Introduction by James Snyder. Commentaries by editorial staff. —
New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987. — 173 p.
James Snyder is Professor of Art History, Bryn Mawr College, and
author of Northe Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, the
Graphic Arts from 1350 to 1575.
At roughly the same time that Italian art was beginning to reflect
a reawakening of the classical spirit—an epoch and style we call
the Renaissance—the arts of Northe Europe were experiencing their
own efflorescence. Painting, sculpture, and the graphic arts were
pursued with a new vigor in the Netherlands, in Germany, in France,
and in England, and resulted in a vast body of work that
constitutes one of the glories of Weste civilization.
During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the masters of the
North developed styles quite distinct from those in the South: an
attention to minute detail, particularly with regard to landscape,
but also in domestic interiors; and an emotive piety that
dramatized the sorrow and suffering of the Passion. Jan van Eyck's
Crucifixion and Last Judgment present a horrific vision of the
death of Christ and the damnation of sinners, set against a deep
and distant landscape, sensitively and realistically rendered. The
Lamentation by Petrus Christus addresses the agony of the Passion
with unflinching clarity.
By the end of the fifteenth century, artists in Italy and in the
regions north of the Alps were becoming more thoroughly aware of
each other's work, and during the sixteenth century a truly
"Renaissance" spirit infused art throughout Europe. The work of
Dürer, Cranach, Holbein, and Massys is informed by the same revival
of classical leaing that had characterized Italian art for more
than a century.
In The Renaissance in the North, the work of the German, Dutch,
Flemish, French, and English masters of the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries is explored in more than one hundred reproductions. In
addition to such well-known masterpieces as Van Eyck's Crucifixion
and Last Judgment, Memling's Tommaso Portinari and Maria
Baroncelli, Bruegel's Harvesters, Dürer's woodcut The Four Horsemen
of the Apocalypse, Cranach's Judgment of Paris, and Holbein's
Erasmus of Rotterdam, this volume includes many lesser-known works
in oil and on paper, as well as sculpture, decorative arts, and
armor from the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Treasures of the decorative arts of Northe Europe include a
series of stained-glass panels from Belgium illustrating the
Gospels, a Flemish tapestry with allegorical representations of the
Twelve Ages of Man, and an example of the famous hafnerware from
Germany. A sumptuously painted double virginal, made in Antwerp in
1581, is one of many examples of musical instruments created in the
North that are reproduced in this book. The strikingly decorated
armor of the period is illustrated by a German parade helmet, an
elaborate backplate and hoguine, and two full suits of armor—one
from France, the other from England.
James Snyder, professor of art history at Bryn Mawr College and
author of Northe Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, the
Graphic Arts from 1350 to 1575, provides an introduction to this
volume. Professor Snyder explores the distinctive nature of the
Northe Renaissance and explains the circumstances in which it
flourished. He points out how the north and south of Europe came to
share many of the same techniques and styles, and how, during the
sixteenth century, a new art emerged in Europe that reflected the
individuality of the nations in which it was created and the
cross-cultural influences that made it distinctively Renaissance.
Authors:
James Snyder
Artists:
Baldung, Hans, called Grien (German, 1484/85–1545) | Behaim, Caspar
| Bellegambe, Jean (Netherlandish, active in France 1504–34) |
Bosch, Hieronymus | Bousch, Valentin | Bouts, Dieric
(Netherlandish, active by 1457, died 1475) | Bruegel, Pieter, the
Elder (Netherlandish, active by 1551, died 1569) | Burgkmair, Hans
(German, 1473–1531) | Campin, Robert (South Netherlandish, active
by 1406, died 1444) | Christus, Petrus (Netherlandish, active by
1444, died 1475/76) | Cleve, Joos van (Netherlandish, active by
1507, died 1540/41) | Clouet, Jean (French, active by 1516, died
1540/41) | Coeck van Aelst, Pieter (Netherlandish, 1502–1550) |
Court, Jean de | Cranach, Lucas, the Elder (German, 1472–1553) |
Dürer, Albrecht (German, 1471–1528) | Daucher, Hans (German,
Augsburg, ca. 1485–1538) | David, Gerard (Netherlandish, ca.
1455–1523) | De Lyon, Coeille | Delaune, Étienne (French,
1518/19–1583) | Duvet, Jean (French, 1485–ca. 1561) | Eyck, Jan van
(Netherlandish, active by 1422, died 1441) | Flandes, Juan de
(Netherlandish, active [in Spain] by 1496, died 1519) | Fouquet,
Jean (French, 1415/20–1478/81) | Fries, Adriaen de | Goltzius,
Hendrick (Netherlandish, 1558–1617) | Goujon, Jean (French, ca.
1510–ca. 1566) | Hauslaib, Laurentium (German) | Holbein, Hans, the
Younger (German, 1497/98–1543) | Huber, Wolfgang | Leyden, Lucas
van (Netherlandish, 1489/94–1533) | Massys, Quentin (also Matsys or
Metsys) (Netherlandish, 1465/66–1530) | Master ES | Master F. V. B.
| Master of Moulins | Master of the Berswordt Altar (German,
Westphalian, active ca. 1400–1435) | Master of the Playing Cards
(German, active ca. 1425–50) | Memling, Hans (Netherlandish, active
by 1465, died 1494) | Mozart, Anton (German, active 1595–1620) |
Palissy, Beard (French, 1510–1589) | Pannemaker, Willem de
(Flemish, flourished 1535–78) | Patinir, Joachim (Netherlandish,
active by 1515, died 1524) | Preuning, Paul | Pucelle, Jean
(French, active in Paris, ca. 1320–34) | Resch, Hans | Reymond,
Pierre (French, 1513–after 1584) | Ruckers, Hans, the Elder
(Flemish, ca. 1545–1598) | Schongauer, Martin (German, ca.
1445–1491) | Stradanus (Jan van der Straet) (Netherlandish,
1523–1605) | Van der Goes, Hugo (Netherlandish, active by 1467,
died 1482) | Van der Schardt, Johann Gregor | Van Ghent, Joos | Van
Meckenem, Israhel (German, ca. 1440/45–1503) | Vermeyen, Jan
Coelisz | Wallbaum, Matthias | Weyden, Rogier van der
(Netherlandish, 1399/1400–1464)
Keywords:
Annunciation | Arms and armor | Books of hours | Brussels |
Decorative arts | Drawings | Dutch art | Enamel work | England |
Engraving | Fifteenth-century | Flemish art | French art | German
art | Hafnerware | Jesus | Jewelry | Limoges | Liturgical objects |
Manuscripts | Merode Altarpiece | Musical instruments | Northe
Europe | Northe European art | Northe European painting | Oil
paints | Painting | Portraits | Religious art | Religious
iconography | Saint-Porchaire Factory | Saints | Sixteenth-century
| Stained glass | Tapestries | Virgin and Child | Virgin Mary |
Woodcut print