The Ghent Altarpiece (c.1432)
by Jan Van Eyck.
Northern Renaissance Artists (c.1430-1580)
The Northern Renaissance began with Jan Van Dyck's monumental masterpiece The Ghent Altarpiece, and was based on the Northern preference for oils and easel-painting. This facilitated the creation of a huge number of ultra-realistic works of art, as well as great religious narrative paintings. The Dutch Realist School (Delft and Utrecht) was a leading exponent of the North European Renaissance style. The greatest Renaissance Old Masters from Holland, Flanders and Germany were: Albrecht Durer, Jan Van Eyck, Roger van der Weyden, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Hieronymus Bosch and Hans Holbein the Younger. Veit Stoss and Tilman Riemenschneider were the foremost sculptors in wood.
