Devotion and Detail: Early Netherlandish Art and The Northern Renaissance
- Apr 27
- 8 min read
Updated: May 11
In our last three posts, we focused on the Italian Renaissance. In the same period, Northern Europe was experiencing a Renaissance of its own. Find out how these artists combined religious devotion, symbolism and attention to detail, incorporated the viewer into their work and invented the genre of landscape painting! Part five in our Introduction to Art series.
People use the term, “the Northern Renaissance” to refer to the Renaissance that occurred in Northern Europe in the fifteenth century. Cities like Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, Leuven and Brussels had grown rich from banking and industry, which meant that people had money to spend on the arts. The Dukes of Burgundy controlled much of the land and were important patrons of the early Northern Renaissance—but a lot of art was also commissioned by wealthy private citizens.
Early Netherlandish Art
Early Netherlandish art—including artists such as Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Hieronymus Bosch and Joachim Patinir—was primarily produced in the Burgundian Netherlands (modern Belgium, northern France and the southern Netherlands).
Because Northern Europe did not share the same history of classical civilisations as Italy, the Northern Renaissance drew on medieval traditions like manuscript illuminations. Having said this, Netherlandish artists aimed to be more realistic than the medieval period, but unlike the Italian artists (who tried to create the illusion of depth through linear perspective), Netherlandish artists aimed for rendition of detail.
Instead of tempera (used in Italy), Netherlandish painters of the fifteenth century used oil painting, in which pigment is mixed with oil (e.g. linseed oil) as a binding medium. This oil dries when in contact with the air and gives pigments a gloss and depth of colour on canvas (unlike tempera, which is opaque).
Netherlandish artists prepared the panel with an underlying white layer before the oil paint. Depth could be created by applying extra layers of paint. Because oil dried slowly (unlike fast-drying tempera), different strokes of varying colours or tones could be blended and used to create smooth transitions. By the sixteenth century oil had become the predominant technique in Europe.
Jan Van Eyck
Jan and Hubert van Eyck’s Ghent Altarpiece (1432) is a polyptych (a painting of several panels hinged together) in the Church of Saint Bavo in Ghent. There are twelve panels that open and close on hinges. Most people say that Jan van Eyck painted this, although his brother Hubert may have begun it.
The biggest panel shows the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, with figures adoring the Lamb of God (a title for Jesus). Above this is the figure of God or Jesus, and either side of this are John the Baptist and the Virgin Mary. This combination shows the Byzantine influence on the work and represents heavenly redemption.
Other panels show the archangel Gabriel and the Annunciation. Adam and Eve are represented on the outer top panels, but unlike in the Italian renaissance, which idealises the body, artists of the Northern Renaissance do not use classical sculpture as inspiration, so their bodies look like those of ordinary people.
The Northern Renaissance is known for attention to detail and this can be seen in the Ghent altarpiece. It can also be seen in Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait (1434) which shows a bourgeois couple at home. Van Eyck uses details to make the lamp and the mirror look realistic and the textures of objects are carefully represented.
A lot of people assume that the woman in the painting is pregnant, but her appearance is due to the style of dress that was fashionable in fifteenth century Bruges. Some art historians think that the portrait depicts a couple having newly contracted a marriage. For instance, art historian Erwin Panofsky argues that a lot of objects in the room symbolise the idea of marriage the single candle in the chandelier symbolises sacredness of this event; the dog symbolises fidelity; there is a carving of Saint Margaret, who’s the patron saint of childbirth.
The attention to detail in the depictions of the objects is characteristic of the Northern Renaissance. Many art historians think that the painting is of Giovanni Arnolfini, who provided textiles to the Duke of Burgundy, which make the expensive and elaborate clothing and textiles depicted very appropriate.
Patrons were an important driver of art during the Northern Renaissance. For example, van Eyck’s Virgin of Chancellor Rolin (1435) uses vineyards of Burgundy as a backdrop. This is because the person who commissioned it (who is in the painting) earned money from such vineyards. The artist is reminding viewers of the wealth and power of the patron.
Finally, van Eyck’s The Crucifixion and The Last Judgment (1430), was made for prayer, small enough to travel with and its panels are inscribed with text in Latin from the Bible and the Gospels that relate to the scenes painted inside. It uses characteristic Netherlandish oil paint and has extraordinary attention to detail.
The picture needs to be seen very close up to be appreciated: for instance, the mountains in the background are painted in tiny strokes; the spear that pierces the side of Christ and the sponge with vinegar that was said to have been offered to him to quench his thirst; the expressions of the horses; expressions of the figures in the crowd.
