The Northern Renaissance: 1500s

While the Renaissance was happening in Italy, great artistic and social changes occurred in Germany and the Low Countries. A bias in favor of Italian art among earlier generalizations of scholars made Italy the focus of artistic invention and the Northern Renaissance was seen as a less sophisticated imitation of the real thing. One might debate whether the North experienced a Renaissance, but the artistic, institutional, and intellectual changes are evident. Discover Grünewald, Bosch, Dürer, Bruegel, Holbein and other extraordinary artists from this period.

Albrecht Dürer, Melencolia I, 1514, engraving, 24.45 x 19.37 cm (Minneapolis Institute of Art) — Explore Dürer's masterful "psychological self-portrait" and the hidden meanings of the various objects in it.

Decoding art: Dürer’s Melencolia I

Was Dürer Melancholic? At times, yes.

What is Melencolia?

Dürer combined the corporeality of Italian art with the detail and emotive narration of northern European art.

Who was Albrecht Dürer?

Himmel , Adoration of the Magi, stained glass detail — Flashed or stained? Discover the historical techniques required to produce—and restore—this vibrant glass painting.

The conservator’s eye: a stained glass Adoration ...

Hans Holbein Dance of Death — Care to waltz? In Holbein’s time, death was a visible part of life—the dance partner from which no one could hide.

Hans Holbein the Younger

Albrecht Dürer and others, The Triumphal Arch, c. 1515, woodcut printed from 192 individual blocks, 357 x 295 cm, Germany © Trustees of the British Museum. — Emperor Maximilian I employed Dürer to create a Triumphal Arch. It remains one of the largest prints ever produced.

Albrecht Dürer, The Triumphal Arch

Bernard van Orley and Pieter de Pannemaker, The Last Supper, ca. 1524–46 (design), ca. 1525–28 (woven), wool, silk, silver-gilt thread, 131 7/8 x 137 13/16" / 335 x 350 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) — Faded though it is, this tapestry retains its breathtaking illusionism: veins pop, wine flows, and hair curls.

Bernard van Orley and Pieter de Pannemaker, ...

Albrecht Dürer, Adam and Eve, 1504, engraving (fourth state), 25.1 x 20 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)-detail — What detail! Dürer studied the human body obsessively and spent four years working on this print. It shows.

Albrecht Dürer, Adam and Eve

Albrecht Dürer, Self-portrait, Study of a Hand and a Pillow (recto); Six Studies of Pillows (verso), 1493, pen and brown ink, 10 15/16 x 7 15/16" / 27.8 x 20.2 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)-detail — It takes talent to turn an ordinary object into a work of art, but Dürer’s hand was up to the task.

Albrecht Dürer, Self-portrait, Study of a Hand ...

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Hunters in the Snow (Winter) (detail) — Join the birds and soar through this frozen landscape. On the pond below, playful scenes warm the air.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Hunters in the ...

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Peasant Wedding (detail), oil on canvas, 114 x 164 cm (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) — Bruegel offers up a slice of peasant life. Despite our historical distance, this is a wedding party we can attend.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Peasant Wedding

Albrecht Dürer's woodcuts and engravings — Have print, will travel. New technologies of mechanical reproduction allowed Dürer to circulate his artistic ideas.

Albrecht Dürer’s woodcuts and engravings

Jan Gossaert, Saint Luke Painting the Madonna, c. 1515-25 (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) — Without historical sources, what gives an artist authority to depict the divine? Gossaert channels St. Luke.

Jan Gossaert, Saint Luke Painting the Madonna

Albrecht Dürer, Self-portrait, 1500, 67.1 x 48.9cm (Alte Pinakothek, Munich) — Dürer holds nothing back in this frontal portrait. By taking Christ’s pose, he conflates artist and creator.

Albrecht Dürer, Self-Portrait (1500)

Dürer, The Four Apostles — These monumental figures concentrate their attention on the word of God, which Dürer writes into the painting.

Albrecht Dürer, The Four Apostles

Albrecht Altdorfer, The Battle of Issus (detail) — Time collapses in this ambitious painting. As the Greeks battle the Persians, the West fends off the Ottoman East.

Albrecht Altdorfer, The Battle of Issus

Hieronymus Bosch, Last Judgment Triptych, 1504-08, overall dimensions 163 x 250 cm, central panel 163 x 128 cm, wings 163 x 60 cm (Akademie für bildenden Künste, Vienna) — Just another day in Hell. Bosch’s seemingly endless representations of pain and suffering betray his dark vision.

Hieronymus Bosch, Last Judgment Triptych

Lucas Cranach the Elder, Judith with the Head of Holofernes, c. 1530 (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) — Such a gruesome act; such a passive woman. But is she really so refined? With Cranach, meaning is never clear-cut.

Lucas Cranach the Elder, Judith with the ...

Hans Holbein the Younger, Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan, 1538, oil on oak, 179.1 x 82.6 cm (The National Gallery, London)- detail — What a catch! Henry VIII reportedly kissed this likeness of Christina, but their marriage was not to be.

Hans Holbein the Younger, Christina of Denmark, Duchess ...

Albrecht Dürer, The Large Piece of Turf, 1503, watercolor and gouache on paper, 16-1/8 x 12-5/8 inches / 41 x 32 cm (Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna) — Get out your Pantone colors—and count the shades of green. With stunning precision, Dürer elevates humble ground.

Albrecht Dürer, The Large Piece of Turf