Alright. For this next lecture we are going to be moving up to Northern
Europe for the early Renaissance in the areas of
Flanders and France and we'lll be going through some of the differences between
the Northern Renaissance and the Italian
Renaissance. So we've already been introduced to some of the ideas of the
Italian Renaissance,
but now we'll be moving north where the Renaissance
is quite different. So let's identify some those differences
So, first off, Greco-Roman antiquity is much more important in Italy, so
obviously Italy is on the Mediterranean
is getting those influences and that history is much stronger in those areas, and the
antiquities are actually
there to be discovered in much greater numbers
in the area Italy in other areas around the Mediterranean.
Different painting techniques: so, oil painting is employed in the north
where you get this great emphasis on effects of glossiness and these ranges of light
effects because the oil will be applied
in lots of different layers and in different glazes,
however, in Italy you get a
preference for fresco and tempera and oil really won't come into play until
about 1470.
So, we'll see that a little bit later in Italy. So,
fresco is the painting onto wet plaster, usually done on wall paintings
in places like chapels for churches, or we saw
images of the city hall of Siena that were frescoes. And then tempera is an
egg-based paint, where you're using egg yolk, and mixing pigment into it. So, for any kind of paint
you need pigment and a binder -- pigment
is the pure color, and then you add it to a binder, which will help it adhere to a
surface.
So, for oil paint, oil is, of course, the binder. For tempera,
it's egg yolk, and for fresco, it's the plaster -- wet plaster.
So, different types of painting style tempera and fresco in Italy,
and oil more in the North.
Next, different conceptions of space, so northern artists reject a one-point perspective,
which tends to be favored more in Italy.
Their space [in N. Europe] is more intuitive or empirical,
more observed, and it's more flexible and a little bit less precise.
In Northern painting, you eye is really tempted
to roam around the space and to just enjoy all this amazing
detail that can be
in can be put into these paintings through the use oil painting.
In Italian painting, however, you have this precise one-point perspective, which
will talk about more
and in the next few lectures and those allow you to feel like you can
really step into those spaces,
especially if you're standing directly in front that painting
because that's how the perspective system is designed. You can just stand
right and see that vanishing point, and if you're not quite getting
what I'm talking about here for one point perspective, wait for the next
lecture and
you'll see it. Just know that the northern perspective tends to
be a little bit more observed and a little more
flexible. Next, we have different conceptions of nature and
humanity. So in Italy, man is really the the measure of things -- much more
focus on the human experience and human body --
and then North more of an emphasis on nature.
You can play around with these guidelines a little bit -- they're not 100 percent, but just general
ideas to keep in mind
as we being looking at the North. So, let's just orient ourselves,
First, we'll be up here in Flanders and then we'll be looking over
in the area France, so I just to keep that
in mind. So, first off, let's have a look at this
triptych or three-part altarpiece by
Robert Campin or the Master of Flemalle, The Merode Altarpiece,
now in a collection in the US in the Metropolitan Museum -- in their
collection
of medieval art called "The Cloisters" and this was painted the early 15th century
approx. 1425-1428, so we're past the first arrival the Black Death
by quite a bit. It is oil on wood, and I think you can really see
all the details. So you have three parts: first, you have the commissioner [or patron]
probably Peter Engelbrecht here with his wife behind him.
Often you have enclosed spaces, which indicate they're entering into a sacred space or
gives a sense
of a enclosed state or protection. So often we see the Virgin in this kinds of closed
spaces which was a symbol
virginity. Then we have this very popular moment of the
Annunciation -- the arrival of the angel and what's really charming and
interesting is you have a figure of Christ
holding onto a cross coming across the room headed towards
and the ear of the Virgin. You often see that. We also have
this indication that it's a divine scene
you have the candle going out in the center -- lots and lots of symbolism of
water in the background; the cloth back here, so
the images from the Northern Renaissance are often rich
in symbolism. You often have to go through and look at all the different
bits of detail, so you can see some of
those details in the background here, and also you can see an open
book here on the table, the lilies at the center, which are always symbolic up
the purity of the Virgin,
a clear interest drapery here, but drapery is
obviously represented very differently than what we saw
in the Italian Renaissance.
