Dynamic ideas and political rivalry - the Northern Renaissance

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Susan Grange reports from The Queen’s Gallery, London, on ‘The Northern Renaissance: Durer to Holbein’

There's still plenty of time to get down to Buckingham Palace.  No, not to see the changing of the guard but to visit the latest exhibition there, on the northern Renaissance, showing until 14 April 2013. But why wait?

The lofty surroundings of the Queen's Gallery set the scene for this wide-ranging exhibition. A room designed by architect John Nash (1752–1835), converted into a chapel in the reign of Queen Victoria and bomb damaged during the Second World War, now forms the original part of the Gallery, unsurprisingly known as the Nash Room.  The building project, completed in 2002 in honour of HM The Queen’s Golden Jubilee, extended and developed the Gallery around the NashRoom and has created a spacious, light and airy series of rooms to display works from the Royal Collection.

The Royal collection has been gathered together over the centuries by a succession of kings and queens.  With no appreciable aim other than acquiring high-quality works of art whenever and from wherever, the collection is eclectic and sprawling, covering all types of art.

The curators of the Northern Renaissance exhibition, Kate Heard and Lucy Walker, have selected from the collection over 130 works, most of them paintings, drawings and prints form northern Europe from the time of Albrecht Durer (1471–1528) and Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/8–1543).  They have augmented these with tapestries brought up from Hampton Court, early printed books, and even a suit of armour, to give an idea of the cultural context of the period in which Durer and Holbein's works were produced.

The curators stress the interconnections between the dominant kingdoms and rulers of the time, the flow of dynamic ideas across borders and the flexibility of artists, who travelled and sought out patrons and employers in order to promote their work. The intense political rivalry between the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor, the kings of France and Henry VIII of England spilled over into the cultural arena, as fierce competition existed among the rulers to attract the top artists to their courts.  Contentious debate over the central tenets of the Christian faith had sparked the split between Catholic and Protestant  and  the resultant challenges to the teaching of the Roman Catholic church were to  have a lasting effect on the art of an increasingly Protestant northern Europe.  Subjects for depiction moved away from religious topics to such areas as portraiture and mythology.   The rise of humanism, a movement which re-examined the learning of classical civilization and promoted intellectual freedom and self-expression, spread across Europe. Debate and discussion could be readily disseminated in printed form, as pamphlets and books could now be produced in large numbers at reasonable cost.

Within this maelstrom of religious and intellectual upheaval appeared Durer and Holbein, each of whom has a roomful of works to himself in this exhibition. Some of Durer's most famous prints are shown here, including a number of woodcuts from his series of 1498 entitled ‘Apocalpyse’,which capitalized on a general fear that the world would end in 1500.  People from all ranks of society are portrayed, minutely detailed and finely executed in scenes of Judgement that show that none would be spared.  In his St Jerome in his Study we see the effect of light through thick glass and in A  Knight, Death and the Devil the intense detail is both threatening and mesmerizing.

The gallery devoted to Holbein is full of delights – in which other collection can you see a preparatory drawing placed next to the finished painting?  Here you can with the portrayal of Henry VIII's friend Sir Henry Guildford.  It is easy to see why, in only four years, Holbein worked his way up from newcomer at court to Henry VIII's official painter. From court personnel to merchants and intellectuals, Holbein's art penetrates the personality of his sitter.

Surrounding these two northern artistic giants are a varied selection of works by Brueghel, Cranach, Gossaert, Clouet and Massys, among others, arranged in three galleries under the headings ‘The Netherlands’, ‘Art in the Holy Roman Empire’ and ‘Art in France’.

Supported by free weekly 10-minute talks and occasional 50-minute lectures plus an excellent in-depth accompanying catalogue and a shorter ‘companion guide’, there is plenty on offer to enhance further study.

Like all galleries these days, The Queen’s Gallery has a shop that seems to be a destination on its own.  Filled with everything you could think of to remind you of the exhibition, the Royal family and your visit to London in general and Buckingham Palace in particular, it is an emporium of all types of goods.  Fun to explore in its own right and you can gain entry without even having to buy a ticket to the exhibition!