Art XV in 4. Art of Scandinavia

Architecture

The era of the early Renaissance bestowed on Denmark, Sweden and Norway such big and magnificent churches that the generations of the late Middle Ages could only fill them, in some places finish building or rebuild, supply with ornaments in the spirit of the new time and as needed along with them build smaller churches, artistically having less value. The cathedral in Aarhus in Jutland, originally a church of a transitional era, in its modern form, with a hall system of choir enclosed in a polygon and a western tower, essentially dates from the 15th century. His companion, the old cathedral in Roskilde, on the island of Zeeland, received at this time its rich chapel of the Holy Trinity (1459–1464), whose pediment is covered with extremely lush brick ornaments. The cathedral at Linköping, in Sweden, experienced around this time its fourth, and last, construction period, to which it is obliged by its noble trilateral chorus, equipped with a detour and three chapels, the work of master Gerlach from Cologne. In the 15th century, the cathedral in Uppsala acquired the western facade in the Baltic brick style, the towers, the main portal and the majestic round window.

Fine Arts

Even more artisan and independent than the northern German monumental art of the 14th century, Scandinavian church sculpture and fresco painting of this era. Both from the previous and from this epoch the remains of Scandinavian frescoes have been preserved in amazingly large numbers. Magnus Petersen described the 85 Danish series of frescoes of the XV century. At the same time, however, we are talking mostly about the scanty remnants of the former magnificence, but although these remnants expose innocent light the innocence with which Scandinavian artists developed their material, they are not capable of evoking a high opinion of their artistic merit, and moreover with regard to the transformation of the artistic language of forms in a realistic spirit, they were left behind the south.

Note the large church altars currently housed in the museums of Stockholm and Copenhagen; but it is here that the test of Scandinavian art for independence does not work. Almost all of these altars are imported works, and few that can pass for local work are weak and independent. From the Danish altars, published in a large work of Fr. Beckett, the most ancient, as, for example, the altars of the church in Beslund on the island of Zeeland at the beginning of the 15th century, originate from Lübeck and Schleswig-Holstein, but they still have an old Cossack style that is believed to have penetrated Lübeck through Westphalia. The most important work from the last quarter of a century is a large altarpiece in a cathedral in Aarhus, executed in 1479–1482. Lübeck master Bernt Notke, handwritten works which are also in Revel and Lübeck. The main kivot encloses the carved figures of saints; the double doors, inside and out, are painted with images from the New Testament and from the lives of the saints, the figures of the saints, and a portrait of the donor. Here you can see the pronounced northern German style of this time. On the contrary, the magnificent Altar of the Passion of the Lord in the Church of Vyborg, at the sign of the workshop - the open palm - attributed to Antwerp, is Dutch art from the beginning of the XVI century, meanwhile as the famous mystical altar, made by Klaus Berg from Lübeck between 1518 and 1521. for the church of Franciscans in Odense (now in the Church of Our Lady), shows that in Denmark until the XVI century and then Lübeck was considered an authority in the field of art.

The situation of foreign carved altars of this kind in Sweden is summarized by Rosval: “The impression that they, as works of art, made on the art-poor northern countries, becomes clear if we take into account that the portals decorated with sculpture were rare here, gravestone monuments with free-standing sculptural there were no figures at all, and the local painting consisted mostly of decorative painting of arches, and that, therefore, in wooden altars with their carved frame and painted side doors E coalesced almost all Swedes know this time in the field of sculpture and easel painting. " In the continuation of the XV century. to Sweden went the import of carved altars from Northern Germany, from Lübeck. Typical for recognizing the works of Lübeck is the beautiful altar of the Passion of the Lord, in the Historical Museum in Stockholm, which has a designation of a place and date (1468). After 1500, however, the import of works of art from Lübeck to Sweden ceases.

Around this time, it was completely displaced by exportation from the Netherlands, which began around 1480. At first, Brussels carved altars prevailed, but then Antwerp predominance, well represented in the Historical Museum in Stockholm, until the time when after 1520 the Reformation put an end to this, prevail. art trade. “Along with this,” said Rosval, “during the entire time mentioned, local work has been going on, apparently taking North German plastics as its model. At least I don’t know a single Swedish work that would be significantly influenced by the Flemish art. ”

During the great heyday (1475–1500), Dutch art was, after all, the same art of the German Empire as German art. This German art, no matter how large the French contribution to it is, prevailed in the 15th century. over most of Europe. The new national Italian art stretched across the Alps only a few of its shoots and made more serious attempts to settle on the western and eastern shores of the Mediterranean, but, apart from architecture, it borrowed as much from the German north as it did during this era. Outside Italy, the Netherlands art, due to frequent intercourse with French, acquired outer gloss and became more refined, won not only a significant part of France and England, but even, bypassing France, captured Spain and Portugal and at the same time entered an indissoluble union with its High-German counterpart, however, more giving than receiving in return. German art, which developed in parallel with it, and sometimes adjoined to its Dutch teacher, had, as we have seen, a direct influence on the whole Scandinavian north, and in the Slavic and Magyar east, which at the same time revived Italy, it made itself felt up to until the end of Byzantinism.