Comparison of Renaissance Between Italy and Northern Europe

Renaissance. Along with your descriptions, include answers to the following questions:

• What are the social and cultural similarities between the Italian and Northern European Renaissance?

• What are the social and cultural differences between the Italian and Northern European Renaissance?

• What are the relationships between the arts and the cultures of the Italian Renaissance and the Northern European Renaissance?

• How are the social and cultural differences reflected in the arts? Use at least two specific artistic examples to illustrate your points.

The word Renaissance means ‘rebirth’. So between the early Renaissance era around 1494 and the Renaissance emerging in Northern Europe through the early 1600’s, there were many ‘rebirths’ between the culture, government, societies, religion and artists.

The main difference in the two eras is the growth of religion in Northern Europe. There was more of a focus on faith. Artists and writers displayed many examples of the sin of the flesh, especially showing how pleasure is short lived. Many of the artists used their paintings or triptych alterpieces to “talk” to followers about Jesus, Mary, sin, angels and messages from God. One of the more prominent displays is the triptych alterpiece ‘Garden of Earthly Delights’ by Hieronymus Bosch (1450 or 1453-1516). It shows creation, as well as hell. But in the middle panel, it displays “pleasures” of the flesh. The creation panel shows the creation of Eve, her presentation to Adam, the Tree of Knowledge and of course the fall into sin. The hell panel shows demons, a burning city, dogs killing a knight and musical instruments that are being used as weapons. The pleasure panel has views of people cavorting in full view of others, other lovers trying to lure innocent people into their “world” and images of rotting fruit. The focus during the early Renaissance era was studying nature and doing it as a form of worship, as a divine or spiritual love. This “theory” did not survive during the 2nd half of the Renaissance era because religious leaders condemned anyone that worshipped idols over God. Worshipping nature or any form of God that wasn’t his spirit, even human was considered ideology. Another difference between the eras is the discoveries in science, mathematics and printmaking.
Both stages of the Renaissance saw artists use new methods to compose their paintings. Along with those new methods, also came the expressing of religion and the church in general. Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) was one of those people that used his writings to ‘wake the public up’ to what the church was doing. His writing ‘Familiar Conversations’ was filled with scathing accusations for its time. Erasmus wrote of the abuses of the Catholic Church. His followers read it and agreed, but Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor put a ban on the writings with threats of execution towards any teacher that used it. Along with those artists and scholars, were architects that used their vision and skills to add amazing structures to the landscapes. Some buildings featured models from ancient Rome and the Gothic era. Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) designed a building, ‘Sant’ Andrea in Mantera’ that had features of ancient Rome. Leon used mathematics to determine the proportions of his building. The ancient design though, was specifically the arches in the front of the facade. The arches were characteristic of ancient Roman triumphal arches, while the rest of the building was modeled after a classical temple. Then of course was the beginning of chateaus. Many of these works of art weren’t used for protection as much as they were used to display ‘status’.

One of the premier artists using the new method of perspective, was Masaccio (1401-1429). He painted a work titled ‘Trinity with the Virgin, St. John the Evangelist and Donors’. His painting gave the illusion of being three dimensional. Artists of this time started to add dimensions to the people in their paintings making them more lifelike, even for a painting. The human form was given more details with paintings and enhances with prints and engravings. Albrecht Durer’s (1471-1528) engraving of ‘Adam and Eve’, displays amazing details of the human form and surroundings for its time.

Culturally the Early Renaissance opened the door to philosophy, developments in science and technology and movable type. That put more focus on learning. Also the middle class was established out of this era. Northern Europe took its time picking up the Renaissance classical values. The traders and movement of commerce were responsible for influencing the artists of the region. Northern Europe also had many artists and scholar that formed their own views on philosophy and religion. A few even had enough followers where it angered the church. Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a Protestant scholar. In his teachings he tried to say salvation was obtained through faith not actual achievement, which is actually taught today in most churches. Thomas More’s (1478-1535) teachings had a society of people that learned whatever they wanted and practiced religion they wanted. Also individuals worked, studied and participated in recreational activities. This was all done in a balanced way, but guided by moral values and ethical practices. With no particular religion identified, it opened the door to people following alternative religions.

I believe the Renaissance era really brought religion to the forefront. Artists and scholars were more expressive with it, then in the past. Many of these men made it possible for the average person to discuss it and to disagree with many aspects of it, which lead to other forms of religion being learned or followed. Of course huge steps were made in mathematics also because they were beginning to be used as part of the architecture landscape. Science helped people understand why certain things happened the way they did or why they were the way they were. Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) was the first that tried to explain that the earth, along with other planets circled the sun. Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) published his ‘Seven Books on the Structure of the Human Body’, which diagramed the anatomy of the human body. These findings were huge steps in science, especially for this time. I believe Renaissance is the best word to describe this time in history because so many levels of art, architecture, philosophy and science were born.