The Art of the Northern Renaissance

The consistently high standards of The Teaching Company are on display in this 36-lecture course presented by Professor Catherine B. Scallen of Case Western Reserve University, covering the history of art roughly between 1400-1600 in northern Europe—the Low Countries (modern Belgium and the Netherlands), northern France, Germany, and Switzerland (including a brief trip to England)—with an emphasis on painting, printmaking, and religious art. Scallen knowledgeably discusses the work of great masters such as Jan van Eyck, Albrecht Dürer, Hans Holbein the Younger, Hieronymous Bosch, and Pieter Bruegel, among others, while also providing sound historical background—placing the various pieces within their respective social, economic, and political contexts—and offering useful analysis of the mechanics of production and the importance of patronage. What further sets this series apart is the extensive employment of maps and artwork, the latter filmed with a fluidity that allows details to be brought into sharp focus (which may actually be preferable to live classes where the vagaries of slides and projectors are often all too obvious). Featuring separately available course books (with outlines, transcripts, maps, a timeline, glossary, and bibliography), The Art of the Northern Renaissance will make a fine addition to high school and academic library collections (to supplement their own regular or distance ed courses), as well as public libraries serving adult learners. Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (F. Swietek)