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{{Short description|Cultural period}}
{{Renaissance}}
The '''Renaissance in the Low Countries''' was a cultural period in the [[Northern Renaissance]] that took place in around the 16th century in the [[Low Countries]] (corresponding to modern-day [[Belgium]], the [[Netherlands]] and [[French Flanders]]).

Culture in the Low Countries at the end of the 15th century was influenced by the [[Italian Renaissance]], through trade via [[Bruges]], which made Flanders wealthy. Its nobles commissioned artists who became known across Europe. In science, the [[Anatomy|anatomist]] [[Andreas Vesalius]] led the way; in [[cartography]], [[Gerardus Mercator]]'s map assisted explorers and navigators. In art, [[Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting]] went from the strange work of [[Hieronymus Bosch]] to the everyday life of [[Pieter Brueghel the Elder]]. In architecture, music and literature too, the culture of the Low Countries moved into the Renaissance style.

==Geopolitical situation and background==
[[File:The Low Countries.png|thumb|Map showing the political situation in the Low Countries between 1556 and 1648.]]
In 1500, the [[Seventeen Provinces]] were in a personal union under the [[Burgundian Netherlands|Burgundian Dukes]], and with the [[County of Flanders|Flemish]] cities as centers of gravity, culturally and economically formed one of the richest parts of Europe. During the course of the century the region also experienced significant changes. [[Renaissance humanism|Humanism]] and [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] led to a rebellion against the Spanish rule of [[Philip II of Spain]] and the start of the [[Eighty Years' War|religious war]]. By the end of the 16th century the Northern and [[Southern Netherlands]] were effectively split. While this fracture was reflected in the visual arts by the [[Dutch Golden Age painting|Dutch Golden Age]] in the north and the [[Flemish Baroque painting|Flemish Baroque]] in the south, other areas of thought remained associated with 16th-century currents of [[Renaissance]] thought. Gradually, the balance of power shifted away from the Southern Netherlands, which remained under Spanish authority, to the emerging [[Dutch Republic]].<ref name="Janson">{{cite book | last = Janson | first = H.W. |author2=Janson, Anthony F.  | year = 1997 | title = History of Art | edition = 5th, rev. | publisher = [[Harry N. Abrams, Inc.]] | location = New York | url = https://www.abramsbooks.com | isbn = 0-8109-3442-6}}</ref>

Two factors determined the fate of the region in the 16th century. The first was the union with the kingdom of Spain through the 1496 marriage of [[Philip the Handsome]] of [[Duke of Burgundy|Burgundy]] and [[Juana of Castile]]. Their son, Charles V, born in [[Ghent]], would inherit the largest empire in the world, and the [[Seventeen Provinces|Netherlands]], although a prominent part of the empire, became dependent on a large foreign power.

A second factor included religious developments. The [[Middle Ages]] gave way to new modes of religious thinking. [[Devotio Moderna]] practices, for example, were particularly strong in the region, while the 16th-century criticisms of the [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic Church]] that spread throughout Europe also reached the Low Countries. [[Renaissance humanism|Humanists]] such as [[Erasmus|Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam]] were critical but remained loyal to the church. However, the spread of the [[Protestant Reformation]], started by [[Martin Luther]] in 1517, eventually led to outright war. The Reformation, particularly the ideas of [[John Calvin]], gained significant support in the Low Countries, and following the 1566 [[iconoclasm|iconoclastic outbreaks]] Spain attempted to quell the tide and maintain the authority of the [[Council of Trent|post-Tridentine]] Church through force by installing [[Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba]].<ref name="Kamen">{{cite book | last = Kamen | first = Henry | year = 2005 | title = Spain, 1469–1714, A Society of Conflict | edition = 3rd | publisher = Pearson Education | location = Harlow, United Kingdom | url = https://archive.org/details/spain14691714soc00kame | isbn = 0-582-78464-6 | url-access = registration }}</ref> The repression that followed led to the [[Dutch Revolt]], the beginning of the [[Eighty Years War]], and the establishment of the [[Dutch Republic]] in the northern provinces. Subsequently, the Southern Netherlands became a bastion for the [[Counter Reformation]], while [[Calvinism]] was the main religion of those in power in the Dutch Republic.

