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holbein renaissance, lady parker holbein, northern renaissance durer, northern renaissance holbein, northern renaissance Januszcak, northern renaissance north, northern renaissance ovid, northern renaissance petrarch, northern renaissance queens gallery, northern renaissance shakespeare, northern renaissance tudor, tudor art holbein
Today’s review by Waldemar Januszcak of the Northern Renaissance exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace.
by Holbein c.1540-43.
The idea of a Northern Renaissance has been doubted, but this reviewer says, Yes!
“Reader, if you encounter one of these naysayers anywhere near Buckingham Palace, grab them by the ear, yank them to the Queen’s Gallery and instruct them to open their eyes. Anyone who cannot spot the presence here of a distinct aesthetic needs to sit their GSCE in art all over again.”
The exhibition covers Durer to Holbein, and raises the issue of a north-south divide in Europe, with a contrast in themes and sensibilities between protestant and catholic.
Januszczack reckons the really interesting question is: what came first, the tone or the religion? He goes too far by saying this is a difference in genetics, and has a laugh in awarding Durer’s illustration of the Book of Revelation, “some sort of Oscar for horribleness”.
The Tudor connection, of course, is Hans Holbein the younger – the review marvels at his realism: Continue reading
