The Inquiring Mind; Nuremburg: A Renaissance City

from the center for telecommunication services the university of texas at austin this is inquiring mind produced by public station kqed fm in association with the news and information service at ut austin these discussions examining ideas and activities of a major university community this is your producer cathy cover a large exhibit of renaissance art from nuremberg germany has been on display at the huntington art gallery at the university of texas at austin the exhibit was planned an organized by dr jeffrey chad smith assistant professor of art history who has also written a lengthy catalog published by the ut press the large book is filled with prince of the art work that made nuremberg famous dr smith one year's results are what kind of images showed that bring to mind for the average person renaissance art calm of oaks images of michelangelo leonardo davinci raw field

the sistine chapel in paintings in and rome but it should also bring to mind the very rich artistic tradition of northern europe during the late fifteenth and weekly during the sixteenth century roughly the period covered by the exhibition are is such as albert do your cards hold wine lucas chronic all door for arm and a variety of other major masters it was a period of tremendous artistic development in northern europe during this time a zero point at which we can say the renaissance actually be gained nothing is quite a clear cut you doing third is slated for dates later generations but a good catch all date for the beginning of the renaissance in northern europe for some are stresses about fifteen hundred it put back earlier for different countries like flanders i say spend fifty or sixty years earlier but depends how you define the renaissance the city fifteen hundred to good general day because maybe the major innovations are taking place right around this particular time was this a

movement that affected all of europe and it's not something that i think i am guilty of that term a stereotyped image of thinking of resort mediterranean countries with the term renaissance literally means rebirth and as used the applied to classical and the italians and rediscovering classical colter rediscovering roman ruins going back and finding more translations or more original text of greek and roman literature and so we can have a renaissance and this rebirth of the classical world in northern europe where you don't have all the roman ruins you don't have all the creek remains on i think the idea of rebirth is more a rebirth an interest in one mankind moving toward a man centered world as opposed to god centered world of existed throughout the middle ages and two an interest in the world around him almost a scientific on interest in the world around and sid occurred earlier and that it's untrue of flemish artist like jonathan it but some like ulbricht are is an exact parallel too on leonardo davinci and

italy doing studies of insect stings days a grass is trying to figure out how things were clearly the physics of the mechanics of the world around them so when i speak of the renaissance in northern europe i'm really speaking of this great looking out at the world around them and trying to decide and understand that i am also a renewed look at man on both what man can do it and also the foibles of men as well how would indeed it is selling this to re discovery how would that affect art to see dramatic changes will help around here fifteen hundred you find and the introduction of new themes to congress and you'll find northern european artists doing mythological scenes doing things related to that on a new human form arts like ulbricht are doing like studies of newt's don't have anatomical dissections in northern europe quite yet although he did have a little

italy at this particular time on the basically innocent as this interest in human with a human can do and the world the world around why was no longer important you think of nuremberg much in the way that you can relate to florence or venice or rome to the italian renaissance nuremberg during the sixteenth century was a city of about forty to forty five thousand at another twenty thousand in the environment environs there is a major mercantile or merchant town tom along with all its perks prosper tom allman later on later on you nick but as i discover putting this exhibition together on a score that number which is always said about art historians as being the great renaissance center for north for the year or for germany anointed really ever tried to explain why are trying to explain the dynamics of it and i discovered while putting the show together that it is a legitimate claim to make that no city produces many major artists and many major fields in the city have the same long term artistic impact at

nuremberg on the show i'm lucy tuttle nuremberg russell city fifteen hundred to sixteen eighteen com fifteen hundred is important because dear is finished his training camp is ready to accept people's he's producing works which are based upon on the truth in proportions as roman portal scheme comically and john entry he's really based on mathematical ideas rather than sitting in purple view the world so he's ready to accept pupils and sixteen at the other end of the coin i after the long view with renaissance is the suit does is continuous period not officers at different periods in the number of sixteen eighteen is an important date on the coast but when a major artist christoph yunnan serves important goldsmith died in this year says bringing to a close a whole chapter in nuremberg goldsmith work the great city hall a nuremberg was constructed finished often this year about this time and so the last major civic project which is connected with the renaissance has largely over and find me and sixteen eighteen to thirty years war

