History of Art 260 Prof. Larry Silver
Northern Renaissance Art
Required Texts: James Snyder, Northern Renaissance Art (Prentice-Hall)
Walter Gibson, Hieronymus Bosch (Thames and Hudson, paper)
Walter Gibson, Bruegel (Thames and Hudson, paper)
Eugene Rice and Anthony Grafton, Foundations of Early Modern
Europe (Norton, paper)
Syllabus and Schedule of Topics:
I. Vision and Visions - Late Medieval Piety
A. Piety and Magnificence at Courts
1. Prague
Reading: Snyder, Chapters 1-2
2. France and England
a. Berry
b. Burgundy
c. Paris and London
Reading: Snyder, Chapter 3
B. Urban Devotions - Germany
1. Hamburg - Master Bertram, Master Francke
2. Cologne - Stefan Lochner
Reading: Snyder, Chapters 4, 11
C. Jan van Eyck
Reading: Snyder, Chapter 5
D. Campin and van der Weyden
Reading: Snyder, Chapter 6
E. Devotional Aids - Retables, Prints, and Sculptures
1. Hospitals
2. Pilgrimage Sites
3. Indulgences and Miracles
4. "Family Values"
Reading: Snyder, Chapters 14-15; Recommended: Chapters 7-9, 12
MID-TERM EXAMINATION
II. Individual Innovation
A. Hieronymus Bosch
Reading: Snyder, Chapter 10; Gibson, Hieronymus Bosch
B. Albrecht Durer
Reading: Snyder, Chapter 16; Recommended: Erwin Panofsky, Albrecht Durer
C. Dialogue with Durer - Renaissance
Reading: Snyder, Chapters 17-19
D. Dialogue with Durer - Reformation
Reading: Snyder, Chapters 19-20
III. Real vs. Ideal in the Netherlands
A. Capitalism and the Rise of Genres
Reading: Snyder, Chapters 21-22
Recommended: Walter Gibson, Mirror of the Earth
B. Dialogue with Italy - "Romanism"
Reading: Snyder, Chapter 25
C. Lucas van Leyden
Reading: Snyder, Chapters 23-24
D. Pieter Bruegel
Reading: Snyder, Chapter 26; Gibson, Bruegel
Course Written Requirements:
Either: 1) two short papers, based on looking assignments at the
Philadelphia Museum of Art OR 2) the first short paper; combined with
an approved term paper on subject discussed with instructor (student must
make a case for special interest in a topic).
Nota bene: The Philadelphia Museum of Art will have an important
exhibition of fifteenth-century Flemish pictures around its own Jan van
Eyck panel on view during the months April-May.