Topic 1.3: Northern Renaissance Study Notes

Spread across regions north of the Alps in the late 15th century.
Northern humanists focused more on religion than Italian Renaissance humanists.
Art featured human-centered naturalism, everyday scenes, ordinary individuals, and exquisite details on smaller works (illuminated manuscripts, wooden altarpieces) rather than idealized human forms and perspective.
Depended on wealthy patrons; led to Christian criticism of Church secularism and calls for purer practices.

Flanders (part of modern France and Belgium) served as the primary 15th-century northern art center.
Religious art declined following the spread of Protestantism.
Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528): German master who studied in Italy in 1494, exchanged works with Raphael, and produced paintings, prints, and woodcuts.

Jan van Eyck (c. 1390–1441): Early oil painting master who signed works "As best I can" and painted the Arnolfini Portrait (1434).
Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525–1569): Flemish artist who studied Italian techniques and painted biblical scenes alongside peasant life, including Peasant Wedding (c. 1567).
Rembrandt (1606–1669): Later Baroque painter recognized for complex artwork, realism, and dramatic contrast of light and shadow.

Most famous and largest painting is The Night Watch, portraying soldiers preparing city defense.
Captured realism and aging without idealization, as seen in his 1657 self-portrait.

Responded to Church secularism and wealth with the motto "Ad fontes" ("back to the source"), analyzing early Christian texts and Greek/Hebrew Bibles.
Desiderius Erasmus: Dutch scholar educated at the University of Paris who encouraged personal Bible reading in original languages.
Erasmus published Praise of Folly (1509) to satirize clergy ignorance and papal greed, seeking reform while avoiding a church schism.

Thomas More: English Christian humanist, Oxford scholar, Parliament member, and advisor to King Henry VIII.
Authored Utopia (1516), describing an ideal, orderly society while advocating for female education and abolishing private property.