Late 15/Early 16 Century

Italian High Renaissance

The Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci, Milan

1. Leonardo worked directly on dry intonaco- thin layer of smooth plaster with oil and tempera paint. Painting begun to deteriorate.
   
2. Idealized painting, trying to put people in a setting in better what they are, everyone is mirroring each other.
   
3. Last supper is symbolic evocation of Jesus's sacrifice for the salvation of man. Traitor Judas is in the first triad left to Jesus holding a pouch of money.
   
4. Arranging the disciples and architectural elements into four groups of three, numerical symbolism.
   
5. Substituted natural light from triple window framing Jesus's head instead of halos.
   

Virgin and St Anne with Christ Child and Young John the Baptist, da Vinci

1. Cartoon (to scale in size of intended painting) Composition element is a triangle. Done in a sfumato (smoky) manner. Charcoal on brown paper.
2. Mary sits on the knee of her mother, Anne and turns to the right to hold the Christ Child who strains away from her to reach towards the young John the Baptist.
3. Illusion of high relief b modeling the figures with strong contrast light and shadow chiaroscuro ( light/dark)
   
4. Tender expression of Anne and Mary with complex interaction.
   

Mona Lisa, da Vinci

1. Portrait of Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo, the wife of a merchant in Florence.
   
2. No jewelry, receding landscape, with a triangle/pyramidal form.
3. Gentle smile isn't followed by warm eyes: plucked eyebrows and shaved hairline. Leonardo unified his compositions by covering them with a slightly tinted varnish which resulted in a smoky overall haze (sfumato)
   

Vitruvian Man, da Vinci

1. Ideal man with both circle and square, precise details of anatomy and geometric basis.
   

The Small Cowper Madonna, Raphael

1. Named for owner, precise and delicate tilt of the figures' head and peaceful mood. Similar pyramidal form by the spiral movement of he child and figure enhancing draperies of the Virgin.
2. Model forms are soften by the clear even light of the outdoor setting.
   

Stanza della Segnature, Raphael, Vatican Rome

1. Papal library, Pope Julius II put him to work decorate the papal apartments.
   

School of Athens, Raphael, Stanza della Segnature, Vatican Rome

1. Summarize the ideals of the renaisance papacy, viewed through a trompe l'oeil arch, greek philosophers Plato and Aristole placed to the right and left of the vanishing point.
2. Plato suggest ideal immposible world
3. Aristotle palm down, emphasize the importation of gther knowledge from observing the material world.
4. Apollo, Minerva surround the philosphers, a mixture of gods, naturalist, astronomers, geographers debating. A mixture of physical and intellectual presence.
   
5. We also see the figures: architect bramante, Michelangelo working on the Sistine Chapel sketching.
   

Pieta, Michelangelo

1. Saint Peter's Vatican Michelangelo worked on the marble sculpture commisioned by french cardinal.
   
2. Pieta, a young virgin Mary mourning the death of Jesus holding him in her arms. Inconsistent between age and size. Very sweet mourning.
   

David, Michelangelo

1. Commission for a statue of one of the symbols of Florence.
   
2. Athletic and muscular nudity, emotional power of a new expression. Slingshot over his shoulder and a rock in right hand, David frowns and stares into space. Represents right over wrong.
   

Interior Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo, Vatican Rome

1. Pope Julius II, was well paid for the work but preferred scuplting to painting. Frescoes established a new powerful style,simple: trompe l'oeil and 12 apostles seated on thrones.
   
2. Final composition llusionistic marble with decorated putti, siblys (female prophets) and heroic figures of nude young men (ignudi) holding sashes.
3. Divded into scenes of creation, temptation, the fall, expulsion, and eventual desstruction of al people except Noah.
   

Sistine Ceiling, Michelangelo/Sistine Ceiling Diagram


Creation of Adam, Sistine Chapel Ceiling, Michelangelo

1. Adam's heroic body poses mirror those of God in whose image he has been created. God's form symbolizes the brain?
2. Below Adam, an ignudo holds a bundle of oak leaves and acorns which refers to Pope julius's family name.
   

Moses, Michelangelo

1. Muscular figure, swahed in great sheets of drapery seated in a restle contrapposto. His beard is curling.
   
2. Created for the tomb of Julius II
   

Tempietto, Donato Bramante, San Pietro, Rome.

1. Spanish rulers Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand commissioned a small shrine over the spot in Rome where Peter was crucified.
   
2. From the stepped base to the Doric columns and frieze, centralized plan and a tall drum. Circular cloister around the church.
   

The Tempest, Giorgione

1. Poesie (painted poems) a woman seated on the ground, nude while nursing her baby. A german mercenary soldier turns his head to her.
2. A vivid landscape, spring gushes from a lake with a storm in the background. Where you see lighting escaping from the clouds. Main focus is the landscape of the unruly element of nature.
   

Venus of Urbino, Titian

1. For the Duke of Urbino of a venetian courtesan, very provocative streches on her couch in a palace.
   
2. A spaniel symbolic of fidelity, sleeping at her feet, glowing skin from the incandescent light.
3. His work began with a charcoal drawing on the prime coat of lead white that was used to seal the pores and smooth the surface of the coarse venetian canvas. Built up fine glazes of different colors.