renaissance high german - wcs -...

HIGH GERMAN RENAISSANCE

HIGH GERMANRENAISSANCE


16th Century High German Renaissance

Albrecht DurerHans Holbein the Younger

Matthias Grunewald

Artists to Know…



Lucas Cranach the Elder,Allegory of Law and Grace, ca. 1530. Woodcut.

The Law and the Gospel (as it is often called) is the single most influential image of the Lutheran Reformation. The Reformation, initiated by Martin Luther in 1517, was originally an attempt to reform the Catholic Church. However, reform quickly became rebellion, as people began to question the power and practices of the Catholic Church, which had been the only church in western Europe up until Luther.

The woodcut images began as paintings. In consultation with Martin Luther, Lucas Cranach the Elder produced The Law and the Gospel. All of Cranach’s Lutheran painting rests upon this pictorial type, which also influenced other artists. Not only does The Law and the Gospel explain key notions of Lutheran salvation, but its iconography (symbolism) and function criticize the function of art of the preceding period.



Lucas Cranach the Elder,Allegory of Law and Grace, ca. 1530. Woodcut.

Law and Grace is concerned with two roles that God plays; to judge and to show mercy. On the one hand, God judges and condemns human sin, as seen on the left side. On the other hand, God also shows mercy and forgiveness, granting unearned salvation to sinful believers, as a repentant man seeks salvation from God on the right.

The Protestant Reformation induced a wave of iconoclasm, or the destruction of religious imagery. All forms of Protestantism showed a degree of hostility to religious images, as idolatry, especially sculpture and large paintings. Book illustrations and prints were more acceptable, because they were smaller and more private.



Lucas Cranach the Elder, Allegory of Law and Grace, ca. 1529. Oil on Wood.



Lucas Cranach the Elder, Allegory of Law and Grace, ca. 1530. Woodcut.



Matthias GrunewaldIsenheim altarpiece, Oil on wood. 1515.

HIGH GERMAN RENAISSANCEThe Isenheim Altarpiece was created for

the hospital chapel of St. Anthony's Monastery in Isenheim in Alsace, which

explains the presence of the plague saint, St. Sebastian. Monks of the monastery

were noted for their care of plague sufferers as well as their treatment of skin diseases, such as ergotism. Here, Christ

is shown diseased and weak, as to sympathize with those who were afflicted.

The Isenheim Altar is a complicated structure with four layers of painted

surfaces - two sets of folding wings, like a double cupboard, enclosing the final

altarpiece, which consists of three carved wood statues of saints. There are also

two side panels and a predella. The altarpiece is now at the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar, a nearby town.



Matthias Grunewald, Isenheim altarpiece. Oil on wood, 1515.



Matthias GrunewaldIsenheim Altarpiece (opened), 1515, oil on wood.


16th Century High German Renaissance Details of Christ from Isenheim



Matthias GrunewaldThe Temptation of Saint Anthony

1515. Panel from the Isenheim altarpiece, Oil on wood.


16th Century High German Renaissance Matthias Grunewald, Isenheim Altarpiece.



Hans Holbein the YoungerGerman Merchant, 1532, Oil on Wood.

During the Reformation, many artists chose secular portraits over Church pieces as a way to make a living.



Hans Holbein the YoungerThe (French) Ambassadors,

1533. Oil on Wood.

Although a German-born artist who spent much time in England, Holbein displayed the influence of Early Northern painters in this work. What is most "Flemish" of Holbein's use of oils is his use of the medium to render meticulous details that are mainly symbolic: as Van Eyck and the Master of Flemalle used extensive imagery to link their subjects to divinity, Holbein used symbols to link his figures to the age of exploration.



The most notable and famous of Holbein's symbols in the work, however, is the skewed skull which is placed in the bottom centre of the composition. The skull, rendered in anamorphic perspective, another invention of the Early Renaissance, is meant to be a visual puzzle as the viewer must approach the painting nearly from the side to see the form morph into an accurate rendering of a human skull. While the skull is evidently intended as a vanitas or memento mori, it is unclear why Holbein gave it such prominence in this painting.

View of skull from an angle…

Hans Holbein the YoungerThe (French) Ambassadors,

1533. Oil on Wood.



Hans Holbein the YoungerHenry VIII (King of England), 1540, Oil on Wood.



Albrecht Durer,Self-Portrait, c1500.



Albrecht Durer,Four Apostles, 1526.




Albrecht DurerFour Horsemen of the Apocolypse, Woodcut, 1498.

Albrecht Durer



Albrecht DürerAdam And Eve, Engraving, 1504.

Under the influence of Italian theory, Dürer became increasingly drawn to the idea that the perfect human form corresponded to a system of proportion and measurements. Near the end of his life, he wrote several books codifying his theories, which is exemplified in Adam and Eve. The first man and woman are shown in nearly symmetrical idealized poses: each with a contrapposto position and one arm angled slightly upward from the elbow, away from the body.



The figure of Adam is reminiscent of the Hellenistic Apollo Belvedere, excavated in Italy late in the fifteenth century. The first engravings of the sculpture were not made until well after 1504, but Dürer must have seen a drawing of it. Dürer was a complete master of engraving by 1504: human and snake skin, animal fur, and tree bark and leaves are rendered distinctively. The branch Adam holds is of the mountain ash, the Tree of Life, while the fig, of which Eve has broken off a branch, is the forbidden Tree of Knowledge. Four of the animals represent the medieval idea of the four temperaments: the cat is choleric, the rabbit sanguine, the ox phlegmatic, and the elk melancholic.





Apollo Belvedere


Albrecht DurerMelancholia I, Engraving,

1514.


renaissance high german - wcs -...

Documents