The Italian and the Northern European Renaissance - Essay Example

English Literature ic and Modern) The Italian Renaissance and the Northern European Renaissance Both the two Renaissance periods were crucial phases in the world of artistic expressions. The many artistic expeditions paved way for civilization. The term Renaissance characterizes a period between the 15 century and the 16th century. The Italians perceived this epoch to be the best opportune time to introduce and showcase their civilization, including art, graphics, literary work, and music. This was aimed at outdoing the classic art of Rome and Greece. There was a revival of artistic values and aesthetics in Northern Europe. However, they were not as pronounced as they were in Italy. Commerce introduced the artistic ideas in the Northern Europe region. The Similarities of the Italian Renaissance and the Northern European Renaissance art Both regions employed the guild system, which was based on lessons on craft. This involved painting, and sculptures. According to Earls, the guild system was a regulatory system for any artistic work (34). In this regard, every artistic performance had to be consented by the Guild. This ensured that the artwork created was of high quality. In essence, this meant that the rehearsals on the various forms of art had to be strenuous and time consuming. After accepting the art works, the Guild still continued to gauge the artistic practices and standards. Another similarity is that both the north and Italy had unique artistic centers in their territories. In this regard, the Italian’s center was the Republic of Florence. Then again, the center for the North was Flanders. This was a section of the Duchy of the Burgundy. The Florence City, which was the center of art for the Italian Renaissance was controlled by the Medici family. The members of Medic family were responsible for ferrying wealth to Florence. According to Nici, Cosimo de’ Medici, established a library, which was full of the Greek and Roman manuscripts (Nici 47). This legend noticeably engaged Italian artists and philosophers. This group helped in the transformation of Florence to a cultural Centre. The Italian Renaissance was focused on individualism. An example of this was ‘Masaccio’s Trinity with the virgin’, which was highly accredited to the Italian Renaissance. The other resemblance of Italy and the North was their emphasis on the aspect of religion in their artistic works. In this regard religious scenes were always shown to depict the love of religion. The illustrations of the religious scenes from the Italian Renaissance were “the last supper” and “the creation”. The northern Europe Renaissance examples are Adam and Eve, and the Mystic Lamb. Both renaissances were astute in their artistic works. This made them thrive and pave the way for many forms of civilizations such as design, painting, and graphics. Dexterity was also a common feature in the two renaissances. This feature made the presentations lively and likeable to the various forms of audiences of art work. Additionally, this helped in making the audience understand the livelihood and the culture of the early people. The Differences between The Italian Renaissance and the Northern European Renaissance art Religion is a distinguishing factor for the two renaissances. This is because the majority of the people, especially during the Italian Renaissance were Catholics. Later, there were splinter groups like the Protestant, which criticized most of the Catholic Church practices. The other difference is that the relationship between culture and art for the Italians was based on humanism, rather than on God. In this regard, humanity was the main focus of the Italians. The correlation of culture to art also was influenced by knowledge and truth. This entailed the design of the human body according to the true image so long as it was culturally admissible. According to Gardner and Fred, the Northern Europe destroyed all the artistic work, which was established by the Italian Renaissance (51). This was because of iconoclasm, which is the indiscriminate destruction of all religious artifacts. The connotation of these artifacts were perceived as being contrary to the beliefs of the Northern Europe believes. In this regard, the Italian artifacts were perceived to be a form of idol worship. The other difference between the two renaissances is that the Italian Renaissance had more religion paintings and music compared to the Northern Renaissance. This implies that the European Renaissance had less religious depictions of art than the Italian Renaissance. Earls asserts that the European Renaissance had unique techniques, which were applied in the showcasing of their artistic mastery and creativity (Earls 54). This included the metal plate engravings and the creative painting. During the northern Renaissance, there was a widespread focus on simple lives. One example of artists was Peter Brugal, who specialized in the paintings of people in the haymaking activity to depict the simple lives of the ancient people. Conversely, the Italian Renaissance was majorly focused on the graceful society members. This depicted autocracy because a few rich people were considered important. In this regard, paintings, which were done by the Italian Renaissance artists, featured the lifestyles of the affluent populace of that period. Most of the affluent people derived their wealth from the active trade carried out during that epoch. This wealthy contributed in the political mileage of some of the people. Nici argues that the Italian Renaissance featured Roman Catholicism unlike the European Renaissance (60). The popes of the Catholic Church were often painted in order to depict the elegance of the popes. In addition, The Italian Renaissance also focused more on human anatomy than any other thing. The chosen artists and philosophers were encouraged to perform artistic explorations to elevate the artistic career to the next level. The other aspect is the portrayal of the life-size donors. This depicted individualism because this aspect boosts the self-esteem of people. The cultural differences between the two renaissances influenced the development of art forever. The Italian Renaissance enhanced the creation of desirable artwork; the most recent is Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. This example of art is celebrated in the modern-day world. On the contrary, the Northern Renaissance focused on the art of the middle-age period. There were few commerce centers compared to the Italian Renaissance. This is the motive why this Renaissance was associated with the underprivileged people. According to Benton and DiYanni (2012), the art was practiced in nations like German, the Netherlands and France, which form part of the Northern Europe region. This Renaissance had few economic activities owing to the limitation on trade unlike the Italian Renaissance, which had active trade. This enabled Italy to invest substantial funds in the arts. The Dukes of the Northern Renaissance majorly centered on furnishings and tapestries. In contrast, the Italian Renaissance’s Dukes are interested in paintings, architectural art and sculptures. The Italian Renaissance was more engrossed in the specific principles behind their artistic work, whereas the Northern Renaissance was fixated on the physical qualities of their art. Works Cited Benton, J. R. and DiYanni, R. Arts and culture: an introduction to the humanities. Boston, Prentice Hall, 2012. Print. Earls, Irene. Renaissance Art: A Topical Dictionary. New York, Greenwood Press, 2007. Print. Gardner, Helen, and Fred S. Kleiner. Gardners Art through the Ages. Boston, Mass, Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, 2013. Print. Nici, John. B. Barrons AP art history. Hauppauge, N.Y, Barrons Educational Series, 2008. Print.  Read More