1.2 - Artworks of painting and sculpture Flashcards
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
He painted this between 1495 and 1499. The orderly composition clarifies the painting´s meaning. The largest of the 3 windows on the back wall is directly behind Jesus, thereby emphasizing him. The curved pediment which arches above his head serves as a halo. He is perfectly centered in the mural and all perspective lines converge towards a vanishing point directly behind his head, leading the viewer´s eyes to him.
Mona lisa (1503) She sits in a half-lenght, three-quarter view, the hands showing. With this pose, set against the landscape background, Leonardo established a type. In accordance with the fashion of the time, her high forehead indicates her nobility. Her lofty mind is indicated by the stormy weather shown in the background. The fame of this painting is because of her facial expression.
Raphael (1483-1520)
Became famous for his paintings of the madonna and child. Painted in 1505, it is typical of his style : pale, sweet, and serious. She is maternal and meditative, thinking of Jesus´s passion : prefigured by the cross offered by the infant St. John (identified by the camel-hair garment he would wear as an adult).
In most early renaissance depictions of this subject, the madonna is elevated on a throne. Raphael´s Madonna has descended to our earthy level, she even sits on the ground. The differences between sacred and the secular are minimized, even the figure´s halo´s have become thin gold bands. Raphael contrasts the curved and rounded shapes of his figures with their triangular and pyramidal positions in space.
By Raphael.
Beginning in 1508, Julius II commissioned Raphael to paint frescoes in several rooms in the Vatican palace. The school of athens embodies the Renaissance Humanist´s quest for classical learning and trurh. In the center you see Plato and Aristotle. The figure of Plato holds his Timaeus and points upward, indicating the realm of his ideal forms. Aristotle holds his Ethics and points toward earth, indicating his emphasis on material reality.
- Michelangelo (1475-1564)*
- Believed the figure is imprisoned within the block of marble the same way the soul is trapped in the body. Unlike Leonardo, who believed beauty was found in nature, Michelangelo believed beauty was found in the imagination.*
Carved David between 1501 and 1504. Placed in front of the Palazzo Vecchio in the Piazza della Signoria. There, in the square where policital meetings took place, it would symbolize freedom of speech and the Republic of Florence itself (free from foreigners, papal domination and medici rule).
The pose is taken from antiquity, with the weigh on one leg in the contrapposto position. Michelangelo´s virtuosity is most evidenced in davids tightly muscled form (a sense of pent-up energy, a latent power about to explode). The abscence of attire recalls the heroic nudes of antiquity and avoids linking david to a specific time period, instead he has a universal meaning. Represents the battle between good and evil.
By michelangelo.
Was called to Rome in 1505 to finish the painting of the Sistine Chapel. Painted a ceiling covering more than 5800 feet and 7 feet high. Center of the ceiling features the story of creation, 9 scenes from Genesis. There are over 100 figures in the painting, many without meaning. Neoplatonist nummerology, symbolism and philosophy inform many of the subjects and pagan stories and the motifs are also evident.
In the scene of the creation of adam, god flies in swiftly bringing eve with him under his arm. God will give adam his soul and bring him fully to life. Note that the figures are masculine, even the female figures.
By michelangelo.
Because of the tenseness of its mood and the disortion of human anatomy, Michelangelo´s fresco of the last judgement reflects the mannerist style. Much of his work leaves the ideals of the High Renaissance far behind. It lacks the optimism and sense of beauty that define his work on the ceiling. His figures are no longer beautifully proportioned, but look twisted and grotesque. With heads too small for their bodies. Also there is no illusion of realistic depth, the bodies at the bottom are smaller than those at the top.
However this style befits his subject. The dead are dragged from their graves and pulled upward to be judged by jesus.
Properzia de´ Rossi
Won a competition to create sculpture for the facade of the church of San Petronio in Bologna from which the scene of Joseph and Potiphar´s wife is believed to come. The semiclad wife of Egyptian officer Potiphar has failed to seduce Joseph. The sense of animation achieved is notable, the draperies and hair of Joseph and of Potiphar´s wife shown to respond to the speed of their movements.
