Art of the Renaissance Beyond Florence

Art of the Renaissance Beyond Florence

hi I’m Rick Steves back with more of the
best of Europe This Time rather than a
particular place we are going thematic
and traveling anywhere that theme takes
us this time it’s the art of the
Renaissance Beyond Italy from its
springboard here in Florence this
cultural explosion spread far and wide
from Spain and Portugal to the
Netherlands and Germany and Beyond
thanks for joining
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us
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for two centuries roughly 1,400 the 1600
there is an explosion of art learning
and culture known as the Renaissance
after centuries of medieval struggles
Europe enjoyed a rebirth or Renaissance
of the enlightened ways of ancient
Greece and Rome though born in Florence
all this progress so much great thinking
and art couldn’t be contained we’ll see
the dramatic revolution in art and meet
the artistic Geniuses who made it
possible in the seafaring lands of Spain
and Portugal we’ll learn how plunder and
trade funded art from lazy manueline clo
to the mystical beauty of El Greco
following the Renaissance North we
Marvel at German
woodcarvers the first mass-produced
artist and the lovingly detailed work of
Masters in Belgium Flanders and Holland
art that offers Vivid Slice of Life
Peaks into their world as well as art
that takes us to places we might not
want to go with the money of merchant
Patron new technology in oil paints and
a more modern Outlook the Renaissance
revolutionized the way we think about
our world and our place in
it we’ll track the spread of the
Renaissance from its birthplace in Italy
to Portugal and Spain then we head north
to Germany and the low
countries though best known for its art
the Renaissance would change Europe in
every way from politics to economics to
religion most of all it was a whole new
attitude toward life a new optimism and
confidence it was humanism humanism
focused not on our sinfulness as
dominated the Middle Ages but in our
essential
goodness people worked hard making money
was
respectable and Excellence was rewarded
real life people not just Saints and
kings were worthy worthy of being
portrayed realistically in all their
human Glory
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humanism the Renaissance was a time of
great curiosity confidence and bold new
ideas Leonardo Luther maavi Michelangelo
consider these great names in that they
were all living around the year 1500 and
so was vasod deama Columbus and mellan
there was a collective sense of
adventure to reach out and explore
Renaissance was fueled in part by the
riches generated by the growth of
overseas trade it was a time of
exploration and Conquest an age known
both ethnocentrically and
euphemistically as the age of
Discovery the age of discovery changed
Europe forever as explorers sailed East
for the luxury goods of Asia and West
for the gold of the Americas they
returned with new plants animals and
lots of plunder incl including enslaved
people soon exotic luxuries and gold
from abroad were decorating Europe’s
palaces and
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churches this age made the seafaring
nations of Spain and Portugal rather
than Italy the richest countries in
Europe funding another cultural and
artistic
Boom the age of Discovery began in
Portugal as the ornate architecture of
the day recalls this Tower protecting
Lisbon’s Harbor was the last sight
Sailors saw as they headed out into the
unknown and the first they saw when they
returned bearing plunder gold and
spices these early explorers were
certainly heroic eyes on the horizon but
with hands on their swords they were
also cruel
conquistadors they ushered in a time of
trade and advancement but also a dark
time of exploitation and
slavery Portugal’s Prince Henry the
Navigator holds the ship that made it
all possible a
Caravel tiny Portugal on the Atlantic
Seaboard eventually emerged as an
economic and cultural power with its own
distinctive
art this ornate Monastery was built by
King Manuel as a thanks to God for the
wealth that poured
in manwell financed the construction by
taxing spices brought back from Asia he
built all of this on the site of a
humble Chapel where seafires prayed
before leaving on their frightening
voyages the style of Manuel’s church
manueline this uniquely Portuguese style
of art reflects the wealth and diverse
culture of the age it features motifs
from the sea Interiors are open and Airy
with Slender columns reminiscent of
exotic palm trees monsters evoke the
mystery of Uncharted
lands there’s a column of indigenous
people artichokes eaten by Sailors to
fight scurvy end the ceiling a Scout
Handbook of knots it all trumpets
Portugal’s nautical
knowhow these Lacy manine CLS are a
testament to the Bold entrepreneurial
and conquering spirit that launched the
