Northern Renaissance Art & Architecture

This course focuses on developments in the northern Europe from approximately the 14th to the 16th century through examining how its visual culture helped to define and was influenced by its cultural environment. Course material is organized geographically - the Netherlands first, then Germany - reflecting the preeminence of Dutch art during the 15th century, and the dramatic emergence of the arts in Germany in the 16th century. Within this framework, the course examines a number of themes such as devotional practices and popular piety, the art market, artists' guilds, systems of patronage, the development of genres such as portraiture and landscape; and the new technology of printmaking.