How did the Renaissance of Northern Europe differ from that of Italy?
Florence in Italy was the birth-place of the Renaissance and from there is spread through France to Northern Europe. With the Renaissance movement came humanism which had a huge impact on religion in Northern Europe. It lead to the arrival of the Reformation and the turmoil that came with it. Catholicism in Italy however remained untouchable. Protestantism never really happened in Italy. With regard to art. In Italy artists still did religious themed paintings but also started depicting the VIPees of the era and putting them in backgrounds from Ancient Greece and Rome. This never really caught on in Northern Europe (at least not in the extent as in Italy). In Northern Europe they continued depicting religious figures for a much longer period of time. Later on they abandonded this and focused on depicting scenes from daily life, painting ordinary people and ordinary scenes (Breughel and Van Eyk). The Italian Renaissance Men and Women did not do this.
