History of World Art II: Day 42 - 16th century Northern Europe Recap

The 16th century in northern Europe stands out in stark contrast to the Renaissance that was happening in Italy during the same time. Although ideas and innovations in art were making their way back and forth, the Protestant Reformation put a damper on any of the flourishing of classical ideas and imagery in the Holy Roman Empire. Many artists traveled to learn about the great masters who were working in Italy at the time. Albrecht Durer traveled throughout Italy expressly to study the art and incorporated many Italian Renaissance developments into his own work. Hans Holbein the Younger used Italian ideas about monumental composition and sculpturesque form in his paintings. While these ideas flourished early on, after the Reformation and Iconoclasm that happened later in the century the artwork becomes decidedly naturalistic, which seems to be the ideals for art in the region - the Nothern painters were the first to do away with halos when portraying spiritual subjects. The working-class, down-to-earth ethics of the people seems to be deeply instilled which spills over into the artwork. Carefully depicted landscapes and daily scenes from life are the product of these values.

The iconography of Protestantism is instead developed through printmaking, which allowed them to spread the word quickly, cheaply, en mass to the people. With such masters of engraving to learn from as Albrecht Durer, print-makers were able to develop techniques that almost rivaled painting with depth and variation of line, allowing the Protestant faith to branch off in this new way of portraying spiritual scenes, allowing them to side-step the commissioning of elaborate paintings or sculptures that went against their fundamental beliefs.

Albrecht Dürer, St. Christopher,
engraving, 1521

By the middle of the century, realism was the favored style and scenes of daily life abound, such as the daily scenes painted by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and Pieter Aertensen. Landscapes were favored by Joachim Patinir and his Landscape with Saint Jerome inspired others, including Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Hunters in the Snow and Landscape with the Fall of Icarus) to paint landscapes that dominated the story plane making it the main focus with small areas detailing the titles of the work.