The Vitruvian Man painted by Leonardo da Vinci in 1487 portrays a cross section of the human male form. This simple and iconic piece of art of the Renaissance portrays the principles of individualism and humanism – the beauty, the capability, the potential, the logic, and the ability that lies within humans – rather than in any supernatural forms. Michelangelo’s sculpture of David follows this same train of thought and praises the very embodiment of a human man. David is masculine, regal, beautiful, independent, and strong: standing sturdily on his own two feet, which is all he needs. Michelangelo’s painting St. Bartholomew from the Last Judgment, for example, depicts an event straight from the Bible. However, the way that Michelangelo depicts the scene, with the skin of his own face hanging graphically from the saint’s hand, shows the contempt and feelings of conflict for the religious constrictions that the time period forced upon artists. Michelangelo originally left the Saint completely naked, embracing the humanistic ideal of the beauty and perfection of the human body, but shortly after his death, a loincloth was painted onto the piece due to conservative urging. Although Michelangelo embodied the Renaissance artist’s required depiction of classic religious subjects, the fact that he called upon his newfound root of humanism for inspiration invited censorship and disapproval from conservatives with outdated ideals. The Renaissance promoted “rebirth” through Latin and Greek works, and educational curriculums were revised according to the philosophy and arts of the ancient Greeks and Romans. The humanistic revolution centered around reintroducing classical grammar, rhetoric, history, literary studies and moral philosophies by thinkers like Aristotle and Cicero, and revisiting the profound physical and intellectual capability of man. This played against the previous and existing ideals of the Church which in Medieval times, for example, imposed fear of God into the minds of the people, and the insignificant and powerless role of humans. Artists and society as a whole were struggling to advance with current times with their increasing knowledge of human capability and ability, but the Church, in its stubborn ways, was holding them back.
By Erin, Atty, Mekayla
Grace, Josh, Victoria, Katie, Taci: ash.p3.t8
ReplyDeleteYour team's response was very well crafted. The pieces of art that were chosen perfectly depict the struggle that artists faced balancing religious asceticism and aesthetic during the Renaissance period. The heightening of appreciation for the human form was a genius point to make. Your team did a wonderful job of showing how that appreciation clashed with the wishes of the Catholic Church. The reasoning your team used to justify this clash shows the movement from the medieval religious ideology that one must suffer for a positive afterlife, to that of the Renaissance, where an individual could have an accomplished life and a positive afterlife. Your team did a very good job showing how the art of that time was just one of the many ways the Renaissance differs form other time periods.