Comparison of the Southern and Northern Renaissance over the works of Piero della Francesca and Jan van Eyck

Abstract

During the XV. century Renaissance period, which started with the discovery of man himself and was translated into Turkish as “rebirth”, there were many innovations in art as in many fields. This is clearly seen when examining the works of art laid out in the Renaissance era. In particular, the desire to reach the truth that attracts attention in the pictures; the three dimensional perception of space created by using methods such as perspective, color, tone and espas and making the figure the focal point of the painting can be given as examples of these innovations. On the other hand, the fact that Christian teaching, which is the main theme of the studies, began to lose its importance is one of the important events of the period. Thus, the artists, who started to move away from the cultural and artistic tradition of the Middle Ages, began to present their works in a much freer environment with an original attitude. However, in the process, some distinguishing features have emerged in the works of artists living in the south and north parts of Europe in terms of technique and style. These differences in the painting art of the two regions led to the fact that the period was handled by art historians under two headings: Southern Renaissance and Northern Renaissance. Within the scope of this research, the art of the Early Renaissance was first mentioned with the Renaissance period, and in the following sections of the study, the lives and works of the Italian artist Piero della Francesca and the Flemish painter Jan van Eyck were emphasized with the general characteristics of the Southern and Northern Renaissance. In the last passage of the article, the stylistic differences of the period are tried to be examined by comparing the Southern Renaissance and the Northern Renaissance art through the works of these two masters.