The Northern Renaissance

The Lay culture in the North is different than

that found in Southern Europe

-The Catholic church is more dominant

in North European intellectual life

-The “New Learning” struck deep roots

in the North

-The New learning is often referred to

as Christian humanism

(it is less secular than Italian

humanism)

-There is still a marked interest in

studying original sources but the

original sources are now the Bible and

Church Fathers like St. Augustine

instead of Classical authors like

Aristotle (see for instance Erasmus’s

work)

John Colet, an English humanist known for

his interest in Hebrew and Greek

Josquin Desprez, composer

Gutenberg printing press

Gutenberg Bible (1456)

It is now much easier and cheaper to publish

works and spread ideas than ever before

-Compare the cost and

time involved in

publishing a book

during the

Renaissance with the

cost and time involved

in copying a

manuscript in a

medieval scriptorium in

a monastery

Erasmus of Rotterdam, Dutch author of

In Praise of Folly (a satire)

Sir Thomas More, English statesman, humanist,

writer (Utopia) and friend of Erasmus

William Shakespeare,

English Renaissance writer

Chateau de Clos Luce, Leonardo da

Vinci’s residence in France until his

death in 1519

Louise Labe (+1566), French

Renaissance poet

Jan van Eyck, 15th-century Flemish painter

Jan Van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait

Hieronymus Bosch,

early Flemish painter

(+1516)

Hieronymus

Bosch’s

“The Ship of

Fools”

Albrecht Duerer self-portrait at

age 13 (1484)

Albrecht Duerer’s self-portrait

at age 26

Duerer Self-Portrait (1500) as Christ figure

Albrecht Duerer’s drawing of an

African

Duerer’s Young Hare (1502)

The Four

Horsemen of

the

Apocalypse

St. Jerome in His Study

Pieter Breughel the Elder,

The Peasant Wedding (1566-9)

Peter Bruegel the Elder,

Hunters in the snow (1565)

Pieter Bruegel the Elder,

The Blind leading the Blind (1568)

The Land of Cockaigne (1567), a mythical land of plenty;

in Bruegel’s view, it’s an illusion; sloth and gluttony get you

nowhere!

Jan Kochanowski (+1584),

an important Polish Renaissance writer

Sigismund I the Old of Poland on a

200 zloty banknote

Zygmunt Chapel in Cracow by

Bartolomeo Berreci

Cloth Hall (Sukiennice) in Cracow,

rebuilt in 1555

Finis