Blog Post 2 The Northern Renaissance

Based on information from the BBC 4 documentary “Northern Renaissance: The Supreme Art” there were many ideas represented in the art of that time and location. While the documentary focused primarily on the works of one Jan van Eyck it can be said that most of his work is a good representation of what was going on in the period. According the documentary he was the artist that change what a singular painting could hold in terms of values and depth. His paintings were mostly hired works by Peter the Good and other Burgundy royalty. Most of his work was that of alter pieces. On the outside their would be some representation of the patrons for that particular piece while the inside would be representative of the wealth of Burgundy along with vast imagery of God and heavenly beings such as Adam, eve, and Jesus. Along with alter pieces a lot of the other work being devised at the time was that of portraiture and the three-quarter view. Portraits gave the patron a couple of status symbols. First a portrait is a way of remembering and honor ones legacy to further generations. As well, people were starting to realize that having your painting done by a certain artists could raise one’s opinion of you. Thanks to Jon van Eyck’s partnership with Peter the Great the position of “artist” gained some ground. But regardless of what type of art whether it is sculpture or painting there was one big shift during the northern renaissance. That is the resurgence of naturalization of art. This means that paintings and sculptures take on a very realistic and natural view of the subject and/or the environment. Shapes and materials became much more organic in nature and much more akin to their realistic counterparts. Color and texture, and even reflectivity, were embellished to a level that had never been accomplished before in art. This was done painstakingly by the use of multiple layers of paint as well as different types of glazes in varying combinations of thickness, gloss, and layers. The amount of work that was put into these paintings allowed the artists to focus on very minor details. The minor details were another major attribute of artistic style to the northern renaissance. But the largest attribute in my opinion to the works that came out of the northern renaissance was the use of light. As a lighting designer by trade I was awestruck by how these artists capture light in a painting that was not true linear perspective, nor with the aid of modern tools. This astonishment was pushed even further when the documentary revealed that these paintings went as far as using the real environment around the painting as its source of light and reflectivity. The shading and softness of light in its intended environment would make the painting almost life like. The use of different glazes and varying layers of oil paints made gemstones appear as true reflective, yet not opaque, gemstones. Capturing all the minor details like light, texture, and sheen, was in my opinion the attribute that set the northern renaissance apart. Those attributes are what create the first naturalistic era of paintings and sculpture.