Asher.p2.t6 Renaissance Synthesis

Renaissance artists were no longer held back by the rules and regulations of the Church because the artists were now able to become independent through their occupation. Artists were able to be funded by private patrons to create works of art, which are now giving them more freedom to explore different art styles and themes.
The creation of the “Renaissance Man” by Leonardo Da Vinci, along with other works of art became extremely popular and grew in fame because of Da Vinci’s forte in detail and accuracy. Da Vinci was able to transcend history not only as an artist but a genius from his attention to detail and accuracy; ranging from the human body structure to the detail works of the bible and other religious pieces of literature.
Perhaps the most famous work of religious art would the famous “Last Supper” where Da Vinci recreates the supposed last supper that Jesus Christ had. Being religious, the Church highly approved of this work of art even though the art style was not necessarily demanded by the Church. Leonardo Da Vinci was able to incorporate the visual aesthetics of an artist, and the knowledge of a religious enthusiast.
Da Vinci was a genius of art and knowledge from his extensive study of the human mind and body. His knowledge came not from hypothesis, but hands on research and observation which was displayed through his dissection of cadavers which resulted in his supreme and unequal knowledge of the human body. This knowledge was able to be configured into aesthetic genius, because by knowing the human body to his extent, Da Vinci was able to recreate portraits and sculptures to amazing greatness. One of these examples of knowledge would be the “Mona Lisa”, where Da Vinci was able to use his knowledge to create the supposed most beautiful woman alive even with the major flaw of having no eye brows.
Where Da Vinci incorporated science into art, Michelangelo Buonarroti incorporated the sexual and bold aspects of the human body. Explicitly displaying the normally shunned upon display of nude private parts, Michelangelo has created one of the most famous sculptures of all time, the sculpture of the nude David. Instead of being disgraced and hated for this work of art, the church openly accepted and went in awe for this master piece. This displays the themes that artists were able to create without influence from the church. The two artist named used their secular aestheticism to express themselves in an odd but unique perspective, separating them from the church restrictions but becoming the greatest artists of their time era.

Kevin Cheung, Raymond Yonami, Alex Park, Bryce Cheng, Steven Li

Asher.p4.t6 Renaissance Era Synthesis #2

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

Asher.p4.t7 Renaissance Synthesis

Although both renaissance artists, Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo, express many religious ideologies in their works of art, it is visible in their artwork that their personal ideologies clashed with the religious ideologies the Catholic Church wanted. It is evident that Leonardo has created more secular works relating to human anatomy, archeology, engineering, and cartography, than Michelangelo has. Whereas the traditional and older artists of the past medieval period were focused on the rules of the Catholic Church, the renaissance artists put more time into showing the importance of humanities and scientific achievement. Both artists were pushed by the Catholic Church to only create artworks that related to the Catholic Church or expressed it in a way. Leonardo’s artworks such as the Vitruvian Man, or his notes of the anatomy of the human arm shows that he swayed away from the Catholic Church’s ideologies so that he can express his secular aesthetics and interests. The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne is another one of Michelangelo’s controversial artwork that shows the clash of his ideology and the churches ideology. This artwork in Freud’s interpretation shows the passive ideologies that Leonardo held which was contradictory to the beliefs of the Catholic Church. Michelangelo’s painting of the Sistine Chapel shows the reflection of the religious philosophies. But the same artwork shows the personal philosophies that Michelangelo held. These are only a few of the artwork that show the ways in which Renaissance artist managed to express their secular asceticism in what were supposed to be purely religious artworks.

