High Renaissance Art

Leonardo, Virgin of the Rocks• Visionary, mystical feeling• No traditional haloes• Tradition of mountain opening up miraculously to

shelter the Holy Family• Water running is a symbol of baptism• Ivy in background symbolizes fidelity and

continuity• Angel Uriel’s expression: to whom is it directed?• Unusual pattern of hands, forms a cross of Jesus’

head?• Chiaroscuro, sfumato, atmospheric perspective• Botanist’s and geologist’s attention to the

foreground plants and the mysterious setting of the mist-shrouded cave

High Renaissance Art

Leonardo, Last Supper• Only remaining work in situ, painted on a

wall of the monks’ dining room• Oil, tempera, fresco technique on a damp

wall made the fresco flake• Captures the moment when Christ says,

“One of you will betray me”• Christ appears calm amid the storm of

animated gestures• Various psychological portraits in the

reactions of the apostles: surprise, anger, fear, denial, etc.

• Rhythmic groupings of three, Christ at center in open-armed pose of serene acceptance

• Perspective beams of the ceiling, floor and tapestries on walls point to Christ

• Fictional space advances real space of room

• Pyramidical shape of Christ’s body, a favorite High Renaissance form

• Subtle halo of the rounded pediment above his head

• Three windows symbolize the Trinity

• Judas obscured by darkness falls back, clutching his bag of coins

High Renaissance Art

Leonardo, Mona Lisa• Pyramid form with hands at base• She is not smiling, but gives the illusion• Psychological insight, coupled with enticing

inaccessibility• Aerial perspective: she sits in a window box

with a fantasy background• Picture cut down later on three sides, we see

only the base of the columns in the window box or balcony

• 26 or 27 years old, likely the wife of a Florentine silk merchant, Francesco del Giocondo

• ¾ view, more of the body shown, gentle contrapposto suggested

• Unity of figure and landscape

High Renaissance ArchitectureBramante, Tempietto, Rome• Circular shrine, spot where Saint Peter

crucified• Cylindrical shape, dome ribbed on outside• Proportions simple, harmonious, unified• Alternating masses and voids• No exterior decoration• Circle as a symbol of the perfection of the

world, used in the Pantheon• Combination of humanist ideas of pagan and

Christian background• Underground crypt symbolizes the

underworld where Saint Peter’s cross was planted

• Main body is a temple, looking like a tabernacle

• Upper body represents the Church triumphant

Bramante, Saint Peter’s, Rome• Greek cross, four sides equal• Exact hemisphere of a dome,

planned like the Pantheon• Bell towers frame main dome;

drum added for height• Interior: coupled pilasters, one

giant story as in Sant’Andrea• Never finished according to

Bramante’s plan• Smaller domes accent main dome

High Renaissance Architecture

Sangallo, Palazzo Farnese, Rome• Broad front, huge rectangle• “Kneeling” windows suspended from a

stringcourse• Second floor alternating triangular with

circular pediments• Heavy cornice tops building• Strongly articulated stringcourses define

horizontal stories• Rusticated doorway and corners• Projecting window casements give a solid

feel to the façade• First floor has a darker color, indicating a

solid firm base

High Renaissance ArtMichelangelo, David• Terribilità• First colossal nude since the ancient world• Challenging figure: calm, tense, concentrating

on the enemy• Optimum vantage point is from the front and

below, not meant to be seen from the back• Slight contrapposto• Monumentality, simplicity• Undercutting of brow, piercing eyes• Sense of alertness, awareness• Holds slingshot over shoulder, rock in hand• Placed in front of city hall of Florence• Came to symbolize victorious Florence against

larger enemies

Michelangelo, Sistine Ceiling, Rome

• 4 years to paint, 300 figures, no two of which are in the same pose; 70 feet from floor

• Nine main episodes from the book of Genesis, opening book of the Bible

• Done at the behest of Pope Julius II

Michelangelo, Creation of Adam• Fourth scene on the vault of the

Sistine Ceiling• Monumental forms, solid figures• God creates Adam in “his image and

likeness”• Center: two hands do not touch,

there is a distance between them• God the Father is awesome in his

power of love, his kindness to create• Adam modeled on an ancient Roman

river god• Two great forms: Adam as earth and

God as sky• Essentially separate units

Michelangelo, Moses• Designed for the tomb of Pope

Julius II• Central piece, although meant

to be placed on the second floor of the original tomb

• Meant to be seen from a low angle

• Awe-inspiring, majestic, solid• Julius as an enlightened

lawgiver, as was Moses• Same face as God the Father

on the Sistine Ceiling• Few negative spaces• Tense coiled feeling

High Renaissance Art

Raphael, Madonna in the Meadow

• Triangular composition echoing Leonardo

• Atmospheric perspective, sun-drenched landscape

• Clear, ordered and deceptively simple composition, but poses complex

• Tenderness and love expressed• Graceful, tender expressions• Strong diagonals control

composition

Raphael, Galatea

• Galatea pursued by Polyphemus

• Galatea’s head turns left, arms right, hips left, legs frontal

• Triangular compositional elements

• Twisting bodies seem natural but are highly complex

• Suggests wheeling movement and spontaneity

High Renaissance Art

Raphael, School of Athens• Painted for Pope Julius II’s library/study• Greek philosophers of ancient world in muted conversation• No dominant colors, weaving of various hues• Clear, open piazza-like structure• Perspective points to two central figures under a barrel vault that resembles Saint

Peter’s by Bramante• Plato and Aristotle in center as greatest of philosophers• Plato has Leonardo’s features• Plato points up revealing his philosophy of another ideal world• Aristotle points outward to indicate that this material world is the only world• Bramante as Euclid, balding, in lower right• Raphael second from the far right, among the scientists, mathematicians and

astronomers• Michelangelo, as Heraclitus, composing a sonnet in the front foreground painted in

his own style

High Renaissance Art

Michelangelo, Tomb of Giuliano de’Medici• Lying atop a sarcophagus, two figures of

Day and Night • Night: female, restless, tense, between

the legs is an owl (symbolic of night, watchfulness), she rests on a mask

• Day: twisted, looking over his shoulder, massive muscularity

• Giuliano: a heroic type, classical, dressed in Roman armor, idealized, not an actual portrait

• Neoplatonic ideals expressed in vigorous Giuliano and more contemplative Lorenzo

Giuliano’s Tomb Lorenzo’s Tomb

High Renaissance Art

Michelangelo, Last Judgment

• Beginnings of Mannerism seen here: distortion of the figures, elongation• Apollo-like Christ comes to bring the saved to heaven and condemn the lost

to Hell• No weighing of souls, he passes judgment with a movement of his hands• Christ defiantly swings away the evil souls, gently lifts the blessed• He is surrounded by the martyrs and saints of the church• On the skin held by Saint Bartholomew is a self-portrait of Michelangelo• Charon ferries the damned into Hell at bottom right• A serpent wrapped around his torso, Minos awaits to place the damned• Twisting, complex, and convoluted composition• Composition organized in horizontal layers

High Renaissance Art

Michelangelo, Saint Peter’s, Rome • Many architects worked on Saint Peter’s before

Michelangelo• Respected Bramante’s plan, and revived

portions of it• Used a double dome as at Florence• One hundred feet taller than the dome of

Florence Cathedral• Building has monumental pilasters and columns

that extend from the ground to the roof without interruption

• Enormous windows make interior light• Surmounted by a lantern• After Michelangelo’s death, the building was

completed by Giacomo della Porta, who redesigned the dome to make it more pointed instead of round