Northern Renaissance Art Exam 2
Lucas Cranach the Elder, Cardinal Albrecht von Brandenberg as Saint Jerome, 1527, NOW Berlin
- Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church in the German city of Manz. Luther sent a copy of his theses to this cardinal. Brandenberg was not a supporter of Luther. He is a representative of the Catholic Church at the highest level. Jerome, whom he depicts Albrecht von Brandenberg in the guise of, is a particularly popular figure at that time. St. Jerome translated the Greek texts of the Bible into the Latin Vulgate. He was an early church figure from the 4th century. St. Jerome appealed to Protestants because it is the idea of taking the church back to the untainted, early church moments. This is an idyllic moment prior to things like indulgences and the selling of offices. The Catholics say that they are direct heirs of St. Jerome. For them, it is to say that this is where the authority comes from. Brandenberg is pointedly pushing on all of these notions. It is a layered image, with the lion and traditional attributes of the saint. There is a Christological image of a deer in the background (hunting/hunting for souls--the idea of the slain deer as the sacrifice of Christ). In the distance is a contemporary castle. He is dressed as a cardinal, placing him within the Ecclesiastical hierarchy. - Cranach is a believer in Luther, but he is also an artist, and must do the work of an artist. COMP: St. Jerome in his Study, 1514, London, Durer and COMP: St. Jerome in his study, c. 1505, Venice, Vittore Carpaccio These images have a lot of currency at the time. St. Jerome is usually depicted either in the woods or in his study.
Albrecht Durer, The Four Holy Men, Nuremberg, 1526, NOW Alte Pinakotheck, Munich
- Art is arguing for men's souls. Great cataclysmic change is occurring socially, culturally, and artistically. - Diptych -- very large painting. It was not an altarpiece but was a gift from Durer to the city of Nuremberg. He gifted it to the city of Nuremberg because they had officially adopted Lutheranism. It was decreed that sermons in the city would be in the Lutheran tradition. - It was the last full-scale painting of Durer's. The dedication at the bottom says in part, "a remembrance in respect for your wisdom." The description is in vernacular German and includes texts relating to each one of the figures depicted in the Bible. The fact that the text is in German points to the fact that he is drawing on Luther's translation of the Bible. - Left to right: John, the youngest of the apostles, Peter, the oldest of the apostles, Mark, the Gospel writer, and Paul, who is Luther's favorite apostle. Typically, Paul and Peter are the fathers of the Church. Peter is pushed back because he is traditionally believed to be the first Pope. One of the reasons that Paul is Luther's favorite authors is that he says that the just shall live by faith alone, not by good works. - Iconographically complex---- Peter is old and befuddled. He looks down at the text that John holds in his hand. It is biblical text in German. He is reading it but seems confused by it. This is meant to reflect the concept that the old ways of the Catholic hierarchy are passing away. The younger members, such as John, come to the foreground. - Paul is the apostle of the Reformation. He is shown with a sword and a book. THe book is key, as the WOrd means access, and it is the Word of God - 1525, painters in the city are tried and accused of being godless. This may be Durer's point on the function of art in the face of iconoclasm.
Inversion of Types
- Artistic innovation (specialization in response to market concerns), landscape becoming ostensibly the sole subject - Reformation concerns (personal devotion, simplicity) - Market Responses
Albrecht Durer, Erasmus of Rotterdam, 1526, Nuremberg, NOW Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Erasmus was a humanist scholar and churchman. He was a Catholic Church reformer, and he was one of the most important Netherlandish humanists. Historic studies focused on the Greek New Testament and the church fathers. He chooses to emphasize the better practices of the church of the past, but never breaks with the church. - Durer met Erasmus on 3 occasions between 1520 and 1521. He did not produce this portrait at that time. Erasmus admired Durer and wanted him to create an image of him, praising him as the greatest of graphic artists. - he was not pleased with Durer's depiction of him. Durer used a portrait medal that was created by Quentin Massys (portrait medal of Erasmus of Rotterdam, 1519, Antwerp, NOW British Museum). These were prestige objects that were elevated and costly. - Erasmus is writing in his study. The vase of lilies probably refers to his purity of mind. - the inscription says that the depiction was done from life. Erasmus says that it is not a real likeness but allows copies to be circulated anyways. Durer becomes disenchanted with Erasmus because he does not actually come down on the side of reform, instead staying with the Church.
