High Renaissance
1495-1520
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?
The later London version--Notice any differences?
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
Studies for
Paintings
Madonna and Child with St. Anne
c. 1499, oil on wood
(cartoon substitutes infant St. John for the lamb;
Shows less movement than painting)
The Last Supper, 1495-1498
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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' Benci
Leonardo 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 Lisa
La Joconde
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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 or
the skinned St.
Bartholomew--
Pieta
“Pity”
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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, 151315, 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 gobetween 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
IDEAL
vs
REAL
Raphael
Heraclitus
(Michelangelo)
Apollo
God of poetry
Plato
Pythagoras
(Leonardo)
Athena,
goddess of
reason
Aristotle
Euclid
(Bramante)