Early Renaissance painting bridges the period of European art history between the art of the Middle Ages and the art of the Renaissance.

Two regions of Europe were particularly artistically active during this period: northern Europe (essentially Flanders) and Italy. The Renaissance is considered to have reached northern Europe in the 16th century. Thus, most of the Early Renaissance works in northern Europe were produced between 1420 and 1550.

Themes and symbolism

The works of art of this period feature mainly religious themes (the Church was the main client of these artists), but also some purely figurative themes.

The religious symbolism is largely drawn from the work of Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend (1260).

Some more mundane themes were treated, but they were often treated via a religious or mythological representations. For instance, Early Renaissance artists sometimes used the theme of Adam and Eve as a way to represent female and male nudes in a then morally acceptable way. Sometimes a fig leaf covered their genitals.

Techniques

The use of perspective is also notable in these paintings.

Flemish artists

Main article: Flemish Primitives

• Hieronymus Bosch (c.1460-1518)
• Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c.1520-1569)
• Robert Campin (c.1380-1444)
• Petrus Christus
• Joos van Cleve
• Gerard David (c.1455–1523)
• Hubert van Eyck (1366?-1426)
• Jan van Eyck (1385?-1440?)
• Hugo van der Goes
• Adriaen Isenbrant (c.1490-1551)
• Quentin Matsys (1466-1530)
• Hans Memling (c.1430-1494)
• Joachim Patinir
• Roger van der Weyden (c.1400-1464)

"The Ghent Altarpiece: The Adoration of the Lamb" (interior view) painted 1432 by Jan van Eyck.

German artists

• Albrecht Altdorfer (c.1480-1538)
• Hans Baldung (c.1480-1545), Alsatian
• Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553)
• Lucas Cranach the Younger (1515-1586)
• Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)
• Matthias Grünewald (c.1470-1528)
• Hans Holbein the Elder (c.1460-1524)
• Hans Holbein the Younger (c.1497–1543)
• Ambrosius Holbein (1494-1519)

Italian artists

• Fra Angelico (c.1395-1455)
• Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337)

Works

• Ghent Altarpiece, by Hubert and Jan van Eyck
• The Arnolfini Portrait, by Jan van Eyck

Main viewing locations

• Musee Communal des Beaux-Arts, Bruges, Belgium
• Groeningemuseum, Bruges, Belgium
• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
• Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain - for works of Hieronymus Bosch
• Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery, London - opened in 1991

Legacy

The Pre-Raphaelite painters of the 19th century - literally before Raphael (1483-1520) - copied the style of Early Renaissance paintings.

See also

• History of painting
• International Gothic
• Danube school

Reference

• Panofsky, Erwin, Early Netherlandish Painting (1953)