Similarities Between Italian And Northern Renaissance

A look at the Northern European and the Italian renaissances will show an emergence of new artistic innovations that are both distinct in their own paths of artistic development and styles, and that they both share many common themes and a smiler history. One would also see how both sides used technological and cultural developments from one another in unique and different ways.

With the collapse of the Roman Empire, Northern Italy became the German governed Holy Roman Empire, Central Italy was governed by the church, whereas the south flourished with trade and merchants. Italian city-states had power that was controlled by merchants, businessmen and capitalists known as patrons, and not kings or the pope (Attrux). With this wealth, education

standards improved and people began looking into and studying the past. There was a strong focus on humanism and a shift away from feudalism. The Italian Renaissance is greatly known for its art whether it be sculptures or painting as Italians were more educated and wealthier (Attrux). The Northern Renaissance encompasses all the other countries such as Germany, France, England and the rest of Europe. Due to the other localized nations having a centralized power in the Holy Roman Empire, the term Northern depicts their political difference from Italian’s city-states (Attrux).
How the two Renaissance started can be seen as roughly similar.

The Northern Renaissance was, like Italy, also focused on humanism and had its own movement spread in universities and through the printing press. This is due to northern artist frequently headed off to Italy and spending month or even years studying the Italians art styles and techniques. The Northern Renaissance was also engaged in the rediscovery and study of its own past, but their architecture and artistic development stayed with the Gothic or middle Ages art longer than Italy. Northern artists were scattered and there were not as many unlike Italy which may have been one of the reasons for

this.
Renaissance artists in the north had a different approach to art than Italian artists. Unlike Italian artists, the artist in the north were not as interested in rediscovering the spirit of ancient Greece. They sought to develop and push the limits and potential of oil paint. They sought to capture nature exactly as they found it. Northern paintings of the renaissance was highly detailed, focusing on color more so than form. While the Italian Renaissance painters considered the principles behind the compositions such as the anatomy of proportion and perspective. A good examples of this is to compare famous Italian Renaissance’s Michelangelo’s The Statue of David (Figure 1) with famous Northern Renaissance’s Philippe de Champaigne’s Moses and the Ten Commandments (Figure 2) (Attrux).
The Moses and the Ten Commandments is a small portrait depicting Moses using oil painting on canvas.

This method was a common method for Northern artists as oppose to the Italian renaissance’s egg tempera, frescoes and marble statues. This painting uses geometric orthogonal perspective that makes it more realistic as if a true depiction of an eyewitness account. In the middle of the painting, Champaigne also uses colors to show light and depth. Michelangelo’s statue, on the other hand, reveals more focus on form objects to create an overall effect. The statue has a strong focus on body form, proportion and anatomy and epitomizes the way the Italian Renaissance used biblical or Greek mythical figures along with grandness in size and focus on form, whereas the Northern Renaissance art was very realistic and highly focused on minute details giving them a more lifelike appearance

(Attrux).
In the late 14th century the northern renaissance developed a huge demand for graphic arts. Illuminations which are small paintings in a book meant to highlight a particular section of text. Over time the nobles of the north became rather fond of the illuminations and began to collect them, after a while the actual text became less important and the focus was almost entirely on the illuminations themselves. An artist could make a good living if they were proficient at doing illuminations (Esaak).
Despite some major artistic differences and motivations between Northern and Italian Renaissance, both places shared a common faith that is until 1517 when Martin Luther started the Reformation of the church. The church for both Renaissances provided a source of common ground with religious Christian stories and themes. During the time of the renaissance the church was one of the largest commissioners of art, as well as a major ruling power over almost all of Europe.
Something thing that the two Renaissances shared was the Guild system. The Guild system was a way an individual could learn a craft or trade. Training for any field was long and rigorous, A Guild was a way to provide training for people while keeping standards and practices uniform. Works of art that were commissioned could see some of the money going back to Guild members (Esaak).
Another significant similarity was there were artistic centers for both Italy and the North during the 15th century. The artistic centers were thought to be places where artists drew inspiration and innovation. For Italy, this was in the Republic of Florence. For the North, this was in Flanders that had a thriving commercial city, much like Florence these artistic centers were governed by rich families that could afford such luxuries such as art. These cities where were artist from all over looked to for the “cutting edge” in innovation and technology at the time of the renaissance (Esaak).
Etching and engravings for printed art works was introduced around 1450 and opened the door to mass produce identical copies of s work. Etching and engravings for printing flourished in the north unlike in Italy. The engravings were often done on a wood panel or a metal sheet, copper was often the metal of choice. These engravings were then covered with ink and used to print the engraved art onto several copies of paper. Though wood was cheaper and more readily available, it was the metal engravings that became more popular and sought after because artist could produces a high quality line with a clean edge and higher level of detail as shown in the adjacent image by Durer . The metal engravings unlike their wooden counter parts could produce more prints while maintaining the higher level of detail (Esaak). A good example of an engraving print is the engraving of St Christopher by Albrecht Durer (figure 3).
Another key difference in the art styles of the two Renaissance where the mediums from which the art was made. The Italian’s preferred to work on fabulous egg tempera paintings and frescoes as well as making marble sculptures. The reason behind these preference in Italy is because of the climate, which was warm enough to allow for the required curing time for the paintings and frescos, and the readily available marble quarries. The north favored the use of oil paints and wood sculptures and carving. The use of oil paint came about because they needed a paint that would dry in the cooler climate and wooded statues and carvings became popular due to the abundance of wood and overall lack of marble quarries (Esaak).