I read this book in conjunction with an online Art History class covering the Northern Renaissance offered through Oxford University's continuing education program. It roughly covers the period 1350 to the early 1500s, in other words it coincides with the great blossoming of Netherlandish and German artist output during these years.
Despite the fact that it is widely used as a textbook for collegiate Art History classes, Northern Renaissance Art is nonetheless excellent and would be well worth reading for its own sake. Nash's main thesis caught me by surprise: 1) Northern artists and artistic output were in the ascendancy from the late 14th century through the 15th century; 2) Italy sought out Northern crafts and artistic items, which were viewed as highly desirable and unobtainable elsewhere; 3) Italian artists - Nash specifically mentions Michelangelo (!) – looked at and learned from Northern artists such as Memling and van Eyck, incorporating their stylistic approaches and techniques into their own work; and 4) it wasn’t until the 16th century that roles began to reverse, with Italian artists moving to the fore. To me this represents a rather dramatic reversal of decades of Italy-centric scholarship, in fact it turns the traditional narrative of a Florence-led Renaissance on its head. Apparently, however, this view has entered the mainstream in recent decades, which shows just how out of touch I am with trends in the scholarship (unsurprising since I last formally studied Art History in mid-70s).
Also, I had not fully appreciated the impact of Reformation iconoclasm on existing artworks in the early 1500s. Nash discusses how some artist's work was totally obliterated, while others are represented by only one or two pieces, which survived because they were luckily located in places like Spain or Italy. She estimates that in some locales as much as half of all existing art was destroyed, with the result that our current understanding is weirdly skewed in ways that we will never fully understand.
Northern Renaissance Art full of similar revelations and insights delivered with verve and enthusiasm. Five stars.
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A great introduction to Renaissance Art
This is a great introduction to Renaissance Art, and a provocative read for those already familiar with this time. Nash argues that Italy wasn't necessarily the center of Renaissance Art, and defends her argument well with beautiful full-color reproductions of stunning art and very accessible text.
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