Image credit: The National Gallery, London

Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve ('The Ambassadors') 1533

Hans Holbein the younger (c.1497–1543)

The National Gallery, London

The Renaissance, a French word meaning rebirth, describes the revival of classical antiquity in the art and literature of Italy in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The term Northern Renaissance was later applied to art made north of the Alps from the mid-fifteenth century onwards. Rather than drawing upon classical ideals like their Italian counterparts, Northern Renaissance artists such as Jan van Eyck, Albrecht Dürer and Pieter Bruegel the elder focused on capturing reality in extreme detail.

Mastering oil paint

One of the most innovative aspects of Northern Renaissance art is the use of oil paint, which allowed artists to capture intense detail and colour. Due to its flexibility, oil paint could be used in thin washes or built up in thick layers.

Although he didn't invent oil paint, which had been around since the twelfth century, Jan van Eyck is especially credited for using the medium on panel more impressively than artists before him. His Arnolfini Portrait (1434) is a prime example of vibrant colour made via thin glazes.

Other early Netherlandish painters whose skill with the medium allowed them to create images of unparalleled realism include Rogier van der Weyden, Hans Memling and Robert Campin.

By the sixteenth century, the use of oil paint had spread throughout Europe and was the dominant medium.

Northern Renaissance in 'The Concise Dictionary of Art Terms'

The adoption in northern Europe, mainly Germany and the Netherlands, of the artistic ideals of the Italian Renaissance. The prime mover was the German artist Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) who travelled twice to Italy to discover the ‘secrets’ of the Italian masters, especially the mathematical principles of perspective and proportion. Dürer's own ideas were widely disseminated through his prints and his writings. Flemish artists who travelled to Italy and were strongly influenced by its art included Jan Gossaert and Jan van Scorel.

_{Text source: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms (2nd Edition) by Michael Clarke}

Northern Renaissance on Wikipedia

Image credit: Ben Uri Collection

Christ Taking Leave of His Mother (from the series of seventeen cuts of the 'Life of the Virgin' book, edition 1511, with Latin text on the verso) c.1507

Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528)

Ben Uri Collection

Pioneering printmaking

The Northern Renaissance is also characterised by the revolutionary invention of the mechanical moveable type printing press in around 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg. This enabled the mass production of texts and images which were widely circulated throughout Europe, amounting to a democratisation of art.

The invention of the printing press led to a great demand for woodcuts, which were used to illustrate books where the text was printed in moveable type.

Later, artists began exploring the medium, producing engravings and woodcut prints – created in a relief printing process not unlike the one used for printing books.

Albrecht Dürer is regarded as a pioneer of printmaking, creating independent prints using woodcuts with an unprecendented level of detail and naturalism. He showed that printmaking could be an art in its own right. Many of the classical aspects of Dürer's works reveal his debt to Italian Renaissance artists.

Image credit: Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives

Martin Luther (1483–1546) 1525

Lucas Cranach the elder (1472–1553)

Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives

Protestant Reformation

The religious upheaval that distinguishes the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries is key to understanding Northern Renaissance art. The Protestant Reformation began in 1517 in Germany following the publication of Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses, which attacked the corruption of the Catholic Church.

Easily reproducible media such as woodcuts were used to spread ideas related to the Lutheran cause.

The Reformation meant that holy imagery lost favour and iconoclasm was encouraged instead. Many artists turned their focus to more secular images.

Lucas Cranach the elder is most associated with the Protestant Reformation, painting numerous portraits of Luther, while Catholic painter Hans Holbein the younger left Germany for England because of the lack of demand for religious images.