4.5 The Renaissance Moves North

Lesson 4.5

Renaissance

Moves North

Renaissance ideas spread from Italy and influenced art and literature across northern Europe.

Artistic Styles

In time, Italian Renaissance ideas began to influence northern Europe.

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Trade and the growth of cities spread the ideas to

countries such as France, Belgium, the Netherlands,

Germany, Spain, and England. Artists from these countries

visited Italy’s cities to soak up their rebirth of culture firsthand.

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Powerful rulers in countries like France and England

brought Italian artists to their courts. The kings and

queens became the artists’ patrons and paid them

to create works that became a source of national pride.

Notes

4.5 Renaissance Moves North

Multiple Choice

Which statement is true?

• Italian Renaissance ideas began to influence northern Europe

• The Renaissance started in Northern Europe

• Renaissance ideas spread from Northern Europe to Italy

• Florence was home to many Northern Renaissance artists

While northern European artists were inspired by the Italian Renaissance, many put their own spin on artistic styles.

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For instance, instead of focusing on classical subjects, artists of the Northern Renaissance often painted scenes of everyday life.

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The German artist Albrecht Dürer is often considered to be the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance. Dürer had visited Italy and absorbed the styles there. He combined classical ideas, perspective, and great attention to detail to create realistic paintings and woodcuts, or images carved on blocks of wood.

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Notes

4.5 Renaissance Moves North

Multiple Choice

Artists of the Northern Renaissance often painted scenes of:

• Everyday life

• Ancient Greece

• Ancient Rome

• Bible events

Multiple Choice

This German artist is often considered to be the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance.

• Leonardo da Vinci

• Thomas More

• Albrecht Dürer

• Michelangelo

Scholars & Writers

The Italian Renaissance and its humanist ideals also

influenced the intellectual thinking of northern Europe.

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As you may recall, Petrarch was an early humanist leader

of the Italian Renaissance. The Dutch scholar and priest Desiderius Erasmus was a key humanist leader of the Northern Renaissance.

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Erasmus focused on making classical works and

Christian texts more accessible to ordinary people,

and criticized some Church practices and called for reform.

Notes

4.5 Renaissance Moves North

Multiple Choice

Who focused on making classical works and Christian texts more accessible to ordinary people?

• Pieter Bruegel

• Desiderius Erasmus

• Petrarch

• Aristotle

Thomas More promoted free education for

men and women, which was a radical idea at the time.

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The best-known writer of the Northern Renaissance did not try to reform society. This author wrote tragic, comic, and historical plays filled with characters that spring to life off the page. Their passions, humor, personalities, and conflicts still capture our imagination today. Many people believe that the man who created these characters—William Shakespeare—is the greatest writer in the English language.

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Notes

4.5 Renaissance Moves North

Multiple Choice

What radical idea did Thomas More promote?

• Free education for men and women

• Abolition of slavery

• The Sun is the center of the universe

• The earth is round

Multiple Choice

This man is considered to be the greatest writer in the English language.

• Dante

• Charles Dickens

• J. K. Rowling

• William Shakespeare