A Short History of the Renaissance in Northern Europe

Description

The concept of a Northern European ‘Renaissance’ in the arts, in thought, and in more general culture north of the Alps often evokes the idea of a cultural transplant which was not indigenous to, or rooted in, the society from which it emerged. Classic definitions of the European ‘Renaissance’ during the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries have often seen it as an Italian import of, for example, humanism and classical learning into the Gothic North. There were certainly differences between North and South which have to be addressed, not least in the development of the visual arts. In this book, Malcolm Vale argues for a Northern Renaissance which, while cognisant of Italian developments, had a life of its own, expressed through such innovations as a rediscovery of pictorial space and representational realism, and which displayed strong continuities with the indigenous cultures of northern Europe. But it also contributed new movements and tendencies in thought, the visual arts, literature, religious beliefs and the dissemination of knowledge which often stemmed from, and built upon, those continuities. A Short History of the Renaissance in Northern Europe – while in no way ignoring or diminishing the importance of the Greek and Roman legacy – seeks other sources, and different uses of classical antiquity, for a rather different kind of ‘Renaissance’ in the North Title Page Copyright Page Contents Figures Acknowledgements Timeline Introduction The urban context The courtly context Hypotheses Chapter 1: What was the ‘Northern Renaissance’? The concept of a renaissance The Middle Ages and the Renaissance The Renaissance as a historical period The concept of a ‘Northern Renaissance’ and its critics Huizinga and the ‘autumn’ of the Middle Ages The post-Huizinga dilemma Chapter 2: Realism and the visual arts The ‘Eyckian revolution’ Realism in theory and practice The origins and development of realistic representation Realism, landscape and the natural world Chapter 3: Humanism in the North Renaissance humanism Humanism, scholasticism and polemic Erasmus and Northern Renaissance humanism Humanism and a new Northern Renaissance? Chapter 4: The old and the new devotion Religion and the Renaissance Kempis and the new devotion The physical and the spiritual in religious life Reform and revival Chapter 5: The impact of print Renaissance, Reformation and print The printed image Chapter 6: Wisdom, folly and the darker vision Wisdom, passion and the concept of folly Satire: Verbal and visual The image of the court fool or jester The imagery of passion, fantasy and the irrational The wild people of the forest The darker vision in the Northern Renaissance Conclusion Notes Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Conclusion Further reading Introduction Chapter 1: What was the ‘Northern Renaissance’? Chapter 2: Realism and the visual arts Chapter 3: Humanism in the North Chapter 4: The old and the new devotion Chapter 5: The impact of print Chapter 6: Wisdom, folly and the darker vision Conclusion Index