===Influence of the Italian Renaissance===
[[Image:Holbein-erasmus.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Erasmus|Desiderius Erasmus]] in 1523]]
Trade in the port of [[Bruges]] and the textile industry, mostly in Ghent, turned Flanders into the wealthiest part of Northern Europe at the end of the 15th century. The Burgundian court dwelled mostly in Bruges, Ghent and [[Brussels]]. The nobles and rich traders were able to commission artists, creating a class of highly skilled painters and musicians who were admired and requested around the continent.<ref name="Heughebaert">{{cite book | last = Heughebaert | first = H. |author2=Defoort, A. |author3=Van Der Donck, R. | year = 1998 | title = Artistieke opvoeding | publisher = Den Gulden Engel bvba. | location = Wommelgem, Belgium | isbn = 90-5035-222-7}}</ref>

This led to frequent exchanges between the Low Countries and Northern Italy. Examples are Italian architects [[Tommaso Vincidor]] and [[Alessandro Pasqualini]], who worked in the Low Countries for most of their careers, Flemish painter [[Jan Gossaert]], whose visit to Italy in 1508 in the company of [[Philip of Burgundy, Bishop of Utrecht|Philip of Burgundy]] left a deep impression,<ref name="Janson"/> musician [[Adrian Willaert]] who made [[Venice]] into the most important musical centre of its time<ref name="Heughebaert"/> (see [[Venetian School (music)|Venetian School]]) and [[Giambologna]], a Flemish sculptor who spent his most productive years in [[Florence]].

Before 1500, the Italian Renaissance had little or no influence above the Alps. After this Renaissance influences moved northward, but unlike the [[Italian Renaissance]], Gothic elements remained important. The revival of the classical period is also not a central theme like in Italy, the "rebirth" shows itself more as a return to nature and earthly beauty.<ref name="Heughebaert"/>

==Renaissance in the Low Countries==

===Art===
{{main|Early Netherlandish painting|Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting}}
[[Image:Hieronymus Bosch - The Garden of Earthly Delights - Hell.jpg|thumb|upright|''Hell'', the right panel from the triptych ''[[The Garden of Earthly Delights]]'' by [[Hieronymus Bosch]]]]
[[Image:Bruegel, Pieter de Oude - De val van icarus - hi res.jpg|thumb|250px|left|''[[Landscape with the Fall of Icarus]]'' after [[Pieter Bruegel the Elder]]]]
[[Early Netherlandish painting|Fifteenth-century painting in the Low Countries]] still shows strong religious influences, contrary to the Germanic painting. Even after 1500, when Renaissance influences begin to show, the influence of the masters from the previous century leads to a largely religious and narrative style of painting.

The first painter showing the marks of the new era is [[Hieronymus Bosch]]. His work is strange and full of seemingly irrational imagery, making it difficult to interpret.<ref name="Janson"/> Most of all it seems surprisingly modern, introducing a world of dreams that highly contrasts with the traditional style of the Flemish masters of his day.

After 1550, the Flemish and Dutch painters begin to show more interest in nature and in beauty ''an sich'', leading to a style that incorporates Renaissance elements, but remains very far from the elegant lightness of [[Italian Renaissance painting|Italian Renaissance art]],<ref name="Heughebaert"/> and directly leads to the themes of the great Flemish and Dutch [[Baroque]] painters: landscapes, still lifes and genre painting – scenes from everyday life.<ref name="Janson"/>

This evolution is seen in the works of [[Joachim Patinir]] and [[Pieter Aertsen]], but the true genius among these painters was [[Pieter Brueghel the Elder]], well known for his depictions of nature and everyday life, showing a preference for the natural condition of man, choosing to depict the peasant instead of the prince.