on a very devastating war broke out in central europe and herbert losses economic vitality but the bank's summit your question nuremberg was not that different in terms of the mechanics onto a city like augsburg but for some reason the patrician class interim bird supported their artist in a way that other towns did not then just put more money into adoring the churches in the city and that iran adorning their households would that mean the nuremberg attracted morton's numbered colors from all over northern europe we can think of all the homegrown qsymia albert you're really was born in ehrenberg wasn't gerber product but ours came from switzerland from austria from the low countries down to nuremberg because of the economic possibilities they are also the city didn't have good old in the way many other towns did they had strong arm the trade organization but they're controlled by the city council so it was possible for an arts come from outside nuremberg and not have to go through the

same rigorous own induction into a deal that he might have to in augsburg or another town it's easier to pay a little money and you can join the guild as the city council said that the one all tell an artist to have access to their city is a very different approach in most other cities took it was quite surprising when i looked into this and just how famous it was during its own day it's quite popular thriving city and do you know why it is their term you mentioned that it might be compared to florence or venice those are cities unfamiliar with an impressive in some other words the nuremberg i'd never heard of they are we going to be more familiar with what's going on in italy during the renaissance for more from there with his critique of the great cities could roam and you're the papacy their venice was the major trade tower for all the eastern mediterranean for centuries earlier from your that florence biggest michelangelo group the raw fuel train their leonardo was there as well you're familiar with that flow from it longstanding artistic

traditions ours would come from all over europe to florence and then spread out again but on a more muscular in nuremberg occupies the same position even during the earlier portion to the fifteenth century it was renowned for its high quality goals with work for its painting for its rich doing glass and so it had this reputation but to back your question number was on the major trade routes in germany there's a nice map in the exhibition by earhart that slab was a roadmap or central europe printed in fifteen hundred is the forerunner of our mobile or exxon travel guides on this this was the first printed roadmap and is intended for pilgrims going from northern europe or from scandinavia traveling through the holy roman empire down to rome for the fifteen hundred jubilee it's like asian the papacy establish the jubilee or twenty five years you would go you would receive and golden says because it's time off from trying to spin encourage or essentially but this map shows an amber is right smack in the center he forged around the jockey sly leave it basically on

nurnberger was on a major trade routes both from northern germany down to italy and from bohemia towards france at this time and i think because of this proximity to different territories have brought in a lot of new ideas and murmur patricians traveled widely they had branches in the iberian peninsula in london and paris and in other towns well as course italy armed so because of their trade the nuremberg patricians in an inner artist went out of the city than they came back to get so it served as a gathering point for artistic and cultural information you're listening to the inquiry mind our guest is dr jeffrey chip smith assistant professor of art history at ut austin were talking about an exhibit york organized of renaissance art from nuremberg what kinds of our work are represented in the show you already mentioned several different types of work including goldsmith work is not just painting that was such an educated about the hardest thing to get from this period of his most run panel and makes it virtually impossible travelers on conservation problems with that there's twenty

two objects in the show that you have some paintings on with prince drawings week course of work brown sues and a variety of other metallic objects koreans and forty eight medals in such there are few pieces are more as well what i intended to do was to select a cross section of art from nuremberg during this ripley hundred eighteen year period these are objects are barred from about forty five american museums in four or five questions overseas from england canada and germany i want to talk a little bit about representations of each one of those things that you mentioned several times in a mentor would he have been perhaps the most famous of nuremberg sarvis tour was probably most in a small northern european renaissance artist all he was supremely talented painter printmaker and drawer but he was known throughout europe was from the advent of his career during the forty nine days because of a new technique is not totally new technique technique which he helped to perfect an assist the print because he learned early on that you can

do a madonna and child or you can do a mythological tale or seen adam and eve or something like that you can either do it securely and a painting or you can do it in a print and trees maybe five hundred six hundred thousand impressions of the spring whether to would cut or an engraving and then spread it around europe so his idea is very quickly traveled on the same trade routes were talking about before to antwerp to paris to london down drone down to then a cell phone his reputation was established very quickly because of his mom was beautiful prince an artist in italy elsewhere admired the qualities that's in a receiving quite like before returning as having it would've been printed on a press reporting prescient tam even describe how would work well basically home a woodcut you'd reversible terms it would cut you would take a piece of wood and he would sketch huge political white chalk like that over the top of the wood and then you would put your designer your sketch that are several different ways of doing it and where you want a black line to read