age of Discovery and the affluence and
art that resulted in Portugal and
Beyond the age of Discovery reached its
peak in Spain King Ferdinand and Queen
Isabella the monarchs who commissioned
Columbus ushered in Spain’s so-called
Golden Age the mass of wealth plundered
from the Americas was transformed into
great
art towering alra pieces of silver and
gold cavernous
churches imposing
palaces elaborate carving
and paintings that told the story as
Spain wanted it
told Europe’s mightiest power ruled an
Empire that stretched across the globe
from the Spanish Netherlands all the way
to the Philippines with their immense
wealth Cosmopolitan Spanish monarchs
appreciated and collected art from far
and wide the Spanish especially loved
art from far away Venice a once great
power that while An Elegant decline was
still producing great art Rich
conservative Spaniards ate up the big
canvases and bright colors of the
Venetian
Renaissance women painted Lush and
golden bathed in a soft focus Haze like
the city of Venice itself they reveled
in the venetians buoyant Renaissance
Spirit Tian the greatest Venetian
painter captured on canvas the Bold
confidence of of the Spanish King the
most powerful man in the world Charles
I the emperor’s son though very
religious collected a bevy of sensual TS
we see the moral conflicts these people
must have struggled with as this
nobleman with his hands on his organ is
torn between High cultural Pleasures
like music and more worldly
pleasures during this age it must have
seemed as if Europe’s Elites were being
showered with blessings from Heaven at
least that’s the implied message they
hung on their
walls the artistic influences from
Spain’s vast Empire came together in
Toledo with its greatest and last
Renaissance painter his name was
dominicos
theotokopoulos though his tongue tied
friends just called him the Greek or El
Greco artistically he’s hard to classify
El Greco’s work reflects his strong
faith and his much-traveled life it’s a
synthesis of three cultures the
icon-like faces of his Greek Orthodox
Homeland the Bold color and twisting
poses from his schooling in Venice and
the mystical Catholicism of Spain where
he eventually settled in the city of
Toledo then Spain’s capital it’s there
that elgreco forged his Unique
Style working at the end of the
Renaissance the of El Greco overlapped
with the next artistic style mannerism
imagine being an artist coming after
Leonardo and Raphael how to improve on
their Brilliance you’d make your art as
a reaction to their
perfection mannerism is a melodramatic
departure from the calm realism so
cherished by Renaissance
sensibilities it featured elongated
bodies twisting poses and smooth brush
work parmesan for example with his
slippery baby and stretched out Madonna
is famed for
this even Michelangelo’s very last
statue his unfinished Pi rondanini in
Milan has this stretched out
aesthetic but we’re in Spain and elgreco
is a fine example as a mannerist elgreco
painted Supernatural
Visions elongated Saints stretched
between Earth and Heaven he painted
Souls not bodies faces flicker like
candles Thoroughly Modern in its
disregard for realism El Greco’s art
feels contemporary even
today this alterpiece depicting the
Virgin Mary ascending to Heaven combines
alco’s signature elements to capture an
otherworldly event while on Earth the
city of Toledo sleeps an angel in a
billowing robe spreads its wings and
flies up supporting the Virgin Mary on
her trip to
heaven in this Divine Vision she floats
through warped space to be serated by
angels and wrapped in the radiant light
of the Holy Spirit Mary is charged from
within by the Ecstasy of her
faith no painter captured the mystery of
the spiritual World quite like El Greco
he fused inov of techniques with Spanish
religiosity to cap the Renaissance of
golden age
Spain the Renaissance eventually spread
throughout Europe in each country the
art and architecture evolved differently
shaped by that country’s unique cultural
and economic environment that’s clear in
Europe’s northern
Renaissance in Germany the spirit of the
age thrived in merchant towns like
rotenberg which looks today today much
like it did in the
1500s this wooden alterpiece rotenberg’s
artistic highlight is a testament to
German
craftsmanship Tilman reman Schneider the
Michelangelo of woodcarvers created it
to hold a tiny Crystal capsule believed
to contain a drop of Jesus
blood carved 500 years ago the dramatic
Expressions add emotion to the story in
the scene of Last Supper Jesus gives
Judas as usual clutching his bag of
coins a piece of bread marking him as
the
traitor this Exquisite alterpiece is a
German blend of medieval piety and
Renaissance
sophistication in painting Germany’s
Renaissance master was Alber
dur he traveled to Italy and brought
home Italy’s Embrace of realism humanism
and respect for artists as cultural
leaders of the
day bold and dynamic and quirky dur had
