheap, almost everyone could be exposed to it

- On the left we can see Adam and Eve and the fall of mankind (feels more morbid); there are people in hell and the devil is pushing the man into the fires of hell

- Catholicism

- Left side is meant to be "law" - rules in catholicism in order to get to heaven

- On the right, it feels more hopeful; holy spirit represented by the dove, salvation through faith (passing through Christ and into man); Christ dying on the cross for our sins; a lamb which represents Christ

- Protestantism

- Right side is meant to be "grace" - didn't need to follow rules to achieve salvation, just had to have faith

Mathias Grünewald, Isenheim Altarpiece

- Northern Renaissance

- 1510-1515

- commissioned for hospice; hope to be healed in the the afterlife

- grotesque and emotional

- Predella- ascension of Christ

- Skin of Christ has disease; Crucifixion

- contorted body, Christ is enormous; symbols

- chalice and lamb (also dripping blood from wound); black background pushes characters toward us, everything important is in the foreground

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Hunters in the Snow

- Northern Renaissance

- 1565, oil on panel

- One of a series of paintings representing the months (this is november/december)

- Strong diagonal lines

- Figures are peasant type, not individuals

- Everyone is doing something

- Many details, nothing static

- Hunters can't find anything in the hunt; people and dogs are very skinny and hang their heads

- Harsh winter

- Contrast between harsh landscape and the warmth of the people living in it