so sue black liner sketch as a b the original surface of the block on but where you want to read why you'll cut away with on pictures or various sordid lives and says it would have a relief print where you'd have that this ritual served with to be the black image and then you'd have the white areas cut away about once the design was ready then put a piece on it it up you'd have a large role or you'd run across a surface computer inc all the way across so dennis of the original surface of the print the block which has the initial print on it you could paper on top of the bridge is even when it's likely to help sort the ink and then you run into a press to apply pressure to it thompson says it how you do a woodcut engraving is slightly different you're dealing with a copper plate and their once you have your image on the plate you buy and sizing into the plate slightly were taken during which the laws and shape on tool that you would hold and the heel of your hand and you'd push lightly into the copper plate

itself superior cutting out the copper your displacing will be hearing that all of actually holding its exact opposite of a wood cut suit complete your image bomb you then it up the entire copper plate and you'd have and both and serves a plate than in these troughs you quite the plate clean and then after that come to them only in the troughs and you put the paper that in way it's lightly calm on top and you put it into a press apply legal pressure anyone jeep or your impression from that does sound a little bit primitive to my mind any i know that the outcome is quite calm intricate there's a lot of television ads and a detail one of the money my heritage pieces in the show's years syndrome study of fifteen fourteen not my mind finest engraving ever made and to my many other historians and in this case the thomas tends there's a tremendous variety of different lines cause it is an engraving cooperating we can use long line cities shorelines eikenberry the with the lines musical steeples so what he's done is essentially created a symphony of

different lighting effects across a surface just by bearing the type of line cities using when you look at his easy say jerome at his desk seated in a cellar and a study light streaming through polls like glass striking the on and frame into the window striking the ground as well that creates an atmosphere very warm soft on atmosphere in the print itself and i've had students where that the printed colored when they see it at first discussed it conjures up are so successful in creating an image it conjures up seems he might have experienced on that you have such a range of atonality said it does give you a sense of color i seen it and i was quite impressed with the three dimensional nature that he's got the depth of the room and the light filtering through the windows as you said and the feel for this town in the word the textures involved is just amazing in the room itself was built on classical on renaissance report i'm perspective rather so it is a scientific work you know you know where the effects on he's been using very definite

mathematical ideas has underpinnings for his work we're around engravings and when cats they became popular during this time they both developed during the course of the fifteenth century you have counted engraver such as martin show and our front of four was active fourteen sixties fourteen eighties but it really took off during the period of albert dear an increasingly during deer generation the major artists in europe and northern europe or other injury like alder fir and chronic and all by all these artist also made prints their peers the beatles made prints they all realized the economic potential to print and also just a potential that they could the senate their ideas very quickly to a broad audience the right audience meaning there could be average person afford to buy one you would go down to the local market read stand outside a church or something like that where you know the artist workshop and buy prints for a penny or two they're very inexpensive it depends on the artist depends on the quality of the print but they were within the reach of most most and that was i would say seventy five percent of the population could afford to buy

prints believe more than that he mentioned this before but i want to stress the fact that it's there really pictures composer of winds and a french shadings of lines has no color will you do since they don't have color but you also can either hand color stencel color later and i went at it either by the artist were some of his workshop or occasionally by the person who bought the book the printer who wanted to make it more pictorial by adding color i'm interested in the the subject matter for a moment and we mentioned before that we see in a move away and i suppose that the flames of our work through the renaissance and to focus upon man but do we still have a sacred works coming out of nuremberg nierenberg went through a dramatic lives of people not very peaceful people that's not a contradiction in terms but he will nonetheless in fifteen twenty five it was the first imperial free city in germany to throw off the catholic church and to adopt but on the developing creator