Netherlandish artists also incorporated viewers into the painting. For instance, there is a reflection on the round shield that hangs from the belt and sword of a soldier above the head of Mary Magdalene‑a technique also used in van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait.
Rogier van der Weyden
Rogier van der Weyden was born, trained and worked in Belgium. His The Descent from the Cross Deposition of Christ (1435) shows the deposition of Jesus who, with his nails just removed from his hands and feet, has been brought down from the cross. The grieving woman in the far right has a posture is similar to one of the figures in van Eyck’s The Crucifixion and The Last Judgment.
In the painting, Jesus and Mary (who has fainted) are parallel to each other. Their hands seem equally lifeless and seem to bracket Jesus and Mary. The attention to details is characteristic of Early Netherlandish painting—for instance, the stubble on Christ’s face; the pubic hair just above the cloth that covers Jesus; the blood that flows from the wounds is in the process of changing direction.
In contrast with the realism of these details, the arms of the cross are obviously too small to have supported Christ and the legs of the Virgin are too long—that’s because van der Weyden was trying to imitate an altarpiece with carved wooden figures. Also, the crossbows on the upper right and left corners of the picture are there because the painting was commissioned by the crossbowmen’s guild in Leuven.
Hieronymus Bosch
Hieronymus Bosch was born in the Netherlands. And some people think that his moralizing works are more closely linked to medieval art than to the Renaissance. His The Garden of Earthly Delights (c. 1500) is a large painting and a triptych (it has three sections). This was a common format for religious works for churches, but it was unusual in a large private painting.
The left panel shows earthly paradise with the creation of Adam and Eve. There is an owl near the base of the pink fountain that symbolises night and darkness. In the centre, there is a world populated by young men and women engaged in playful activities.
On the right is hell. This shows humanity’s sinful behaviour and its consequences: strange scenes and musical instruments used as torture instruments. Is the tree-man Bosch’s self-portrait?
One thing that is typical of the Northern Renaissance is Bosch’s use of symbolism. Some scholars think that the fact that our sight is not guided by perspective, the size of figures, or their placement is supposed to show that we are governed by our passions and lusts and are thus distanced from God. Others think that the central panel shows the happy world that could have been if humanity had not sinned. The rock has the shape and the features of a human head, which influenced surrealist painters in the early 20th century.
Joachim Patinir
Joachim Patinir was born in southern Belgium and worked in Antwerp. Patinir is known for his landscapes, which he made the focus, not just the background of his work.
Whereas eighty years before, Rogier van der Weyden had painted Saint George and the Dragon (1432-1435) with a beautiful secondary landscape, Patinir’s Landscape with Saint Jerome (1516-1517) showcases the landscape itself.
Patinir’s Charon Crossing the River Styx (1520-1524) recalls Bosch in its use of the fountain, but the landscape itself is the subject for Patinir.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Pieter Bruegel the Elder worked mainly on landscapes and a little later than the artists we classify as “Early Netherlandish.” He is a bridge between early Netherlandish art and the Northern Renaissance more generally.
Bruegel worked mainly in Antwerp and Brussels. He did not embrace the classicist tradition, for instance in his The Harvesters (1565), which portrays country people in everyday life. Really, though, this was painted for people who lived in the cities.
Bruegel was influenced by Patinir in his use of landscape, but he added his own ideas. He used realism, but combined a variety of different topographies and carefully designed the composition.
Bruegel was sometimes thought of as the “new Bosch”: his The Triumph of Death (1562-1563) shows a skeleton on horseback with a sickle leading troops to end the world.
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer was born in Germany and he was one of the first Northern European artist to gain detailed knowledge of the Italian Renaissance. He travelled to Italy and around Germany and the Netherlands and was influenced by Mantegna, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, Van Eyck and Patinir.
Dürer’s Self-Portrait (1498) shows him as a gentleman, an intentional attempt to raise the status of painters. His Self-Portrait and Pillow Study (1493) shows his understanding that drawn lines are expressive in themselves—not just because of what they represent. Unusually, he also produced a Nude Self-Portrait (c. 1500-1505).
Dürer revolutionized printmaking and his prints were purchased by elite art collectors. His Samson and the Lion (1497-98) is a good example. Dürer’s St Jerome in His Study (1514) shows Saint Jerome accompanied by the lion who became his companion. Dürer’s attention to detail is seen in the texture of the wood on the ceiling, the effects created by the light coming through the window and the fur of the lion and the dog.
Find out about art in the Dutch Golden Age in our next post in the series!
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