How do northern Renaissance paintings differ from their Italian counterparts?

Renaissance started at the same time in both Italy and the northern Europe but its manifestation in the form of art work were different. (Frank, 2013, p.288). For the first time in northern Europe, oil was used as a painting medium. Though there are also some similarities between the two, i.e. both had an interest in the Greek and Roman cultures and their perspective of using human feelings and ideologies in their paintings and sculptures.  There are also some differences here to mention that were manifested in these paintings.

Northern Renaissance has an interest in the early Christian times. The paintings were influenced by the spiritual values of the early churches. The art work consisted of imagery of realistic figures than imaginary.

Italian Remanence painting was mostly interested in drawing images of images that were similar to Greek gods. They were also interested in human achievement and were more progressive that the northern European paintings.