The folds are a little bit different. And then on the other side you can see
Joseph here working in his workshop. This also has a certain symbolism to it.
Joseph was associated with
the mousetrap and see him working away their, and the whole scene
said in the fifteenth century -- in a 15th century Flemish
interior -- we see that here. A 15th century Flemish city here,
so it makes the scene very local and would
resonate with those who were viewing it. There you can see the figure
coming in from the window holding on to the cross that was that figure
right here, and indicating this is that moment the Incarnation.
Next, we look at a scene [altarpiece] by Jan van Eyck and his brother
Hubert, and it's called the Ghent Altarpiece -- one of the larger altarpieces from this time.
Also, full of detail through the use of
oil paints, so lots and lots of iconography here -- we have prophets and sibyls
up at the top, the scene of the Annunciation. We have the patrons here --those
who were
paying for the altarpiece. A scene in grisaille, so this grisaille technique, which makes
it look like sculpture.
This is a POLYPTYCH, so it's made of many pieces -- unlike the triptych that we just
saw,
and most the time these altarpieces would be closed. The way we see it here,
but sometimes -- there I'm showing you a close-up of the patrons --
sometimes on special days, feast days, holy days,
you would open up these altarpieces and you would see it in all its glory, and so
that when it would
be opened, it would be a sign that this is a special occasion. So, you have an
enthroned figure at the
top, Christ -- some people say, God the Father.
You have the Virgin Mary enthroned,
indicating that she's Queen of Heaven and
John the Baptist off to the side. This is a typical combination
to have Christ at the center and then the Virgin on one side, John the Baptist on
the other,
so we see that quite frequently in Art History. You have musical instruments --
possibly the type you would have in liturgy or Christian ritual
an indication of original sin which, of course, is going to be taken away by Christ.
So you have Adam and Eve on either side, and you can see the different type of body that
we tend to see in Northern Europe. So, it's a little different, a little thinner
than what we tend to see in Italy.
And then down below, lots and lots of rich detail. So, you have a lamb indicating sacrifice,
alluding to Christ and the crucifixion, and you have blood coming out of its chest
and onto an altar -- a chalice on an altar -- so this, of course, alludes to
Christian liturgy.
And then you have lots of figures -- holy figures
coming to see, to witness this important moment, and it's just
filled with detail -- so you can see if you zoom in on that
lamb up on the altar with the blood coming into the chalice,
and then having these incense burners, again, connecting it back to some of the liturgy
and ritual
of the Christian period. Ok,
so you can read through this on your own, but just the idea that
Flemish painting was often put down
in Italy that it was "painting for women, for the very old, and very
young," for those who liked crying, and emotion, and things like that
We can keep this in mind as we move along.
Here's an artwork, however, that's not religious -- also by Jan van Eyck,
who was really seen as a master of oil painting, and this is a work that just
shows us a double portrait, and it's important to keep this in mind that
portraiture is going to become more important
as we have more people that are making more money it becomes
more accepted in the Renaissance in this society to
have ideas of fame and to promote yourself and to
want to have yourself remembered, so here we see probably a marriage portrait.
There's lots of different theories related to this, which we'll go through in
class [and in the reading]
but you can see you have the figure of Giovanni Arnolfini and his bride
here.
You actually have a mirror, where you can see their reflections as well as the artist, Jan
van Eyck and his assistant
and it does say "Jan van Eyck was here" [Johannes de eyck fuit hic 1434]. You have the signature
right there. Lots of symbolism here, so, for example, the dog is a sign of loyalty
the shoes being discarded is a sign that they're on holy or sacred ground.
The oranges here could be a sign off
wealth, but maybe also a sign of fertility. It's very deliberate that the wife
is on the domestic side, close to the bed, and the man is close to the window
indicating that he's a man of business and is out in the world.
So, lots of messages here. Obviously they want to have children. You
can see there's
and illusion that she's pregnant and also a saint here that was important for
pregnancy.
