Discovering the Humanities THIRD EDITION CHAPTER Renaissance and Reformation in the North: Between Wealth and Want Discovering the Humanities, Third Edition Henry M Sayre Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliates All Rights Reserved Learning Objectives Describe the effect of commerce and mercantile wealth on the development of both religious and secular painting in Northern Europe Explain the causes of the Reformation and assess its impact on the art and literature of the era Crane in Bruges 16th century Miniature Bayerishe Staatsbibliothek, Munich, Germany Bridgeman [Fig 8.1] Art, Commerce, and Merchant Patronage • By the middle of the fifteenth century, the Flanders city of Antwerp had supplanted Bruges in importance • Painting was a major commodity, second only to cloth • Huge quantities of art were bought and sold at fairs Art, Commerce, and Merchant Patronage • One of the greatest differences between the Renaissance cultures of the North and South is the nature of patronage • In the South, the most important patrons were the politically powerful families Johannes Stradanus Oil Painting, or Jan van Eyck's Studio Late 16th century Engraving 8" × 10-1/2" Stedelijke Museum, Bruges LUKAS, Art in Flanders, Belgium © 2014 Photo Scala, Florence/BPK, Bildagentur für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte Berlin [Fig 8.2] Art, Commerce, and Merchant Patronage • In the North, a wealthy and relatively large class of merchants supplied the most important art patrons • Gradually, the taste of the new business class came to dominate the production and distribution of works of art Chief financial, commercial, and artistic centers in northern Europe, 15th and 16th centuries [Fig Map 8.1] Robert Campin in Tournai • The growing influence of the merchant class pervades the Mérode Altarpiece by Robert Campin (ca 1375–1444), who was a member of the painters' guild in Tournai • The Mérode Altarpiece is a three-part work, or triptych • The Annunciation to Mary is an entirely local and bourgeois affair Closer Look: Workshop of the Master of Flémalle, Mérode Altarpiece Robert Campin (Master of Flémalle) Mérode Altarpiece ca 1426 Oil on panel, center 25-5⁄16" × 24-7/8", each wing 25-3/8" × 10-7/8" The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York The Cloisters Collection, 1956 (56.70) Image © 2014 The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence [Fig 8.3] Music in Print • Luther also sought to reform Church liturgy, especially the use of music in the church service • As a trained musician, Luther understood the power of a hymn sung in the vernacular by the entire congregation (chorale) Music in Print • He composed and compiled nine hymnals, consisting of Latin hymns, popular religious songs, and secular tunes recast with religious lyrics • According to Luther, "next to the word of God, music deserves the highest praise." Music in Print • Thomas Morley's Fyre and Lightning madrigal employs homophonic harmony, which is a unison movement of the voices in chords, at its end to underscore the word-painting of the word "spitefull." Writing for Print and Play: The New Humanists • The sudden availability of books in large numbers transformed not only in the spread of knowledge but its production as well • The printing press created a new economy that transformed the speed at which information traveled Thomas More • At the heart of Utopia, published in Latin in 1516, is More's implicit comparison between his own corrupt Christian society and the ideal society he imagines • When More argued that Mary was the rightful heir to the English throne in 1535, Henry had him executed for treason William Shakespeare: "The play's the thing!" • Shakespeare's plays were produced at a theater called the Globe, where an open courtyard held the groundlings, whose admission was one penny • Hamlet is a revenge play, a work constructed around a murder that must be avenged by the victim's relative • The soliloquy, or interior monologue, featured self-reflection Martin Droeshout William Shakespeare, frontispiece of the first folio edition of his works, published in London 1623 Etching British Library, London, UK/ Giraudon/Bridgeman Images [Fig 8.17] Reconstruction and cross-section of the Globe theater 1599–1613 Trevor Hill © Dorling Kindersley [Fig 8.18] The English Portrait Tradition • Hans Holbein the Younger painted hundreds of works during his two extended visits to England • The Ambassadors depicts two French ambassadors to the court of Henry VII This work shows a lack of harmony between Catholics and Protestants • Elizabeth I was often featured with elaborate decorative effects Closer Look: Hans Holbein the Younger, The French Ambassadors Hans Holbein the Younger The Ambassadors 1553 Oil on oak panel 81-1/2" ì 82" â 2014 Photo The National Gallery, London/Scala, Florence [Fig 8.19] Document: Utopia by Thomas More Hans Holbein the Younger Henry VIII in Wedding Dress 1540 Oil on panel 32-1/2" × 29" Galleria Barberini, Rome © Vincenzo Pirozzi, Rome fotopirozzi@inwind.it [Fig 8.20] Federigo Zuccaro (attributed to) The Darnley Portrait of Elizabeth I ca 1575 Oil on wood panel 44-1/2" × 31 National Portrait Gallery, London © Photo Scala, Florence/BPK, Bildagentur für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte, Berlin [Fig 8.21] Continuity & Change • The challenge of Protestantism to the moral authority of the pope threatened the Catholic Church with downfall • To counter the Protestant threat, the Council of Trent convened It was decided that to appeal to the emotions of the Catholic audience, the arts should be directed toward clarity and realism to increase understanding Interior of a Calvinist Church 17th century German National Museum, Nuremberg, Germany [Fig 8.22] Gianlorenzo Bernini Baldacchino 1624–33 Gilt bronze, marble, stucco, glass Height: approx 100' Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican, Rome Photo Scala, Florence [Fig 8.23] ... literature of the era Crane in Bruges 16th century Miniature Bayerishe Staatsbibliothek, Munich, Germany Bridgeman [Fig 8.1] Art, Commerce, and Merchant Patronage • By the middle of the fifteenth... appears to Mary in the living room of a middle-class Flemish home • The view from the window in Joseph's workshop shows the main square of a typical Flemish town, perhaps Tournai Robert Campin in... in Tournai • The growing influence of the merchant class pervades the M rode Altarpiece by Robert Campin (ca 1375–1444), who was a member of the painters' guild in Tournai • The M rode Altarpiece