Renaissance in the North

Rousseau

Maurice Quentin La Tour.  Jean Jacques Rousseau.  1753.
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/r/rousseau/jean_jacques/portrait.jpg

"Reading, solitude, idleness, a soft and sedentary life, intercourse with women and young people, these are perilous paths for a young man, and these lead him constantly into danger." - Jean Jacques Rousseau

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Historic Context
 
1517
Beginning of Protestant Reformation

Van Hemesen Self Portrait

Caterina van Hemessen. Self-Portrait. 1548.
Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History. Revised Second ed. Vol. 2. New York: Prentice Hall Inc., and Harry N. Abrams, 2005.
1520
Death of Raphael
1527
Sack of Rome - end of High Renaissance
1545 - 1563
Counter Reformation begins with the
Council of Trent
1534
Henry VIII breaks from Catholic Church and establishes Church of England
1543
Copernicus publishes theorizes planets revolve around sun
1543
First scientific study of human anatomy based on dissections published
1550
Giorgio Vasari publishes
The Lives of the Artists
1558 - 1603
Elizabeth I reigns in England
1564 - 1616
William Shakespeare
1581
Netherlands declare independence from Spain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Counter Reformation = the movement of self-renewal and reform within the Roman Catholic Church following the Protestant Reformation of the early 16th century and attempting to combat its influence. Its principles were formulated and adopted at the Council of Trent, 1545 -1563.

Contrelli Chapel

Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesci, Rome.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/129/379750939_805da2d2f4.jpg?v=0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elizabeth I

Levina Bening Teerling. Elizabeth I when Princess. c. 1559.
Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History. Revised Second ed. Vol. 2. New York: Prentice Hall Inc., and Harry N. Abrams, 2005.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two major social differences between the Renaissance in Italy and the North:

Early Renaissance Map

Map of Europe during the Renaissance
Rise of the middle class in the north
Effects of the Protestant Reformation in the north
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Italy
Northern Europe
Motivation for change
Humanism
Religious reform
Growth based on Classic models
Demanded more personal, one-on-one relationship with God
   
Required literacy
     
Patrons
Catholic Church
Growing middle class
Royalty/ politicians
Very wealthy
   
Market demand
Religious commissions for public venues
Genre scenes
Idealized, heroic, nude figures
Still-lifes and landscapes
Large-scale canvases and frescoes
Small-scale paintings for the home
   
Depictions
Emphasis on reason, order and logic
Emphasis on the private and the domestic
Images of idealized humans being heroic
Moralizing commentaries & appreciations of everyday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Italian
Northern

Judith and Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes
Breakfastpiece
Artemisia Gentileschi. Judith and Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes. c. 1625.
Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History. Revised Second ed. Vol. 2. New York: Prentice Hall Inc., and Harry N. Abrams Inc., 2005.
Clara Peters. Still Life with Flowers,
Goblet, Dried Fruit and Pretzels. 1611.
http://firstordergoods.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/picture-7.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rachel Ruysch
1664 - 1750

 

still-life = painting of artfully arranged objects on a table

Flower Still Life

Rachel Ruysch. Flower Still Life. After 1700.
http://www.reprodart.com/kunst/rachel_ruysch/blumenstilleben.jpg
 
"flowerpiece"
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still Likfe with Plums

Rachel Ruysch.  Still Life with Plums.  1707.
http://www.sternburg-stiftung.de/gemaelde/bilder/1298_ruysch_stilleben.jpg

vanitas = an image in which the objects symbolize the transience of life and remind the viewer of their own impending doom. Vanitas paintings are usually still lifes
 or genre subjects

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ruysch was regularly paid 750 - 1250 guilders ...
when Rembrandt rarely received more than 500 guilders for his work
Flowers in a Terra Cotta Vase
Night Watch

Rachel Ruysch.  Flowers in a Terracotta Vase. No date.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/paintingflowers/images/paintings/456/
flowers_terracotta_ruysch_456.jpg

Rembrandt van Rijn. Captain Frans Banning Cocq Mustering His Compnay (The Night Watch). 1642.
http://www.ripe.net/ripe/meetings/ripe-46/amsterdam.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Judith Leyster
1609 - 1660

 

The Proposition

Judith Leyster. The Proposition. 1631.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Judith_Leyster_The_Proposition.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some interesting facts about Elizabethan England
Shakespeare's Wife
Unmarried women over the age of 21 were free to earn money and spend it as they chose as well as to marry whom they chose.
 
It was common for a woman to forego marriage until her mid 30s because there was no reason to jettison her freedom and property to a man.
 
It was fairly common for a woman to be pregnant during the "official" wedding ceremony.  In this age, an official ceremony in the Church was not necessary or required.  In fact, all that needed to happen for a couple to marry was that they needed to apply for a license and they needed to agree to become husband and wife.
 
Most Protestants were literate because they believed it was important to read the Bible for themselves rather than have it interpreted by the Church for them.