Renaissance Synthesis Question Ahser2012.p2.t3

The Renaissance brought about a clash of philosophies; the more traditional philosophies followed the strict cultural and artistic rules of the Catholic Church, while the newer ones were more humanist in nature, focusing on scientific achievement and the importance of the human mind. This clash is illustrated in the paintings of Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo, two of the renaissances most accomplished artists. The Catholic Church mandated that all artworks involve the Catholic faith or subjects important to the Catholic faith. This often came to a head with the artists wishes; they wanted to be free to paint whom they chose and in what style they wanted.
The paintings “The Baptism of Christ” (which was a collaboration between Verrocchio and Da Vinci) and “St. John the Baptist”, both by Leonardo Da Vinci represent the product of this clash very well. Both are about religious figures as per what the Catholic Church demanded but both include techniques that were revolutionary at the time such as attention to depth of field and the use of colors to create intricate shading. They also include intricacies and properly proportioned bodies (which was a result of Da Vinci’s extensive observations). Another example of the result of this clash is the paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel inside Vatican City. These paintings (the most famous being “The Creation of Adam”) were done by the archetypical Renaissance man, Michelangelo. The highly intricate paintings are all depicting famous religious events, but also represent the artist’s rendition of the events, giving more say in the content of the painting to the artist. Michelangelo’s paintings atop the Sistine Chapel represent immense attention to detail and perfectionism, showing off the importance of the artists discretion juxtaposed with the importance of the religious depictions.
These paintings all represent the result, the culture of the Renaissance, of the battle between Humanism, a focus on the issues humans face and how important the individual human mind is, and the Catholic Doctrine, which focused on the importance of religious piety and the sanctity of religion.

Tom Allen, Zachary Gershman, Daniel Pon, August Mawn