Bosch and the Northern Renaissance

Key Ideas 

•  Reformation sparked a series of ICONOCLASM! Nonetheless, this was a creative and important period for art.
• Sculptors found ways around Protestant iconoclastic moves, sneakily representing figures without appearing to create false pagan idols
• Heavy influence of the Italian Renaissance while maintaining the Northern European style (remember the nut!)

What caused the Reformation?

• Corruption within the Roman Catholic Church during the Renaissance: sale of indulgences (buying one's way into heaven), sale of church offices, nepotism (familial favoritism), decline of morality among clergy... Luther even referred to the pope as the antichrist and the Catholic Church as the "whore of Babylon"! Harsh.
• Humanism questioned the Church's deeply-rooted traditions, contradicted the emphasis on salvation and instead focused on human value and the earthly realm.
• Resentment of secular rulers over the power of the popes and clergy 

 Please watch this BBC documentary about Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights. It's an hour long, but I assure you, it's fun to watch and totally fascinating/disturbing/funny/incredible!

For homework: Imagine you are a Netherlandish citizen living in the 16th century. Write a 1-2 page imaginary journal entry responding to viewing the Garden of Earthly Delights for the first time. Be sure to choose a stance of who you are and how this might impact your viewing (for example, male or female, Catholic vs. Protestant, old vs. young). Remember, this painting would be seen VERY differently in the 16th c. compared to how we see it now (as a surrealist work).

Sample: "Dear diary, I witnessed the strangest thing today after receiving the sacrament at church. As usual, I visited my uncle's house with my mother and baby sister. However this time, he unveiled a new painting by someone named Bosch. Bosch must be a madman, because..." etc. etc. etc.
 (This passage reveals the writer is a young Catholic person)

This is DUE THURSDAY, MARCH 7.

Lastly, check out these helpful resources for 16th century Northern Art

• SmartHistory's Holbein's French Ambassadors
• SmartHistory's Durer's Four Apostles
• SmartHistory's Breugel's The Dutch Proverbs
• Durer on Google Art Project