no problem with his ego he painted
himself almost as the Christ of his Day
celebrating his genius and his great
head of hair his proud monogram marks
nearly all his
art D was more than a painter as a
master engraver he created prints made
from finely crafted metal plates his
trademark detail tale and realism is
extraordinary at his Workshop you can
see how it’s with these tools that the
artist Cuts an image into the copper
plate after rubbing it with ink a print
is made from the
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plate dur was famous for his Vivid
portrayals of the natural world to be
able to enjoy such beautiful yet
mass-produced art must have been a
Marvel 500 years ago
dur was the first best-selling artist in
history thanks to this impressive new
technology many prints could be made
from a single master
plate dur Engravings were affordable and
spread across Europe further
accelerating the rapid spread of new art
and new
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ideas the northern Renaissance wasn’t a
Renaissance in the literal or Italian
sense like The Rebirth of classical
culture in Florence it was a cultural Bo
boom funded by an economic boom while in
the South it was art for Kings nobility
in the church here in the north it was
more the art of merchants and
businessmen Europe’s North was humming
with commercial hubs like Brussels its
magnificent main square and towering
City Hall proclaimed the wealth of the
new Merchant
class these ornate buildings were the
headquarters for the different
professional guilds Bakers Brewers
Tanners and so on
the nearby city of Bru was another
economic and cultural
Powerhouse its soaring Bell Tower
announced that it was a self-ruling city
of the prosperous region of
Flanders that’s the Dutch or Flemish
speaking northern half of
Belgium this church also with a
skyscraping tower of bricks the most
practical local Building Material was
filled with cultural Treasures from its
powerful pipe organ to its elaborate
tombs
the appetite of the market shaped the
art here in the north where patrons were
mostly Merchants they didn’t want to be
preached at they wanted art that
celebrated their values and their hard
work art that was feel-good and
affordable it was no-nonsense portraits
of themselves and their families happy
scenes of everyday life Flemish painters
were great
storytellers rather than just madonas
and Saints it it was also peasants
Landscapes and Food Northern paintings
were filled with symbolism and extremely
realistic with astonishing
detail this Flemish power couple hired a
famous painter to portray with lots of
symbolism their wealth loyalty piety and
fertility their Rich belongings from
fancy clothing to their stylish headwear
are proudly on
display the dog at their feet loyalty
you can practically count the hairs on
its head rosary beads on the wall that
meant a strong faith while the woman may
look pregnant she’s most likely not just
Gathering Together her fine cloth to
show it off or creating the impression
that she’s fertile or maybe she’s just
boasting the belly of a well-fed upper
class woman perhaps the first famous
canvas to use oil-based paint the detail
is groundbreaking the reflection of the
couple from behind in the mirror and
even even the artist himself the
masterful treatment of light and
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Shadow by the way to capture such detail
Flemish artists mastered the use of
oil-based paints until about 1500 an egg
based paint called tempera was what most
European painters used they’d mix the
mineral-based colors with egg yolk which
when dried became the
binder
but then Flemish painters began using
oilbased
paints with this new improved paint the
same mineral-based colors are mixed into
vegetable oil now when dried the oil
rather than egg yolks binds the
color this oil painting by the Flemish
artist yanban Ike from the early 1400s
and still Vivid is exquisite in its
detail
the Madonna’s delicate face the Saint’s
robe The Weave of the
carpet the stubble on the aging face
glasses actually magnifying the print
are all possible because of the
qualities of oilbased
paints ever since oil paints have been
the standard with these paints artists
enjoyed richer colors and more
flexibility they could apply layer upon
translucent layer called glazes to
create ever more subtle
details while medieval paintings like
this lovely Madonna by jhat or egg based
tempera on wood you can see the
advantage oil-based paints on canvas
gave later artists with oil Raphael
could get a fuller spectrum of colors
and Leonardo could paint with more
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Nuance one thing I love about art is it
can be the closest thing to a Time
Tunnel experience we enjoy in our
travels slices of everyday life like
these take us back in time the
Undisputed Master Of The Slice of Life
scene was the Flemish artist Peter brel