Caterina van Hemessen, Self Portrait, 1548, Antwerp, Kunstmuseum, Offentliche Kunstsammlung Basel
- Generally believed to be the first independent panel self-portrait of a female artist. One of the first Northern portraits of a woman looking at the viewer. Others may have existed but have not been found today. - Female artists were rare compared to male artists. Women were not allowed to join a painter's guild in most cities throughout Europe. They would not have been allowed to go through artistic training. - Many of the early women artists were daughters of artists that would have learned in their father's workshop. - She married a man who was an organist at the court of Mary of Hungary. She probably became a lady in waiting at the court and seems to stop painting then. We have this painting in 3 copies by her hand, a portrait that seems to depict her sister, a few altarpiece parts that she did with her father, and some painting of people who were in her area. - this is a part of her identity: she has the palette, brushes, mall stick, and literally shows the viewer herself painting. While Albrecht Durer and Jan van Eyck want to distance themselves from their craft, she wants to show us explicitly that she is an artist. She must prove that this is something that she does. Women were believed to not have the intellectual capacity to paint well. - she signs it, saying that she painted this. She also gives us the date and her age. - She is wearing expensive materials and is showing that she can depict velvet. she did not really paint in her best clothes but is trying to show that she is wealthy, respectable, successful, and can afford these items. She is giving us truths about herself while creating a persona. - women of high status in the 16th century in Europe would have been educated (Latin, embroidery, musical instrument, painting). She is educated in a way that can transcend her birth. This becomes important because she has a role in the court of Mary of Hungary. She was the sister of the HRE Charles V, aunt of Philip of Spain. She invites Caterina to her court, not as an artist, but as a lady in waiting. - Especially for a woman, to be appointed an artist at the court carried a taint with it--a taint of physical labor instead of intellectual work. Hapsburg courts were conservative. - COMP: Marcia in her studio, Boccaccio's Des Cleres et Nobles Femmes, c. 1450, Spencer Collection, New York Public Library---- Boccaccio includes the lives of some women artists in his book on famous women, among them a woman known as Laia de Cyzique. Women artists had an ancient woman artist to look to as well. In illustrated books of Boccaccio's texts, we see her painting an image of herself as she looks in the mirror. Caterina is presumably looking in a mirror and painting a self-portrait. She has a knowledge of the tradition and is carrying this on. She is aware of classical precedents and is obviously literate.
Rogier van der Weyden, Portrait of a Lady, c. 1460, Brussels (?), NOW National Gallery of Art
- He was primarily a painter of religious imagery, creating the image of Saint Luke painting the Virgin and The Deposition. Portraiture is an emerging specialization for him - we do not know who this person is, which is typical for early modern portraits. People did not usually write their names on it. - We think many early portraits were not meant to hang on the wall. Especially early in the 15th century, they were enclosed in a case. they would be almost like a diptych, with a wooden case that would close. - The woman is facing us. Early independent portraits are most often in profile. this is probably to reference forms from antiquity (coins). Pliny says the first portrait was drawn by a woman, tracing the shadow of her lover on a wall. Profile portraits remain the norm well until the 15th century. She is NOT making eye contact. - This may have been an engagement image. it was common to have these done in pairs. these are people from the mercantile class who are imitating royal prerogatives, creating their own visual lineage for themselves. this is probably a bride to be from an aspiring family. It would have been commissioned upon a betrothal, perhaps by the husband. - She is wearing a red belt clasped with gold. THe red belt signifies marriage. - Presumably, we have lost the pendant image. It would probably have the male sitter looking directly out at the viewer. - Face is from life, but the body is a type
Quentin Massys, Money Changer and His Wife, 1514, Antwerp, NOW Paris, Louvre
- Husband and wife engaged in trade. The husband is weighing out money (suggesting that he is a moneylender). this profession was considered a sin at the time (guilty of the sin of usury). The wife is listlessly combing through a book. We have been seeing still-life images like this for a while (COMP: Merode Altarpiece, Robert Campin). The book the wife is combing through is probably a book of hours, but she is paying more attention to the money than her book of hours. - even though it is ostensibly a scene from everyday life, there is an underlying religiosity and moralizing tone. this one is a reminder to people of the dangers of vanity and being obsessed with the goods of the world. It is a vanitas painting (a moralizing reminder not to be obsessed with the goods of the world).
