The Northern Renaissance

The Renaissance exploded on the Italian peninsula, but it did not stay contained. In 1494, France invaded Italy. King Francis I became fascinated with the Italian Renaissance. He brought back renaissance ideals to France. He also brought with him several scholars and artists- including Leonardo da Vinci, who died while employed as the court painter of France.

Humanist ideals spread throughout Northern Europe. With the recent invention of the printing press from Johannes Gutenberg, ideas and books were reproduced and transported at then astonishing speeds.

The printing press also led to the development of new universities, higher literacy rates, and more interest in education.

The Northern Renaissance did not have the same roots in classical humanism as the Italian Renaissance did. The Italians, placed emphasis on the human and religious matters took a back seat to logical thinking.

In the north, humanism did not develop as it did in Italy. It was still laced with religious tones, becoming Christian Humanism. Christian humanism was the main philosophical outlook that pushed for substantial changes in the Catholic Church and led to the Reformation.

One of the first proponents of Christian Humanism was Erasmus of Rotterdam. Erasmus encouraged his colleagues to study versions of the Bible in Greek and Hebrew, and to develop versions in the vernacular. He was openly critical of the Catholic Church’s policies.

Like Italy, art in the north underwent changes in style and advancements. In Flanders, an area that is now northern Belgium, new artistic styles flourished. With the development of oil painting in Flanders and Italy, paintings could include more detail.

One artist embodies this extreme attention to detail- Jan Van Eyck. His paintings, such as The Arnolfini Wedding Portrait, showed the Flemish skills of portraying light and miniscule detail.

In Germany, the premiere Northern Renaissance artist was Albrecht Dürer. Known as “The Leonardo of the North,” Dürer investigated realism and figural movement.

Although he was fluent in painting, Dürer excelled at copper engravings, woodcuts, and was one of the first artists to use watercolors.

Like the Flemish artists, he included miniscule details in his works, especially in his lines in his engravings. An engraving is the process or art of cutting or carving a design on a hard surface so as to make a print.

The Northern Renaissance allowed for the performing arts to flourish as well. In England, the greatest playwright ever in existence- William Shakespeare, had his plays performed in London during the Northern Renaissance.

Shakespeare transformed historical events into stories, His comedies and tragedies portrayed personality and the human condition.

Some fun facts about Shakespeare:• He was born and died on April 23rd.• Introduced almost 3,000 words to the English language. • He used over 7,000 words only once in all of his plays.• Wrote close to 1/10th of the most quoted lines ever written or spoken in the English language.• His plays are made up of a total of 884,429 words.• He wrote 37 plays and 154 other works that we know of.• There are more than 80 variations recorded for the spelling of his name.