The Northern Renaissance is the Renaissance that occurs in Europe north of the Alps, developing later than the Italian Renaissance, and in most respects only beginning in the last years of the 15th century. It takes different forms in the various countries involved, and the German, French, English, Low Countries and Polish Renaissances often have different characteristics.

Early Netherlandish painting, especially its later phases, is often classified as part of the Northern Renaissance. Rapidly expanding trade and commerce and a new class of rich merchant patrons in Burgundian cities like Bruges in the 15th century and Antwerp in the 16th increase cultural exchange between Italy and the Low Countries; however in art, and especially architecture, late Gothic influences remain present until the arrival of Baroque even as painters increasingly draw on Italian models.

In France, King Francis I imports Italian Renaissance art, and commissions Italian artists (including Leonardo da Vinci), building grand palaces at great expense, starting the French Renaissance. In England also, the first signs of Renaissance art and architecture are the result of patronage by a small circle of patrons at the royal courts of Henry VII of England and his son Henry VIII (Nonsuch Palace), and courtiers such as Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, who buds Hampton Court Palace.

Universities and the printed book helped spread the spirit of the age through France, the Low Countries and the Holy Roman Empire, and then to Scandinavia and Britain in the early 16th century. Writers and humanists such as Rabelais, Pierre de Ronsard and Desiderius Erasmus are greatly influenced by the Italian Renaissance model and are part of the same intellectual movement. During the English Renaissance (which overlaps with the Elizabethan era) writers such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe composes works of lasting influence. The Renaissance is brought to Poland directly from Italy by artists from Florence and the Low Countries, starting the Polish Renaissance.

In some areas the Northern Renaissance is distinct from the Italian Renaissance in its centralization of political power. While Italy and Germany are dominated by independent city-states, most of Europe begins emerging as nation-states or even unions of countries.

The Northern Renaissance is also closely linked to the Protestant Reformation with the resulting long series of internal and external conflicts between various Protestant groups and the Roman Catholic Church having lasting effects.