The Italian Renaissance was hyper repetitive and was focused almost entirely on the human body, so there was a real lack of variety and genres explored. When you study the Italian Renaissance enough, all the works seem to run into one another and become bland, even if they were executed masterfully. But with the Northern Renaissance, there was such a multitude of different styles and genres to work with such as landscapes, peasant scenes, religious allegory, historical scenes, hellscapes, and still lives, all with a tinge of the Medieval Gothic. This to me is far more interesting, multiple different artists making different works in different genres as opposed to the oppressive southern system that would later go on to produce the portraiture, religious art, and the historical epic system that France and Italy were devoted to.
Hi All,
I'm finishing a dissertation on late medieval technology and, as many of you may not be surprised, I realized I have very little sense of the daily lives of many of my historical actors. Many were located in monasteries or northern universities (especially Oxford and Paris) that I understand. But many were Italian, especially Paduan, Venetian, and Milanese and I don't know what it was like to live in those places at all. Can anyone recommend any books or articles on aspects of daily life? I'm interested in culture, clothing, food, physical topography--anything. I'm also open to fiction. In a previous project I learned a lot about (upper class) Florence from close reading Boccaccio.
Anything is much appreciated. I'm not limited to historical monographs, either. I'm happy to read trade history if it provides insight.
Thanks!
In case you missed the first Dev Diary, here it is.
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As mentioned in last weekβs dev diary, Northern Italy served as the birthplace of the Renaissance, for a variety of reasons, including the incredible wealth of the Republican Elites, the remains of Roman influence in Italia and Byzantine scholars fleeing from the crumbling Empire, to name a few. As such, this region is home to many interesting characters whose actions may determine the future of all of Europe.
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The Medici Family
Of course, we canβt talk about interesting characters in Northern Italy without mentioning the Medici family. By 1400, the Medici were well on their way up in Florentine society, headed by Giovanni deβ Medici, with some very impressive stewardship. The Medici are poised to become much more powerful in the next few decades, and, with careful guidance, will be able to establish dominance over the Florentine Republic.
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However, Florence (Firenze) is surrounded by powerful neighbours, and the future is far from certain.
Duke Gian II of Milan
Duke Gian is the de facto the most powerful character in Northern Italy by 1400. He had recently been elevated from Lord of Milan to Duke in 1395 by the Holy Roman Emperor, but his quest for power was far from over. Beyond his vast core of holdings in Milan, many small Italian states have submitted to Gianβs direct rule and protection, making him a serious threat to his surroundings. As Duke of Milan, there are several paths available to you: you may choose to further your dominance of Northern Italy, decisively bringing it under your yoke and crushing the independent spirit of the Italian city states. Alternatively, you may use your power to dominate political life in the Holy Roman Empire as one of the most powerful vassals; while Patricians count their coins, you can count vassals.
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The Renaissance
Having mentioned a coupl
... keep reading on reddit β‘Welcome to the 47th part of our open series of "What do you know about... X?"! You can find an overview of the series here
Today's topic:
The Northern Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance shook up the culture and society of Italy starting from the 14th century, but the influence of the movement only slowly diffused northwards. However, from the start of the 15th century, the influence of the Italian Renaissance spawned a similar cultural explosion north of the Alps in places including The Low Countries, France, and Germany, and England in what has been collectively called the Northern Renaissance. Driven by humanist writers such as Erasmus, to painters such as Jan van Eyck and Albrecht DΓΌrer, as well as a host of renowned architects, composers, and other artists, the Northern Renaissance transformed a broad swatch of Europe.
So... what do you know about the Northern Renaissance?
pls help i need it for my essay and cant for the life of me remember what the painting might be called :(
edit 2: found the painting, thank you <3
edit 1: btw I'm not talking about Christ among doctors by DΓΌrer
I recently came across a most intriguing book, a compilation of northern humanist letter-writing manuals. Much Renaissance scholarship follows individual authors, a method the humanists themselves would no doubt approve. But books like this one provide a different perspective on humanism. From it we can see both how the movement consolidated itself around key texts and how readers had the option of approaching humanist material topically.
This particular book appears to have been marketed as a student edition, no doubt because of the university in Basel. It's dated 1549, but appears to be a reprint or revised edition of a 1536 text. At this time, Protestant universities were seeking to update the university curricula to reflect the methods and priorities of humanism. It's quite likely, then, that this book filled a gap in the teaching of rhetoric.
It should be no surprise that Erasmus is the most prominently featured author. He was not only the most famous humanist in Europe at the time of his death in 1536, he was also something of a city hero. He died in Basel at the house of his printer, Froben, where he personally oversaw the printing of his works. The city built a statue in his honor.
Juan Luis Vives was perhaps the most famous humanist in Europe after Erasmus' death. His staunch Catholicism was ignored by his Protestant admirers.
Conrad Celtis (or Celtes) was likewise a hero to the German-speaking peoples. He was not only one of the first significant German-speaking humanists, but also the founder of several humanist sodalities and the Collegium Poetarum in Vienna.
Perhaps the most interesting of all these texts, though, is the one by the least prestigious author, Christoph Hegendorff. Hegendorff was a career educator and in his work presented the common themes of humanist composition advice, stripped down to their fundamentals for the good of students. Note how he uses visual outlines to communicate information concisely and bases his advice on exempla from classic and Renaissance authors.
I would not be surprised at all if the average Basel university student was attracted to this book by Erasmus' name but ended up relying heavily on Hegendorff for practical help with composition.
hey guys! my AP euro final is tomorrow, and i'm so confused. i was taught that the italian renaissance was more focused on humanism and less religious than the northern renaissance, which was more into christian humanism and christian values as shown through the scope of the renaissance. now, i'm reviewing using other sources and they all say that the northern renaissance was more secular than the italian renaissance! please help. i really don't know at this point.
As the title says, I'm looking for this book. It costs $100 on Amazon, so I wasn't keen on buying it. Are there any links where I might find it? I checked traditional websites already.
