High Renaissance1495-1520

Leonardo da Vinci

• 1452-1519• Left-handed (often wrote backwards),

illegitimate, self-taught genius• Painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, engineer, scientist,

astronomer, geologist, botanist, inventor• “Renaissance Man”• Never completed a building, sculptures are all gone, only

about 17 paintings• Interested in science and observation• Paintings-religious subjects and portraits• Leads us into the High Renaissance

Is it a:Flying saucer?Vacuum cleaner?Tank?Robot?

Is it an:Implement of torture?Giant crossbow?Water wheel?Exercycle?

Madonna of the Rocks Leonardo da Vinci

• 1483, oil on wood, now at the Louvre in Paris

• Mary with baby John; Jesus giving a blessing while angel Gabriel looks on

• A later version of this painting was made by Leonardo and now hangs in London

• Chiaroscuro (dark and light study)

• Sfumato (hazy, smoky atmosphere….all lines disappear)

• Pyramid composition• Strong observation of nature

The later London version---Notice any differences?

Studies for Paintings

Madonna and Child with St. Annec. 1499, oil on wood(cartoon substitutes infant St. John for the lamb;Shows less movement than painting)

The Last Supper, 1495-1498• fresco

• in Milan

• experimental techniques

• deteriorating plaster

• Apostles are reacting to the news of the betrayal

• Judas is isolated, in shadows

• triangular composition

Ginevra de' BenciLeonardo da Vinci

c. 1474/1478 oil on wood

The only painting in the United States by da Vinci

Here at the National Gallery in Washington, DC

Ginevra at age 16, right before her wedding

Painting has been cut by about one third. May

have included her hands at one time.

Mona LisaLa Joconde

• c. 1505-13• oil on wood• sfumato• enigmatic-- alluring and

aloof• Leonardo had musicians

playing while painting…is she enjoying the concert?

• Is La Joconde smiling at her portrait painter or at her own joke?

Art in Rome• Cultural capital

moves from Florence to Rome

• 1494--Medici family flees Florence

• Two great Renaissance popes

• Julius II• Leo X• 1527, Holy Roman

Emperor, Charles V, sacked Rome

Renaissance Popes

Julius II, 1511-12 by Raphael

The warrior pope; Michelangelo’s tormentor

Leo X, c. 1518, by Raphael

Son of the great Lorenzo de Medici

Strong supporter of the arts

Michelangelo Buonarotti• 1475-1564• Architect, painter, sculptor, writer• Studied under the patronage of

Lorenzo de Medici at age 15• Thought of himself mainly as a

sculptor• Style formed in Florence but

worked mainly in Rome• Under contract to Julius II and his

heirs• “tortured genius” Moses• Giorgio Vasari wrote: “The man

who bears the palm of all the ages, transcending and eclipsing all the rest, is the divine M. Buonarroti, who is supreme not in one art only but in all three at once.”

What image did he have of himself?Joseph cradling a dying Christ orthe skinned St. Bartholomew--

Self-portra

its

Pieta“Pity”

• Michelangelo• 1498-99, marble• Only signed piece by

Michelangelo• In the Vatican• Large Mary; her robes

form the base of a pyramid

• The Lacöon Group had just been unearthed…do you see any similarities?

David• Michelangelo

• 1501-04, marble

• Created for Palazzo Vecchio in Florence

• How does it compare to the classical sculpture, Apollo Belvedere, 350 BCE, just unearthed and owned by Pope Julius II?

• How does it compare to Donatello’s David, created 50 years prior?

Projected Tomb of Julius II

• Never finished

• Was to include over 40 figures

• Julius yanked him from the project to paint the Sistine Chapel

Tomb Sculptures• The Bound

Slave, 1513-15, marble

• “Boboli Captive,” c. 1530-34, marble

• Figures emerging from the marble block

Moses, Tomb Sculpture• 1513-15, marble• The only finished stature

on the tomb• Julius is represented by

Moses….driven, unrelenting, forceful… ”il papa terribile”

• Moses had rays of light, not horns…. mistranslation of Old Testament

Sistine Chapel

Ceiling The Vatican

• 1508-12, fresco• Barrel-vaulted ceilings

rise 68’ above floor• Geometric forms• Three levels to suggest

the union of the soul with God:

lowest = unenlightened man middle= Old Testament prophets and pagan sibyls; ignudi

highest= God and creation

Delphic Sybil• 1509, fresco• Sistine Chapel• Acts as go-

between with God and mortals

• Ignudi in the background is in the form of an angel; helps bridge the gap between physical and spiritual

The Creation of Adam• Michelangelo, 1511, fresco• Sistine Chapel• Creation in reverse; Eve is waiting in the wings

along with unborn humanity

Last Judgment• Sistine Chapel• 1534-41, fresco• A Classical twist

on the foreboding Gothic theme

• St. Bartholomew was skinned alive for his beliefs

Raphael

• 1483-1520• Worked in Rome• Classical style of High

Renaissance• Primarily a painter• Born and died on Good

Friday• Thought to have died due to

excessive love making

School of Athens• 1509-11, fresco

Pythagoras Euclid

(Bramante)

Plato

(Leonardo)

Aristotle

Heraclitus

(Michelangelo)

Raphael IDEAL vs REAL

ApolloGod of poetry

Athena, goddess of reason