Lucas Cranach the Elder, Martin Luther as Junker Jorg, 1522, Wittenberg, NOW Weimar
- Martin Luther: clergyman who was concerned about what he saw as abuses within The Church (the Roman Catholic Church). Up until this point, it was the only option for a Christian living in Western Europe. There had been schisms and heresies, etc. but this was the ultimate challenge. Luther did not see himself as creating a departure from the church initally. He wanted to reform the church from within from the abuses that he saw. - abuses: selling indulgences (being able to purchase a piece of paper (usually) that would give you a remission of some sin which might get you less time in purgatory). He saw it as a clerical abuse that the Church was forcing on people. The papacy at the time was in bad financial shape, and had been bankrupted by corrupt and extravagant popes spending money on art and buildings. Clerical abuses, absenteeism (people received appointments but were never there, just using it to put money in their own pockets). Sacraments: the Eucharist and the belief in transubstantiation. - Luther argues that there should not be an intermediary between the faithful and the word of God. He argues for salvation through faith alone, and not through good works. One of the ideas is to provide direct access to the Word of God. You should not have to go through the hierarchy of the Church to access the Word. Many people were illiterate at the beginning of the 16th century, and those who could read often could only read the vernacular, not in Latin, which is the language that the Bible was available in. LUther advocates for the translation of the Bible. The church sees this as a crime, and Luther goes into hiding and is known as Junker Jorg. This happens after he circulates the 95 Theses. He is excommunicated, but the HRE Frederich the Wise aids Luther in escaping Bern in disguise, and that is how Luther Cranach depicts him. In this time, Luther translates the Old and New Testament into German, and introduces what we know today as the Bible. - Printmaking is emerging as a viable genre. It is becoming ever more important with the advent of the printing press. It played a critical role in disseminating the reformers' messages. The consequences to artists in this are some of the reformers' beliefs on art. If the artist left the Catholic church, this removed from them what had been a steady flow of work. Artists turn to images that are not overtly religious (genre, landscape, portraiture, still life). - Iconoclasm: image destruction: initial wave in Wittenberg in 1522. Luther argues against iconoclasm. Others were advocates for it. The concern was that people were viewing these images as idols instead of using them as ways to contemplate the BIble. It is not the image that is the problem, but the way that people interact with it. Waves of iconoclasm thereafter, with a major primarily Calvinist iconoclasm in 1566. In the city of Antwerp, hundreds of altarpieces are destroyed. - Images could work as a Bible for the illiterate (6th century). In the 8th century, there was a major purge of images, where images were forbidden in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Peter Bruegel the Elder, Wedding Feast, c. 1568, Brussels, NOW Kunsthistorisched Museum, Vienna
- Moment of abundance, with plenty of food and drink - the bride is in front of a cloth with a little lantern above her, and is set off from the whole group - Marriage at Cana, Jesus turning the water into wine. The man pouring the liquid on the left looks a little like water and wine in the jar. - Post and active Reformation moment. In 1566 a major wave of iconoclasm swept across Europe. It offers us a context to thinking about the iconographic references in this picture. - the wheat on the wall in a cross figures -- the Eucharist, the cross - we have seen images of people in interiors before but they were usually in an outdoor context. Pieter Bruegel the Elder creates many of these types of images. He also creates festival images. He disseminated his art through prints and engravings that would be available at public festivals as commemorative objects.
