In Northern Europe in the course of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the arts underwent significant transition. Patronage for artists changed in response to waning feudalism and a thriving mercantile economy. The Protestant Reformation also challenged many traditional assumptions that had underpinned the demand for religious art. Thus in Protestant areas there was a marked shift away from sculpted and painted altarpieces towards portraiture, landscape, and satirical works that served as prototypes for later genre painting.

As a whole, the Northern Renaissance differed from that of Italy in having less to do with emulation of the Classical tradition, and more with the creation of new forms of art that reflected a stronger emphasis in religious experience on the nurture of personal piety and ethical conduct. The pictorial interests of Northern artists were also distinct. Whereas Italian Renaissance artists tended to create generalized, ideal forms, free from everyday imperfections, their Northern counterparts relished each specific feature of individual people and things. While Italian artists were inspired to seek out essential forms, Northerners were consistently captivated by the surface sheen and texture of life around them--from the intricacies of nearby objects to tiny specks on the far horizon.

As a rising middle class began to take more active interest in the arts, Northern artists were able to visualize the values and self-identity of a wider range of individuals, and also image women in new ways. Nature played a significant role in Northern art, both for its inherent beauty and for its symbolic meanings in religious art. In German art, specific localities were depicted for the first time, while in the Netherlands, humanistic interests were expressed in panoramic world landscapes. As for Northern cities such as Antwerp, while booming trade allowed for rapid expansion, their architects broke with existing Gothic styles to follow Italian Renaissance variants of Classical architectural models.

The mercantile expansion of the period brought Portugal into contact with China and Japan, whose most characteristic artistic accomplishments, as could have been seen at the time by Western visitors, were glimpsed in the final section, particularly noting the marked contrast between Oriental and Western views of nature.