The ''[[Landscape with the Fall of Icarus]]'', now thought to be an early copy, combines several elements of northern Renaissance painting. It hints at the renewed interest for antiquity (the [[Icarus (mythology)|Icarus]] legend), but the hero Icarus is hidden away in the background. The main actors in the painting are nature itself and, most prominently, the peasant, who does not even look up from his plough when Icarus falls. Brueghel shows man as an anti-hero, comical and sometimes grotesque.<ref name="Heughebaert"/>

===Architecture and sculpture===
As in painting, [[Renaissance architecture]] took some time to reach the Low Countries, and did not entirely supplant Gothic elements.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Rietbergen |first=P. J. A. N. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/52849131 |title=A Short History of the Netherlands: From Prehistory to the Present Day |publisher=Bekking |year=2000 |isbn=90-6109-440-2 |edition=4th |location=Amersfoort |pages=59 |oclc=52849131}}</ref> The most important sculptor in the Southern Netherlands was [[Giambologna]], who spent most of his career in Italy. An architect directly influenced by the Italian masters was [[Cornelis Floris de Vriendt]], who designed the [[Antwerp City Hall|city hall of Antwerp]], finished in 1564.

[[File: Well of Moses at CMArt (Cropped).JPG|thumb|left|200px|Sluter, ''The Well of Moses'', 1395-1405]]In sculpture, however, 15th-century Netherlandish artists, while adhering to Christian subjects, developed techniques and a naturalistic style which compares favorably to the work of early-Renaissance Italian contemporaries such as [[Donatello]]. [[Claus Sluter]] (fl. ~1400) produced works such as the [[Well of Moses]] with a dynamism almost unknown at the turn of the 15th century; and Dutch-born [[Nikolaus Gerhaert]] van Leyden (b. ~1420) made sculptures such as "Man Meditating", which even today appear more "modern" than does Italian [[Quattrocento]] carving. [[File:Nicolaus von Leyden, Self-portrait2.JPG|thumb|right|200px|Gerhaert, ''Man Meditating'', 1467]]

In the early-17th century [[Dutch Republic]], [[Hendrick de Keyser]] plays an important role in developing the [[Amsterdam Renaissance]] style, not slavishly following the classical style but incorporating many decorative elements, giving a result that could also be categorized as [[Mannerism]]. [[Hans Vredeman de Vries]] was another important name, primarily as a garden architect.

===Music===
{{main|Franco-Flemish School}}
[[Image:Orlando de Lassus2.jpg|thumb|left|[[Orlande de Lassus]] leading a chamber ensemble, painted by [[Hans Mielich]]]]
Although there is no reference to antiquity, there is a clear Flemish "Renaissance consciousness", as indicated by the words of Flemish theorist [[Johannes Tinctoris]], who said of these Franco-Flemish composers: "Although it is beyond belief, nothing worth listening to had been composed before their time".<ref name="Janson"/>

[[Josquin des Prez]] was the most celebrated composer during the [[High Renaissance]], and during his career enjoyed the patronage of three popes. Equally at ease in secular and religious music.<ref name="Janson"/>

Other important composers from the Low Countries were [[Guillaume Dufay]], [[Johannes Ockeghem]], [[Jacob Clemens non Papa]] and [[Adrian Willaert]]. [[Orlande de Lassus]], a Fleming who had lived in Italy as a youth and spent most of his career in [[Munich]], was the leading composer of the late Renaissance.

