Early Northern Renaissance Art

big idea

The "Very Rich Hours" is a major change in manuscript illumination, in which the images began dominating the text.

1. Period and Location: Early Northern Renaissance

This lesson covers art and culture from about 1325 to 1475, as highlighted in the timeline below. This covers the lifespan of two Dukes of Burgundy, Philip the Bold and Philip the Good. The art studied in this lesson is from Flanders, an area of modern-day Belgium previously under the control of the kingdom of France. It is now part of Belgium.

This map shows the modern-day border of Flanders, as well as the city of Brussels for reference.

2. Two Philips

A number of cultural aspects relate to the development of the art in northern France and Flanders during this time. First is the rise of the Burgundian dukes: Philip the Bold, followed by Philip the Good. Both functioned almost independently of the kingdom of France and spent a great deal of their time expanding their territory and enjoying very extravagant lifestyles. Their patronage of the arts was extremely important to its proliferation in this area during this time.

The other development was more of a natural consequence of one of the worst pandemics in human history, that of the bubonic plague, or Black Death. This plague is thought to have originated in Asia and been spread by fleas on rats. Regardless of how it started or spread, it decimated the European population, killing anywhere from one- to two-thirds of the population of Europe over the centuries. It’s hard to tell because there are few good records from that time.

did you know

There was a bit of a silver lining for those that did survive. There was plenty of work, and plenty of money to pay those that could still work. Serfs, who were indentured servants tied to a piece of property until they paid their debt, were able to earn money relatively quickly and buy their freedom. This rise in the freedom of serfs contributed to the rise of the middle class, which in turn created a new, large pool of patrons to the arts, called burghers, and also to the origins of capitalism.

terms to know

Burgher

A middle class citizen of a borough or town

Capitalism

An economic system in which means of production (capital) is privately owned

3. Very Rich Hours

Images of peasants and the aristocracy at their leisure are a defining element of the art of the Northern Renaissance.

This image from a larger book of hours, illustrated by the Limbourg brothers between 1413 and 1416, is an example of aristocracy at leisure.

A book of hours was a devotional book used by Christians. This example is also interesting in that the emphasis is clearly on the illustration rather than the text. This marks a major change in manuscript illumination. Before this, the emphasis was on the text, and the images were supplementary. Here we see a reversal, where the emphasis is beginning to shift to the illustrations.

terms to know

Northern Renaissance

An age of artistic and cultural discovery and Christian humanism that took place in Germany, the Netherlands, and France

Book of Hours

A popular devotional book used by Christians during the Middle Ages

Manuscript Illumination

Decorating and illustrating a manuscript and embellishing it with gold or silver