developing church of luther martin luther and so this date fifteen twenty five poses an interesting milepost on for religious art and the coral are to nuremberg his prior to the state i was eighty to ninety percent of an arts activities consist of making religious arts either for prince forth one's house or older pieces stained glass for churches on a number of churches are incredibly sumptuous room filled with beautiful religious subjects that after this period tom martin luther and other reformers question the traditional role of religious art and so in fifteen twenty five i don't see or that short stop that's not the case most of it did on thickly devotional seen scenes depicting saints mr luther didn't care for too much you do have some religious art after this time but increasingly from the mid fifteenth when his own words nuremberg artist focus more towards torture and we had the tremendous explosion of different types of

corporate engraved portraits are woodcut portraits metal foot tall portraits as well as the traditional painting portraits report for us in a variety of different techniques they you develop bomb the greater interest in classical themes posts in small print for many the christians would have the ceilings of their houses painted with tales from mythology so set of having on the diamond while the lookout duty historic apollo on the ceiling or something like that so you might say the renaissance ideal of renaissance leader increasingly coming into the patrician house this time they're being widely adopted soar by a broader broader public even the patrician houses nutrition houses have elaborate facades painting showing allegorical tails some ties biblical tales are more mythological tales on them tell me a little bit about the middle part the number was the center of the goldsmith craig

in northern europe at this time there are other important pounds i don't mean to denigrate augsburg are like cedar lender other towns but neighbor had the major goldsmith's in germany out the sixteenth century on i talk a lot about the zagat survey of this in the cowboy itself the summit like densely omelets or who was only briefly are represented or slightly represent an exhibition discusses wars are still on the major collections in europe and you can pry the marks are considered their treasures that he experimented with goldsmith techniques use act basically from about fifteen thirty until fifteen eighties most as workers from the fifteen fifty onward but he did things which other hearts had done before but he really patented you take in sex you to grasses and he would make casting some silver bronze after these things including the goals was work it's making heat he's in this to make the work see more naturalistic more believable one of his contemporaries behind the door for important corridor for talks about receiving one of these sets of leaves

put his hand and blow on it and they would blow like grains of wheat in the fields outside of nuremberg so it had a very strong impact upon our contemporaries but you also have talented bronson casters telescope for squeezing statues precinct captains all over the city of nuremberg as well the show is now closed here at the university of texas and his new dawn where is it now and will endow well as of about three o'clock this morning they were taping that it was it arrived in lawrence kansas university of kansas it will be up there until almost the end of december there has packed up and from the middle of february to the middle of march they will be a diverse california santa barbara that are universally art museum as if this were the exhibition was intended to be a traveling show so not just the university audience in austin the university audiences elsewhere would benefit from and courses are being taught around the show for his programs are being organized around the show ric sincere lawson we had some hard sox play his

arm music department performed concerts sixteenth century music and the honey jar gary who is the chief sponsor the show on the organizing institutions all had various lectures and we have in a national symposium here in austin what was that your purpose when you design the show originally the students would drop massive having read the textbooks that i sign i'm saying and then she said our interim word elsewhere in germany stop with the death of elbert durant fifteen twenty eight so i decided and putting the show together to show that this was in the case of a wet towel and masters working a murmur and other german cities well into the early part of the seventeenth century what do you say to the person who might have an opportunity to see either the show or are other art exhibit on renaissance art what would you say to them as to why they should go see it why do we need to study and appreciate renaissance art and those are quite a few reasons i tend to degrade an interim or tri

c a lot of the twentieth century mirrored in the satirical prince of renaissance nierenberg this way will serve hot sox the master meister singer and poet the things he's pointing out are the safer things are being pointed out by our editorial cartoonist today there's a lot in the renaissance which is directly applicable today also to beautiful aesthetic experience that most americans prick is rather some chips rather beautiful and is a feast for the eyes simply did look at a print but you're a look at some of the lavish goldsmith's works are included in the show or producing other cities as well i guess to spend jeffrey chip smith assistant professor of art history at ut austin speaking on his exhibit of renaissance art from nuremberg germany i'm kathy glover for an inquiring mind you've been listening to the inquiry line a series of programs about the members of a major university community their ideas and opinions expressed in this

programme do not necessarily reflect the views of the university of texas at austin inquiring mind is produced by public station in association with the news and information service and distributed by the center for telecommunication services all at the university of texas at austin lab you want to see is the longhorn radio network