Browse Items (202 total)

This work of art by painter Jan van Eyck demonstrates the artistic innovations which occurred in the Low Countries during the Renaissance. By examining this work, which is one of many paintings on an altarpiece by van Eyck, one can see a greater…

This painting of Desiderius Erasmus captures the character of the Dutch humanist writer and demonstrates the strong humanist presence in the Low Countries. Erasmus situated himself in a central position in the intellectual world of the Renaissance.…

If the Florence Cathedral is symbolic of the religious architecture of the early Renaissance, then the facade of the Palazzo Pitti, also built by the architect Filippo Brunelleschi, is its secular counterpart. Initially commissioned by a banker and…

The Florence Cathedral, officially called the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore (the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower) and usually simply referred to as “il Duomo,” or “the Cathedral,” is arguably the Florentine building. It has earned this…

Healing during the Early Modern period was very often the property of the church and of faith. Pilgrims would go on long journeys to the resting places of saints and other holy figures, in order to find any form of healing they could (Wiesner-Hanks…

This painting, by Josse Lieferinxe, was completed in 1497 and depicts a group of diseased and injured pilgrims visiting the tomb of St. Sebastian, the patron saint of soldiers and the plague-stricken. Lieferinxe was originally from the Southern…

The story of Adam and Eve being expelled by God from the Garden of Eden because of Eve's vulnerability to the temptation of the forbidden fruit is one of the opening stories of the Bible. It lays the foundation of roles of women in Christianity:…

The triptych is a significant art-piece of the Northern Renaissance that stresses the ideas of Northern Humanism, specifically individual and personal study of the Bible. Campin achieves this message through targeted imagery and symbolism,…

There has been substantial debate over the past 500 years over whether Martin Luther’s doctrine – and the Protestant Reformation as a whole – should be seen as a move towards a more egalitarian society. Should we see Luther’s Reformation as a…

This building was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446), who oversaw its construction for the first decade after the start of its commission in 1419. It is both an excellent example of Renaissance architecture by a recognized master artist,…