===Literature===
{{see also|Dutch Renaissance and Golden Age literature}}
[[File:0 Antwerp town hall (1).JPG|250px|thumb|right|[[Antwerp City Hall]] (finished in 1564)]]
In the middle of the 16th century, a group of [[Chamber of rhetoric|rhetoricians]] (see [[Medieval Dutch literature]]) in [[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]] and [[Flanders]] attempted to put new life into the stereotyped forms of the preceding age by introducing in original composition the new-found branches of [[Latin language|Latin]] and [[Ancient Greek language|Greek]] poetry. The leader of these men was [[Johan Baptista Houwaert]], who was led by an unbounded love of classical and mythological fancy.<ref name="brittanica">{{EB1911 |inline=1 |last=Gosse |first=Edmund William  |wstitle=Dutch Literature#Houwaert. |display=Dutch Literature § Houwaert |volume=8 |page=721}}</ref>

The most important genre was music publishing, especially [[psalms]]. The [[Souterliedekens]] publication is one of the most important sources for the reconstruction of Renaissance folksongs. Later publishing was heavily influenced by the rebellion against the Spanish: heroic battle songs and political ballads ridiculing the Spanish occupants.

Best remembered of the writers is [[Philips van Marnix, lord of Sint-Aldegonde]], who was one of the leading spirits in the war of Dutch independence. He wrote a [[satire]] on the Roman Catholic Church, started to work on a [[Bible]] translation and allegedly wrote the lyrics to the [[Het Wilhelmus|Dutch national anthem]].

Other important names are [[Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert]], [[Hendrick Laurensz. Spieghel]] and [[Roemer Visscher]]. Inevitably, their works and career were very much determined by the struggle between Reformation and the Catholic Church.

===Science===
[[Image:MercatormapFullEurope16thcentury.jpg|thumb|left|260px|[[Gerardus Mercator]]'s map of Europe, 1554]]
The new age presents itself in science as well. Flemish [[Anatomy|anatomist]] [[Andreas Vesalius]]'s life typically shows both the new possibilities and the troubles that came with them. He delivered ground-breaking work on human anatomy, after centuries of disregard for it. This earned him great respect from some, but also caused several enquiries into his methods ([[dissection]] of the human body) and the religious implications of his work.

While Vesalius performed ground-breaking work in rediscovering the human body, [[Gerardus Mercator]], as one of the leading [[cartography|cartographers]] of his time, did the same for rediscovering the outside world. Mercator too came into trouble with the Church because of his beliefs, and spent several months in jail after a conviction for [[heresy]].

Both scientists' lives show how the Renaissance scientist is not afraid of challenging what has been taken for granted for centuries, and how this leads to problems with the all-powerful Catholic Church.

Though the invention of the printing press by [[Laurens Janszoon Coster]] in the 1430s appears to be a romantic notion, the Low Countries had an early start in printing. By 1470 a [[printing press]] was in use in [[Utrecht (city)|Utrecht]], where the first dated extant book was printed in 1473, while the first book in the Dutch language was the 1477 [[Delft]] Bible. By 1481 the Low Countries had printing shops in 21 cities and towns.<ref>E. L. Eisenstein: The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe, Cambridge, 1993 pp.13–17, quoted in: [[Angus Maddison]]: Growth and Interaction in the World Economy: The Roots of Modernity, Washington 2005, p.17f.</ref> Famous publishing houses like those of [[Christoffel Plantijn]] in [[Antwerp]] from 1555 on, [[Petrus Phalesius the Elder]] in [[Leuven]] from 1553, and the [[House of Elzevir]] in [[Leiden]] from around 1580 turned the Low Countries into a regional center of publishing.

==See also==
{{commons category|Renaissance in Belgium}}
{{commons category|Renaissance in the Netherlands}}

* [[English Renaissance]]
* [[French Renaissance]]
* [[German Renaissance]]

===Political situation===
* [[Burgundian Netherlands]]
* [[Seventeen Provinces]]
* [[Dutch Republic]] – [[Dutch Golden Age]]
* [[Eighty Years' War]]

===Arts===
* [[Flemish painting]]
* [[Romanism (painting)]]
* [[List of Flemish painters]]
* [[List of Dutch painters]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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{{Early Modern Europe|state=expanded}}


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