By Tim Szu, Devin Mitchell, Jason Sim

Asher.p2.t1.Renaissance Synthesis Question

asher.p2.t1.renaissance

by Christina Yang, Jane Lu, Calvin Chan, Brianna Loo (Period 2, Team 1)

During the Renaissance period, the Catholic Church required that artists could only paint sacred subjects. However, the personal beliefs of artists, such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, frequently differed from the views of the Catholic Church. In order to reconcile the difference in ideologies, artists often expressed their beliefs in their seemingly religious paintings. Leonardo da Vinci was an atheist, whose paintings reveal his ideologies. For example, he avoided vibrant colors like gold and azure, and presented Mary and the angels in fairly plain costumes. In “The Virgin of the Rocks,” Leonardo revealed the sacredness of Mary, but did not portray the subject as a perfect woman. He also painted her using darker colors. The painting reflected both Leonardo’s own portrayal of Mary as well as the “official” representation of the Virgin.

On the other hand, Michelangelo was a Catholic, who often contrasted the holiness of heaven to the horror of hell. In “The Creation of Adam,” Since Adam’s finger and God’s finger are not touching, it is thus observed that man is still not yet the perfect creature that God created. Furthermore, Adam is sitting on a cliff while God is floating in the air. This could reveal Michelangelo’s belief that man is not nearly as powerful as God.

Both paintings of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci reflect their beliefs. They reveal that the artists were beginning to express their ideologies, not just accepting the ones of the Catholic Church. The changing ideologies within the artists and the society could foreshadow the formation of the Protestant church as well as the decreasing power of the Catholic Church.

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

Renaissance Synthesis Question Asher.p4.t9

The paintings of Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni and Leonardo Da Vinci reflect a synthesis of religious and secular aestheticism during the Renaissance. Michelangelo was commissioned by the church to paint a number of Frescos in various churches. The Last Judgment, a famous fresco made on the wall of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican City, was filled with controversy; Cardinal Carafa accused Michelangelo of being immoral and obscene, by painting naked figures, with visible genitals, inside one of the most important churches of Christianity. His personal values and beliefs in completely showing the beauty of the human body was combined into his traditional commissions with the Church. He gave the mural a religious yet aesthetic quality to it by combining realism that was dominant in most art in that time and religion by depicting a prominent or at least well known religious character in a somewhat degrading perspective. Da Vinci also adopted his own style of painting into religious art like in the Last Supper. Da Vinci used rising art concepts like realism and perspective and applied them to a religious painting of Jesus having his last supper. Art pieces like these demonstrate a growing integration of people’s sense of worldly beauty into religion. They give form to faith. This synthesis shows that religion is no longer becoming a matter of blind faith. People are beginning to view religion in an objective matter, and this is perhaps one of the first steps of religion being isolated into a personal experience rather than an integral part of society.

Asher Team 2 Period 1 Renaissance Synthesis Question

Through works of art created by Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo, we are able to see how static aspects of religion intertwined with the changing beliefs of the Renaissance era. Leonardo Da Vinci showed how religious qualities and new-found scientific beliefs combined to create beautiful works of art. In his painting Adoration of the Magi, Da Vinci paints a picture of religious ideology. In this painting, we see magi, - wise men held in high-esteem - kneeling to the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus. This exemplifies how religion continued to hold power over everything else even into the Renaissance. The paintings that Michelangelo created throughout the Sistine Chapel further illustrate this point. The ceilings and walls are covered with paintings showing biblical scenes. The aesthetic beauty of and the sheer number of these religious depictions show the reverence people had for religion. The Sistine Chapel also features The Creation of Adam, which shows how changing scientific beliefs were making an impact on society. The Creation of Adam at first glance may only appear to be two dudes gingerly brushing the tips of their fingers, is actually a great anatomical representation of the body. It even incorporates an accurate outline of the human brain; God’s robe and the positioning of the angels around him show the different layers and parts of the brain. Da Vinci also shows how science was becoming more influential. In a sketch known as the Vitruvian Man, it depicts a perfectly proportioned man, which shows how a grown man should look. This differs from the Middle Ages, as medieval paintings showed ignorance of human anatomy, while Da Vinci and Michelangelo made great efforts to portray the human form as accurately as possible. These works of art show us that, while religion still affected daily life as it had in the medieval era, scientific beliefs were beginning to take hold in all aspects of life.

By Adrian Little, Max White, Seth Moore, James Kawakami