The Art of the Northern Renaissance

Vocabulary flashcards covering major artists, patrons, architectural works, and stylistic developments of the Northern Renaissance.

Jan van Eyck (1395 – 1441)

Flemish painter and court painter to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, known for courtly work such as The Virgin and Chancellor Rolin (1435) and Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife (1434).

Rogier van der Weyden (1399 – 1564)

Flemish painter known for his notable artwork The Deposition (1435).

Quentin Massys (1465 - 1530)

Flemish artist in Antwerp's humanist circle who was influenced by da Vinci, called 'the renovator of the old art' by Thomas More, and painted The Moneylender & His Wife (1514).

Francis I

French king and prominent royal patron of the arts who encouraged humanistic learning, invited Italian masters to France, and collected works by Titian, Raphael, and Michelangelo.

School of Fontainebleau

A group of artists between the 1530s and 1560s who decorated Francis I's palace; an offshoot of Italian Mannerism known for refined elegance, crowded compositions, stucco work, and courtly allegory.

Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472 – 1553)

German artist who served as court painter at Wittenberg from 1505-1553 and was best known for his portraits of Martin Luther.

Matthias Grünewald (1470-1528)

German artist who converted to Lutheranism and created intense depictions of painful emotion, such as The Mocking of Christ (1503) and The Crucifixion (1502).

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

German artist, scholar, and scientist patronized by Emperor Maximilian I who wrote books on geometry, fortifications, and human proportions, and painted Self-Portrait in Fur-Collared Robe (1500).

Hans Holbein, the Younger (1497-1543)

German portraitist who befriended Erasmus and worked extensively in England for patron Henry VIII, noted for his objective and detached style that revealed subject weaknesses.

Hardwick Hall

An English house designed by Robert Smythson in the 1590s for the Duchess of Shrewsbury, reflecting a style that was more medieval.

Burghley House

An English country house built for William Cecil that was the largest and grandest house of the early Elizabethan era.

Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516)

Netherlandish artist admired by Philip II of Spain, known for flat figures, lack of mathematical perspective, pessimistic view of human nature, and works like The Garden of Earthly Delights (1500).

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569)

Netherlandish master of landscapes who depicted human vice, follies, and expressionless character types in works like Tower of Babel (1563) and Hunters in the Snow (1565).

Domenikos Theotokopoulos (El Greco) (1541 – 1614)

Greek-born artist who worked in Spain and expressed the Counter-Reformation using elongated figures, flickering light, areas of brilliant color, and distorted perspective.