The Northern Renaissance

The Northern Renaissance Begins

      By 1450 the population of Northern Europe was recovering from the Bubonic Plague

      1453- 100 years war between France and England was over       England and France under strong monarchs who sponsored

the arts (i.e. Francis I of France invited da Vinci to retire in France and hired Italian artists to rebuild his castle at Fountainebleau

      As ideas left Italy, they mingled with northern traditions- so, own character developed

      Northern humanists more interested in religious ideas than secular Italy- some developed plan for social reform based on Christian values

Artistic Ideas Spread to Germany

      1494 French king claimed the throne of Naples and launched an invasion through northern Italy- this led many Italian artists and writers to flee north

      German painters• o  Albrecht Duerer- son of a goldsmith, who decided to become

a painter. Went to Italy to study. Made woodcuts and engravings. His work inspired other German artists

• o  Hans Holbein the Younger – specialized in painting portraits that are almost photographic in detail – had great success in England

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And to Flanders…..

• Flemish Painters• o  Similar to Italy, wealthy merchant families liked the

emphasis on individualism and worldly pleasures and paid for art

• o  Jan van Eyck – used oil-based painting (which doesn’t dry quickly and lends itself to blending)- very realistic subjects and portrayals

• o  Pieter Bruegel the Elder – interested in people, painted everyday life, or anger at Spanish rule over them

Northern Writers try to reform society

      Christian humanists- adapted humanism and gave it a more religious slant

      Desiderius Erasmus• o  Holland- born in Rotterdam• o  Wrote The Praise of Folly, which poked fun at greedy

merchants, heartsick lovers, quarrelsome scholars, and pompous priests

• o  Believed in Christianity of the heart- everyone should read the Bible

      Thomas More• o  1516 Utopia about an imaginary land of peace-loving people (in

Greek utopia means “no place” but in English its meaning changed)

Francios Rebalais and William Shakespeare

• o  Wrote in vernacular French instead of Latin (like More and Erasmus)

• o  Gargantua and Pantagruel- poked fun at society• o  Believed people were basically good and should live by their

instincts instead of religious rule•         William Shakespeare• o  1564 born in Stratford-upon-Avon, by 1592 living in London and

writing plays and poems• o  His work shows a deep understanding of human beings – Macbeth,

Hamlet, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream- all show human flaws

Elizabethan Age

      Renaissance England is also called the Elizabethan Age, for Queen Elizabeth I, who reigned from 1558 – 1603- she was well-educated, knew many languages, and patronized the arts

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Printing Spreads Renaissance Ideas

      Chinese had invented block printing•o  1045 Bi Sheng invented movable type

(but not practical for Chinese because they had so many characters)

•o  By 13th century block-printed items reached Europe

Johann Gutenberg

  a craftsman from Mainz, Germany, reinvented movable type around 1440

•o  Then went on to invent the printing press (which was easy for European languages which don’t have that many letters in their alphabets)

•o  1455 printed the Gutenberg Bible- first full-size book printed with movable type

Printing Spreads Learning

• o  Printer could produce hundreds of copies• o  Books are cheap- so more people buy them• o  By 1500 presses in 250 cities had printed 9-10

million books• o  Spread of new ideas increased• o  Encouraged learning and led to rise in literacy• o  Writing in the vernacular- more people read the

Bible themselves- ultimately leads to church reform