Program Overview

Program Overview

The Renaissance Art at the Crossroads: Italy and the Netherlands Online Course is a summer school program that explores the creative cross-cultural fertilization between Italy and Northern Europe during the Renaissance period.

Course Details

• The course is scheduled to take place from Monday, 1 June 2026, to Friday, 5 June 2026.
• The course will be led by Dr. Richard Williams.
• The tuition fee for the course is £395.

Course Description

The impact of Netherlandish painting, founded by Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden, was profound in Italy, changing the direction of Italian Renaissance art. Italian painters adopted the Netherlandish technique of painting in oils, the Northern approach to portraiture, and emulated the depiction of light, texture, and other illusionistic effects. They even copied landscape backgrounds from imported Northern altarpieces. In the fifteenth century, this influence traveled almost exclusively from north to south. However, in the sixteenth century, the direction was reversed as the works of Michelangelo and other Italian masters caught the imagination of Netherlandish artists and their patrons, from Gossaert ultimately to Rubens.

Research Areas

The course takes a broad perspective to explore Renaissance art of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as an endlessly creative cross-cultural fertilization between Italy and Northern Europe, covering topics such as:

• The influence of Netherlandish painting on Italian Renaissance art
• The adoption of oil painting techniques by Italian artists
• The depiction of light, texture, and other illusionistic effects in Italian and Netherlandish art
• The reversal of influence from Italy to Northern Europe in the sixteenth century
• The works of Michelangelo and other Italian masters on Netherlandish artists and patrons