Peter Bruegel the Elder, Battle Between Carnival and Lent, 1559, Antwerp NOW Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum
- Peter Bruegel the Elder works in Belgium, travels to Italy and Sicily but works in the Netherlands. He is known sometimes as "peasant Bruegel" because he had a focus on painting scenes of peasant life. - Personifying the excess of carnival and lent, who is a starving man atop a festival car as they come together in a clash. Mardi Gras: it is the idea of fat and thin coming together and the underlying religious motives for it.
Albrecht Durer, Self Portrait, 1500, Nuremberg, NOW Munich
- Synonymous with self-portraits - important date: almost an apocalytpic year. There was a lot of anxiety among people about this year. - Durer was trained as a goldsmith and was most famous during his lifetime as an engraver and a printmaker. As a young man, in drawing, prints, and painting, he begins to document himself. He created self-portraits, including in 1498 (associated with his travels--he went to Italy twice) and 1493 (associated with his marriage). He advocated that all artists in Germany should go to Italy. He wrote several treatises on perspective and anatomy. He was very learned and had great patrons. - He faces the image unflinchingly. He signs and dates the image, showing us the importance that he gave it. - he is playing up a potential resemblance to the figure of Christ. This would seem almost blasphemous to us, but it is a nuanced and subtle image. He is not showing us himself in the act of painting. As with van Eyck, he is showing himself as a gentleman and not a painter. He is showing us his technical virtuosity, but in some sense, by making the analogy with the figure of Christ, he is also sending another message. Leo Koerner argues that Durer is drawing an analogy with the Vera Ikon, and is saying that his hand, which is prominently placed in the painting, is guided by God. He is guided by the Divine Spirit in the creation of his art. It is about art itself and where the talent for creation is born (it is God-given) - THe Master of Saint Veronica, Saint Veronica, c. 1400, Cologne, NOW Alte Pinakothek, Munich--not by human hands
Albrecht Altdorfer, Danube Landscape, c. 1520-25, parchment on panel, Regensberg? NOW Munich Alte Pinakothek
- first pure landscape that we have seen. It is just on the heels of Martin Luther's posting of the 95 Theses, with iconoclasm sweeping through Germany. - parchment on panel was very unusual. What was the original function of this painting? paintings were painted on panel at this time, and very occasionally on canvas for lesser works. 11"x8" Was it a part of a manuscript? it was meant to be handheld, looked at, and thought about. there are numerous parts of the composition that help to convey that message. - Winding road in the foreground leading to structure in the middle ground. Trees on either side frame draw the viewer in. Various types of botanicals and conifers can be seen and identified. Large, dark clouds roll in. there is water to the left of the mountains. - Getting back to the early moments of the Church. looking back to early patristic writings, early texts, and the purity of ideal. the purity of nature has a religiousity to it. - Inversion of types: artistic innovation, reformation concerns, market responses - personal devotion, nature as God's creation and purity
Jan van Eyck, Man in a Red Turban, Self-Portrait?, 1433, Bruges, NOW National Gallery of Art, London
- it is a presumed self-portrait: it is signed "Jan van Eyck made me" and it is dated the 21st of October 1433. At the top of the inscription he says, "as I can." it feels almost like him saying "this is the best I can do." This is a humble brag--he is saying that he is a remarkable individual. He is an artist and is saying something about his status and abilities in terms of his intellect and presence. It does not actually say that this is a self-portrait. - COMP: Portrait of Cardinal Nicolas Albergati, c. 1435, Bruges, NOW Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna ---- independent portrait. He painted him in the context of a specifically religious image, so this portrait may have been in preparation for religious images. Independent portraits could be studies for religious images. - Enjoyed the patronage of the Duke of Burgundy and many church officials - the fur and expensive turban scream luxury - artists are keen to promote themselves and their position in the world.
