Showing posts with label Rightful Archetypal Renaissance Man. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rightful Archetypal Renaissance Man. Show all posts

The Rightful Archetypal Renaissance Man

The Rightful Archetypal Renaissance Man

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.

Aside from his Michelangelo paintings, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simon is also famous for his two sculptures, namely, the Pieta and the David. These sculptures were made before this Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet and engineer turned thirty.

Michelangelo also revolutionized classical architecture. He accomplished this by using plaster as the main ingredient when he designed the dome for St. Peter's Basilica. Like the Sistine chapel, this basilica can also be found in Rome.

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.

The Mona Lisa and the Last Supper are two Da Vinci paintings that occupy the unique positions of being the most famous, most reproduced and most parodied portrait and religious paintings of all time. Only the Creation of Adam, painted by his co-Italian and rival, Michelangelo has been able to approached the fame of these two Da Vinci paintings.

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.

The Vitruvian Man drawing is among the iconic Da Vinci paintings. Unfortunately, the number of surviving Da Vinci paintings is very minimal, pegged at 15. This low survival rate has been attributed to Leonardo's constant and often times disastrous experimentation with new methods. His chronic procrastination of his works was also a contributing factor.

As far as contributions to later generations of artist, Da Vinci and Michelangelo find themselves rivalling one another once again. As far as Da Vinci is concerned, his contribution consists of the surviving Da Vinci paintings, together with his notebooks of drawings, scientific diagrams and personal insights on the nature of painting.

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.