Another Flemish artwork where you can get a sense of all this detail
and returning to more religious themes is as The Deposition. This is Roger van der
Weyden
and this is the Deposition, where you see Christ being taken down from the cross,
and you see again all the emotion -- the tears -- that we sometimes associate with
Flemish Art,
being very emotional so we see that body of Christ and the shape being echoed also the
form of
the Virgin and you see a line being drawn by the hands here
leading down to a skull. So, he was crucified on Golgatha, "place of
skulls"
but mostly you have just this overwhelming emotion,
the tears of these figures, and it's all compressed into a really, really
small space,. And there you can see a nice
detail of these amazing tears and emotion that we see here,
which is something that Italy they have complained about -- thought this was a
little too emotional
an appeal to people's baser emotions.
Thinking about Italy, they actually did really appreciate this style,
and work that's very famous that very famous is called the Portinari
altarpiece
that was brought into Florence and when it arrived
in the late 15th century, it was one of the first times they'd
seen -- the people of Italy -- had seen this style of art,
which was extremely detailed using oil paint, so
you have a scene of The Adoration the Shepherds.
You have the Christ child right down here.
Lots of symbolism in terms of the many angels that up and
also the flowers down below can be symbols of sorrow, wheat can be a symbol
of Bethlehem. And you see, again, the patrons.
The patrons seem to squeeze themseleves into a lot of these images, so we
have to keep that in mind. We've seen it in the Merode altarpiece.
We've seen it in the Ghent altarpiece. We saw portraiture in the case of Giovanni
Arnolfini. So lots of ways for individuals to promote themselves.
So, we're seeing it again here on the Portinari altarpiece, and this is an
Italian family that
is really making a statement by commissioning this this Flemish style --
this more international style -- for an altarpiece that's going to go
in Italy, or be placed in Italy.
You'll see in the background more medieval or Gothic style architecture
indicating the this is very much a Northern style altarpiece,
but a great amount of detail here and just to note,
each of the patrons has their patron saint behind them and
clearly they want to promote themselves, but they're showing themselves as less
than their patron saint.
You can see how large the patron saints are behind them.
There you can see a close-up of each the patrons, so the patrons are down
below, and then the patron saints
are behind -- those huge figures behind them.
Moving onto France. We're going to see some examples
of the wealth there, the types of commissions that are going on.
So, you have different duke's here [in France], but also
you have the French King. But France was carved up into these different
territories and different regions.
So, starting off we have page from what's known as the "Very Rich
Hours of the Duke of Berry" (Les Très Riches Heures du Duc
de Berry). So you have this very, very sumptuous
and beautiful manuscript. So it's actually part of that book
where we're looking at different pages of this manuscript. So you can see
we're looking at January, and this is the page that
is going to mark the month of January and the New Years
feast that would happen. You would have jousting going on.
This is of course is the Duke of Berry, who is lavishly decorated with his fancy
cap
and he's clearly much larger than all these figures. He has a beautiful table laid
out.
He has beautiful plates on his
credenza here. So, clearly a man of high status.
Everyone's waiting to come meet him. You can see the man saying "come on, keep
moving, keep moving"
so you have a great story developing here, but really it's promoting
the Duke of Berry and his prominent role here.
A book of hours was a prayer book, however, that would give you prayers for
different times during the day.
And then a final artwork is
this Melun Diptych -- two piece diptych -- that has actually been taken apart. Piece
are now in separate collection. It was a work that was commissioned by Étienne
Chevalier, so so you
can see this is the patron again, so another
example of a patron's portrait. He's with his patron saint Stephen - his patron
saint here --
we know he was martyred by being stoned, so he's holding on to a stone there,
so it's often typical to see saints holding onto
the object that was used in their martyrdom.
You can be they're in a richly decorated -- almost looking like a palace or a beautiful
church with inlaid stone.
And then on the other side, they're clearly praying to the Virgin Mary, so we see
the Virgin here
holding on to the Christ Child. Very, very pale skin on both of them,
with angel surrounding them. You can really see the opportunity here
with the oil paint for beautiful surface detail.
But what we want to point out here is that this is the "Madonna Lactans," so we can see
that she is
a breastfeeding Virgin. This was a message communicate the spiritual
nourishment
that the Virgin could offer. So it's quite a typical image that we see quite
frequently
during this period. And that's the end of that!