Peter Aartsen, Butcher Stall, 1551, Antwerp, NOW Uppsala University Collection
- large painting, exists in 4 nearly identical versions, suggesting that it was a popular painting in Antwerp. - Aartsen was a painter of religious imagery as well as genre painting. - Meat is symbolic of the flesh and temptation of the flesh (foreground). The background contains a feast image on the right and the flight into Egypt on the left. - Antwerp was one of the richest cities in the world at the time, and this would be an image suggesting prosperity. The image of the butcher cow in the background had long resonances. Civic pride and presperity are key. Food scarcity was a problem then, and people were always dependent upon and concerned about issues of famine, availability, and abundance of food. These are images that are saying that we are living in a moment of security. There is a rich panoply of foods available here. - the butcher's guild was very strict, with a certain amount of people who could be butchers. it is situated in a very specific place and time in the city of Antwerp in the middle of the 16th century. - civic pride--a civic symbol of Antwerp (two hands) and guild symbols on the pole on the upper left side. - A sign on the upper right side says that behind is farmland for sale. It is very specific and may have been of concern to people who were in this guild. - Reformation: overtly religious imagery is pushed into the background. in the left side background flight of Egypt, Mary is handling food to a beggar. the abundance and plenty in the foreground may have religious meaning. the fish are crossed in a tau shape. we should think about this in terms of the Lenten season. The pretzel with the cross shape was popular around the holidays for evoking the crucifixion and resurrection. - evocation of classical prototypes: artists are very self-conscious about their role as artists. the rise of the status of the artist means the artist does not conceive of themselves as just practitioners of the mechanical but also the liberal arts. Pliny the Elder was a significant resource for artists at the time. Pliny wrote an encyclopedia of world knowledge. there is a chapter in which he talks about artists in ancient Rome and Greece. Peiraikos was known for painting "low" subjects, probably meaning genre paintings. Aertsen was compared to Peiraikos by his contemporaries. - It is not common in Italy to have images like this. It is an urban German, Flemish phenomenon in this period.
Peter Bruegel the Elder, Blind Lead the Blind, 1568, Brussels NOW Naples
- making fun of people who are ignorant, or is there a religious motive (Matthew 15:14, Luke 6:39). Note the church in the background of the image.
Joachim Patinir, Landscape with St. Jerome (St. Jerome in the Wilderness), 1515-25, NOW National Gallery, London
- more about the wilderness and less about the narrative. this starts to happen from the 15th into the 16th century. the religious narrative is still there but is decreasing in scale. - one of the 4 fathers of the Latin church, along with Augustin, Bernard, and Gregory. St. Jerome is famous for having a high life in the city of Rome in the 4th century before devoting his life to Christianity and prayer and goes into the wilderness, becoming an eremitic monk, living by himself in the woods. While he is there, he starts to compile early Christian texts, translating them from their original language (many in Aramaic and Greek) into Latin, compiling them into the Vulgate. He is central in the formation of what we know of today as the Bible. He is typically depicted in the wilderness scribbling in a hut, or with a lion. - Joachim Patinir -- entered the Guild of St. Luke in Antwerp in 1515. Friend of Albrecht Durer, travelled to Genoa in 1511, only signed 5 paintings. He was noted as the first landscape specialist in Netherlandish Art. He collaborated with other artists to paint figures, as he was not comfortable in painting figures. it is possible that another artist painted the figures in this painting. - he painted another St. Jerome in the Wilderness, 1515-19, Antwerp, NOW Prado, Madrid
Konrad Witz, The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, from the Altarpiece of Saint Peter, 1444, NOW Geneva, Musee d'Art et d'histoire
- religious image, but the landscape is a critical element in telling the story and representing the narrative. - Witz was a German artist, exclusively a painter of religious imagery - disassembled altarpiece. it is still in the city but not the original location for which it was commissioned. - patron was a cardinal associated with the Cathedral. - the image depicts the navicella--narrative of Christ walking on water, especially coming from the Gospel of Matthew. The disciples are on a sea in Galillee when Peter steps out on the water with Christ and starts sinking. The choice of Peter is a pointed one--Peter is the first Pope (the rock upon which Christ founds His church). He is the first of the Cardinals of Rome and has this identity with the very origins of the Church itself. Here we see Peter in peril. in the beginning of the 15th fentury, the Pope was in Avignon. there was a schism, multiple popes, and antipopes. In the 1440s, they make their way back to Rome. There was a conflict about how much power the pope should have. this painting is showing us Peter doubting with his faith being questioned. - the landscape is quite recognizably the landscape of Geneva at the time. Landscapes were recognizably the landscape of Geneva at the time. Landscapes were recognizable to make the narrative contemporary and to make it seem close to people. but they are typically not the end.
