Art History 203/303: Northern European Art 1400-1600

Second Semester 2017, City Campus

Lectures: Wednesday 11-1pm.

Tutorial:

Lecturer: Associate-Professor Iain Buchanan, Arts 1, Room 751

Telephone; 373 7599 ext 87271; e-mail: i.buchanan@auckland.ac.nz

 

Course Aims

 

Northern European Art 1400-1600 is a survey of art in Northern Europe with the focus on developments in painting and sculpture and to a lesser extent in manuscript illumination and tapestry. The emphasis is on the changes and developments of art within the Low Countries during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Various themes such as religious symbolism, the techniques of painting, the portrait, and approaches to landscape representation will be examined, as well as the development of new genres such as still life and peasant subjects. There will also be study of major individual artists such as Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Hugo van der Goes, Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel.

Each week there will be two lectures on the art of the period and one tutorial. The tutorial programme is intended to compliment the lectures and will address general themes such as the treatment of religious subjects, Italian attitudes to northern art, drawing and underdrawing, genre and low life painting, and Northern Mannerism.

 

General Readings

 

The two standard works on the period are:

Panofsky, E. : Early Netherlandish Painting, Its Origins and Character, 2 vols.

Friedländer, M. J. : Early Netherlandish Painting, trans.   H. Norden, 14 vols( arranged according to artist, the volumes are listed under the individual artists below)

As both these texts were written quite some time ago they do not include any recent research findings. For this material see the reading lists.

 

A good new introduction is:

Nash, Susie: Northern Renaissance Art

 

Other useful general books are:

Cuttler, C. : Northern Painting from Pucelle to Bruegel

Snyder, J. : Northern Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture and the Graphic Arts from 1350-1575

Dunkerton, J, Foister, S, Gordon, D, and Penny, N,: Giotto to Durer. Early Renaissance Painting in The National Gallery

Campell, L.,    The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Schools (This is the catalogue of early Netherlandish Painting in the National Gallery, London and contains valuable new information on Bouts, Campin, Van Eyck, Rogier and Memlinc.)

Campbell, L., The Sixteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings with French Paintings before 1600, 2 vols., (This is the new sixteenth century catalogue with valuable new information on Bosch, Gossart, Bruegel, Patinir and Beuckelaer among others)

De Patoul, B and Van Schoute, R,: Les Primatifs flamands et leurs temps ( In French, but the most up to date survey and very good colour plates)

Ainsworth., and Christiansen, K.,: From Van Eyck to Bruegel, exhibition catalogue, Metropolitan Museum, New York, 1998. A useful recent survey.

Harbison, C, : The Art of the Northern Renaissance ( a brief recent survey )

Stechow, W. : Northern Renaissance Art 1400-1600, Sources and Documents

Wolfthal, D. : The Beginnings of Netherlandish Canvas Painting 1400-1530

For painting techniques, the most recent and comprehensive account is:

“The Methods and Materials of Northern European Painting 1400-1550, in National Gallery Technical Bulletin, 18 {1997],pp. 6-55.

Lecture Programme

Two lectures per week held on Wednesdays at 11-1pm.

 

The Fifteenth Century

 

July      26              Introduction: The Northern Renaissance as a Concept

                              Painting and Sculpture in Burgundy

Aug.    02              Manuscript Painting in France

                              Robert Campin

            09              Painting in Bruges (1): Van Eyck I

                              Van Eyck II: The Ghent Altarpiece

            16              Rogier van der Weyden

                              Hugo van der Goes

            23              Painting in Bruges (2): Hans Memling                 

                              Painting in Bruges (3): Gerard David

            30              Hieronymus Bosch I

                              Hieronymus Bosch II:  The Garden of Earthly Delights

 

Mid-semester Break 4 September- 16 September

 

Sept.    20              Class test for 203. Assignment for 303  to be announced

 

The Sixteenth Century

 

            27              Introduction: Dürer's visit to the Netherlands in 1520-21

                              Painting in Antwerp: Quinten Metsys

Oct.     04              Landscape Painting: Joachim Patinir

                              Jan Gossaert and Romanism        

            11              Northern Painters in Italy: Van Scorel and Heemskerck

                              Bernard van Orley and Tapestry Making

            18              Pieter Bruegel I

                              Pieter Bruegel II

            25              Market Scenes: Aertsen and Beuckelaer

                              Painting in Haarlem: Hendrick Goltzius

 

 

End of Lectures

Study Break and Exams 28 October – 20 November

 

Tutorial Programme

 

Tutorials will begin in the second week of the Second Semester. The topics are as follows:

 

 

Week beginning

 

                        Week   02        Techniques of 15th Century Painting

                                    03        The Altarpiece

                                    04        Religious Subjects in Northern Art    

                                    05        Italian Attitudes to Northern Art

                                    06        The Portrait in Northern Art

 

Mid-semester break 4-16 September

 

                       

                                    07        Drawing and Underdrawing

                                    08        Guild and Workshop Practice

                                    09        Landscape Painting

                                    10        Printmaking

                                    11        Genre and Low Life Painting

                                    12        Mannerism in the Northern Netherlands

 

 

 

End of Tutorial Programme