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Characteristics Of Northern Renaissance Art

Posted in Uncategorized | June 3rd, 2011

characteristics of northern renaissance art
What led to the Characteristics of Italian reniassance art?

another question What were the Characteristics of northern renaissance in terms of humanits thought, literature, and art? Lots of thanx if you aswer this question to proove my dad wrong@:)

Renaissance refers to Rebirth – specifically of the classic or ancient arts of Greece and Rome. I believe writings of Aristotle were found in a trunk in what is now the Uffizi gallery in Florence and that led to a greater interest in ancient writings – and in emulating them and their sentiments.

Nude painting and sculpture – not seen since antiquity, was revived but with contemporary themes – instead of Hercules, there was David. Also, learning and more freedom of thought flourished as well as the beginning of more scientific thinking which led to the use of perspective which allowed artists to created more realistic paintings. I believe Massacio was the first artist to paint in the more realistic style we associate with Italian Renaissance art. In Italian literature — Petrarch’s sonnets to Laura, Boccacio’s “Decameron” and emulating the Virgil’s roman epic the Aneid was Ariosto’s “Orlando Furioso” led the way in changing literary styles.

I don’t know about the literature of the Northern Renaissance (Germany and the Netherlands) but i do know that their art is characterized by a great attention to detail. They still painted with a medieval flavor, but also were influenced by the Italian Renaissance innovations to create more realistic or proportionate paintings. However, the love of detail in visual art is a Northern characteristic and is seen in their tapestries as well as their paintings. Jan Van Eyck, Rogier van der Weiden, Albrecht Durer and Hans Holbein are among the most famous. Hans Holbein painted various portraits for Henry VIII of England including Sir Thomas Moore and Anne of Cleves.

If, like Wikipedia, you include England as the “northern Renaissance” then you have to include Shakespeare and his contemporaries in Renaissance literature.