Erhard Reuwich, View of Venice, from the Sanctae Peregrinationes by Bernhard von Breydenbach, 1486
- series of pilgrimages of Bernhard von Breydenbach. He makes a pilgrimage from Manse in Germany to the Holy Land. Leaves April 1483 returns January 1484 with an entourage of 150. Typical route to Venice, through the Bosphorous, through Constantinople. - Artist Erhard Reuwich accompanies as well as Felix Favri, who keeps a travelogue. - woodblock prints are created, and the accompanying text is published with them in Latin in 1486 and translated into several languages. - FIRST printed and illustrated book to feature an accurate map of the Holy Land. FIRST printed and illustrated travel book. - 5 large fold-out woodcuts. first ever in the west. 3 block map of Palestine and Egypt, with the book centered on a large view of Jerusalem. - luxury book with massive woodcuts. sometimes they would be colored with watercolors. - surrogate pilgrimage: people would acquire a book so that they could imagine themselves taking a devotional journey. Miniature Holy Lands were built in Italy during that time. - the first accurate images that people had. the images were accompanied by text explaining what they saw, what they did, and how it felt. - native dress of people that the pilgrims encountered along the way (Saracens). the first Arabic language printed in Europe. - people are interested in landscapes and cityscapes as a genre.
Petrus Christus, A Goldsmith in His Studio, Saint Eligius, 1449, Bruges, NOW New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- thoroughly a genre piece. A goldsmith or simultaneously a representation of Saint Eligius, a patron saint of goldsmiths. Similar to Saint Luke painting the Virgin, although it was a self-portrait of Roger van der Weyden. There is no info about the commission of this peice. - two people are reflected in the small mirror on the right. it is an elder couple, as opposed to the larger younger couple. the younger couple could be a part of the rising merchant class. the woman is wearing brocade, perhaps with gold woven into the fabric. it is a rich and heavy dress, and she is wearing a fabulous headdress. Her male companion has a fur-lined coat with thick brocade underneath and a heavy hat on his head. he already has some of the goods of the goldsmith (the chain on his head and the top of a sword hilt). they may be a betrothed couple. - it could have been a part of an altarpiece, but that seems unlikely. - the goldsmith is weighing out gold for the couple. we can see a lot of the goldsmith's wares: gold coins, weights and measures, rings, vases with gold tops and silver and glass bodies, a decanter with a gold top, a chalice, a piece of quartz, a piece of porphyry, and a piece of coral. - Red ribbon on the table: betrothal symbol? - interest in microscopic reality: the older woman is carrying a bird on her arm.
Jan van Eyck, Arnolfini Portrait, 1434, Bruges, NOW National Gallery of Art, London
- wedding portrait? many symbols
Portraiture
Independent portrait type (ex. Girard d'Orleans, Portrait of John the Good, before 1356) and donor portraits (ex. Jan van Eyck, Madonna with Chancellor Rollin, c. 1435). Donor portraits are usually overtly religious images. One of the key points for portraiture as an independent genre seems to have been to promote dynastic continuity. They are creating this image for posterity and to send a message about their legitimacy in many cases. they were primarily of nobility. Jump forward to the 15th century, and we see a rising mercantile class embracing different genres of painting, we are seeing that with portraiture as well.
Rise of Landscape Art
The rise of mercantilism--more people have money and live in urban centers. People have homes that they want to decorate and fill with art. This is a new class of the art-buying public. The Protestant Reformation: a growing allure of the primitive ideal.