| Unit name | Art of the Northern Renaissance (Level H Lecture Response Unit) |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HART30043 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Professor. Williamson |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of History of Art (Historical Studies) |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit covers art produced in France, the Low Countries (the Netherlands, Belgium and Flanders) and Germany, during the late fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries. The glories of the Italian Renaissance have sometimes been allowed to overshadow the equally fascinating and extraordinary art that was produced in the north of Europe during the same period. Equally, assumptions about what the Renaissance was, and what the term means, have largely proceeded from considerations of Italian art. We will consider the ways in which the term might have differing meanings and differing implications when used in a northern European context. Media to be examined will be mainly painting and sculpture, but may also include metalwork and the graphic arts. Key artists to be studied may include: the Limbourg brothers, Claus Sluter, Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Hans Memling, Albrecht Durer, Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Breugel. Key issues to be considered may include: the ways in which the term 'Renaissance' is used, both now and in the past, and what it means (and has meant) in historical and art-historical scholarship focussing on France, the Low Countries (the Netherlands, Belgium and Flanders) and Germany; the ways in which the 'Northern Renaissance' may be seen as distinct from the 'Italian Renaissance'; patronage, function, and reception of – and trade in – the art of northern Europe.
On successful completion of this unit students will have developed: (1) a broad understanding of the development of art during the Northern Renaissance; (2) the ability to analyse and generalise about how and why the art of the Northern Renaissance differed to that produced in Italy; (3) the ability to select pertinent evidence/data in order to illustrate/demonstrate more general issues and arguments; (4) the ability to identify a particular academic interpretation, evaluate it critically, and form an individual viewpoint.
1 x 2-hour interactive lecture per week.
One summative coursework essay of 3000 words (50%) and one unseen examination of two hours comprising 2 questions out of 8 (50%). Both elements will assess ILOs 1 - 4.
Susie Nash, Northern Renaissance Art (2008)
J. Snyder, Northern Renaissance Art (1985)
Jeffrey Chipps Smith, Art of the Northern Renaissance (2004)
K. W. Woods (ed.), Making Renaissance Art (2007)
C. M. Richardson (ed.), Locating Renaissance Art (2007)
K.W. Woods, C.M. Richardson and A. Lymberopoulou, Viewing Renaissance Art (2007)
J. Dunkerton, et al, Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery, London (1991)
T. Müller, Sculpture in the Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain, 1400-1500 (1966)
M. Belozerskaya, Rethinking the Renaissance: Burgundian Arts across Europe (2002)
