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Saturday, March 29, 2014

Who Is The Archetypal Renaissance Man?

By Darren Hartley


Among the Michelangelo paintings are two of the most influential works in fresco in Western art history. These are the scenes from Genesis on the Sistine chapel ceiling and the Last Judgment on the Sistine Chapel altar wall in Rome. These works are renowned inspite of Michelangelo's low opinion of painting.

An Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet and engineer, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simon is also famous for two sculptures, aside from his Michelangelo paintings, These sculptures, completed before he turned thirty, are the Pieta and the David.

In his design of the dome for the Roman St. Peter's Basilica, Michelangelo used plaster as his main ingredient. In doing this, he started a classical architectural revolution.

The Michelangelo sketches are among the earliest of Michelangelo paintings. The volume of these surviving sketches, together with correspondences and reminiscences, make Michelangelo the best documented artist from the 16th century.

The title of the archetypal Renaissance man is referred for the individual whose continuous curiosity runs parallel with his inventive skills. Only two artists have been under consideration for this honor, Michelangelo and his fellow Italian and rival, Leonardo da Vinci. Michelangelo earned his berth for the title from his versatility in the disciplines of the highest order. This versatility Michelangelo was able to attain despite the low number of forays he made beyond the arts.

Among the most famous, most reproduced and most parodied portrait and religious paintings of all time are the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, two Da Vinci paintings and the Creation of Adam, one of many Michelangelo paintings. They occupy that unique position in the art world.

Considered as an Italian polymath, Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was best known for his Da Vinci paintings. A polymath was a person who has been a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer in the span of his lifetime.

Other than his iconic Vitruvian Man drawing, only 15 Da Vinci paintings were able to survive the passing of the centuries. This phenomenon, though largely due to Leonardo's persistent and more often than not disastrous experimentation with new techniques, is also attributable to his chronic procrastination of his own accomplishments.

However, these few Da Vinci paintings comprise a contribution to later generations of artists, together with his notebooks, containing drawings, scientific diagrams and thoughts on the nature of painting. Again, this contribution is only rivalled by the corresponding contribution of his chief rival contemporary, Michelangelo.

It was after studying in the studio of a renowned Florentine painter, that the earlier Da Vinci paintings came to life. The painter we owed this debt to is Verrocchio.




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