the Elder he captured The Rustic
Simplicity of country folk at play where
the Italian Renaissance depicted strong
Noble Heroes Northern artists like bral
celebrated Humanity’s quirks and poked
fun at its vobl
at this peasant wedding Farmers Scramble
for their share of the free food two men
bring in fresh pudding on a tray another
passes the bowls down a kid licks his
fingers while the bagpiper pauses to
check it all out amid the Feeding Frenzy
almost forgotten sits the demure
bride in this bird’s eyee view of a
snowcovered Belgian Village kids throw
snowballs and play on the ice while men
lug bushels across a frozen lake and a
crowd gathers at the
in but wait it’s actually a religious
scene the village is Bethlehem and
there’s Joseph with his carpenter saw
leading a pregnant Mary looking for a
room far from the Holy Land bral
literally brings the religious message
home it’s Bethlehem in
Flanders
in addition to their Slice of Life
secular scenes Northern artists of the
Renaissance also gave the traditional
medieval alterpiece a new level of
sophistication to those who understood
it the symbolism was obvious as Jesus
Prides the Lily means Mercy the sword
judgment he stands on a globe
representing the universality of his
message as Angels blow horns to Wake the
Dead said Michael the Archangel
determines which souls are heavy with
sin the apostles pray for the souls of
the dead as they emerge from their
graves a painting could be like a sermon
for the illiterate
faithful the individual faces are
painted to make each a real person with
a unique
personality and extraordinarily
intricate detail enhanced by the new
technique of oil paints illustrates the
full range of human
emotions in the faces of the Damned you
can almost hear the screams and nashing
of teeth but Christ is expressionless at
this point the cries of the wicked are
useless this alterpiece in a hospital in
Brugge was also painted with an agenda
to comfort dying patients gazing at this
gathering in heaven they could imagine
leaving this world of pain and illness
and being at home with Mary Jesus and
the Saints this Heaven which Echoes
wealthy Brugge in the 1400s complete
with familiar details brought the
religious message home to the Here and
Now 500 years ago one Flemish painter
heronimus BOS took the northern
Renaissance in a direction that seems
radical even
today his Garden of Earthly Delights a
three- panel painting or triptic shows
the Delights of the world and where
those Temptations lead in act one man
and woman are born innocent in the
Garden of Eden blessed by a kind God but
then foolish people chase after Earthly
Delights a Pursuit that is ultimately a
vicious cycle they’re lured by the
world’s
Pleasures
eating
drinking
sex like the fleeting flavor of that
fruit strawberries everywhere symbolize
how the Delights of Hedonism are soon
gone two lovers are suspended in a
bubble then in the third panel the
bubble pops the moral of the story those
party animals are heading straight to
Hell a burning post-apocalyptic
Wasteland where Sinners are LED off to
eternal
torment every sinner gets an appropriate
punishment glatton are themselves
consumed over and over Goodtime
musicians are tortured by their own
instruments gamblers have their party
forever crashed and a leer gets sexually
harassed by a pig-faced
nun amid it all a face peers out of this
bizarre nightmare a self-portrait of the
artist
Bosch
whether portraying Heaven hell or
anything in between artists of the
period were opening people’s eyes to a
new way of looking at things and the
Renaissance was this and more an
invigorating Spirit of humanism that had
begun in Florence it spread from Italy
to Spain to the north eventually
infusing all of Europe with its can do
optimism
Europe offers a lifetime of artistic
treasures and the more you understand
its art the more you’ll appreciate the
society that created it I hope you’ve
enjoyed our sweep through the highlights
of the Renaissance Beyond Italy soon the
progress Unleashed during this age would
bring even more revolutionary changes
and even more Dynamic art I’m Rick
Steves until next time keep on
traveling
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Rick Steves’ Europe Season 12 showcases Europe’s great art and architecture. © 2024 | From Italy, the Renaissance spread across Europe, revolutionizing art. We travel to Spain and Portugal where overseas plunder is transformed into lacy architecture and ethereal paintings by El Greco. In bustling Germany and Belgium, new technologies enable Durer’s mass-produced engravings, Van Eyck’s meticulous oil paintings, Brueghel’s peasants at play, and the futuristic visions of Bosch. #ricksteveseurope #artofeurope #arthistory

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Rick Steves, America’s most respected authority on European travel, writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio.