Leonardo Da Vinci

Self Portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci,  1512, Red Chalk on Paper

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) has given the world countless masterpieces  and he has shown what it takes to be a true Renaissance artist. Giorgio Vasari has a few words in store for him:  "Nature so favoured him that, wherever he turned his thought, his mind, and his heart, he demonstrated such divine inspiration that no one else was ever equal to him in the perfection, liveliness, vitality, excellence, and grace of his works." Leonardo created some of the world's most notable works including he Mona Lisa, The Last Supper and many more. He was an mathematician, sculptor, painter, musician, scientist and inventor among other things. He was always looking for challenge according to Giorgio Vasari. He also was very curious about things around him and had a persistent attitude towards learning.  We also know that he rarely finished works and Giorgio Vasari explains his reasoning of why that is : "It is clearly evident that because of Leonardo's understanding of art, he began many projects but never finished any of them, feeling that his hand could not reach artistic perfection in the works he conceived, since he envisioned such subtle, marvelous  and difficult problems that his hands, while extremely skillful, were incapable of ever realizing them." However even the unfinished works we have of him today are still considered to be done so beautifully and we would rather take unfinished than none at all because he truly had talent and was considered to be the epitome of the term “Renaissance Man.”. 

The Tempest by Giorgione

Giorgione was a Venetian painter during the high Renaissance and he was a mysterious painter. There are only about a handful of works that are attributed to him because he never signed or titled his works. One of his works, we know for sure, is The Tempest and it was made around 1508.It shows a woman, maybe a gypsy, who is suckling a baby and a young man on the opposite end, maybe a soldier, and they are outside with an approaching storm and a village in the background. Radiography has helped us to see that instead of the man , there was another nude woman originally. We do not know why he took her out or much about what this painting means but nonetheless it deserves much praise for its harmonious nature and its simplicity. We do not know most of his art's contexts or what they mean but he is nonetheless a Renaissance artist. It is an oil on canvas and Giorgione used very soft forms and colors and he also known for the poetic quality in his work. He also helped create the Venetian artistic reputation during the Renaissance. Giorgione was a student of Giovanni Bellini and one of his pupils was Titian, who has a very similar style.

Sandro Botticelli

Sandro Botticelli, 1445-1510

Alessandro Di Mariano di Filipepi, better known as the great Sandro Botticelli was undeniably one of the greatest Renaissance artists. As a young boy  he was apprenticed by Fra Filippo Lippi, during his time at the Brancacci Chapel and he showed great talent very young. Lippi grew very fond of him. Botticelli is famously known for Primavera and Birth of Venus which show some of his greatest works of art. Some things to consider about these two painting are that instead of religious figures he presents mythological ones.  He has such care and and skill that Vasari describes how other artisans always desperately tried getting a hold of his sketches because of his precision and unteachable grace. He also had very good judgment of perspective and objects. He created a plethora of works and it seemed by each work he did he became more popular and even the Pope at the time, Pope Sixtus IV asked him along with other artisans to paint frescoes on the walls of the Sistine Chapel. This also gave him a credible reputation as a painter of that time. He did many paintings for Florentine Churches as well as for private collections. He was said to be a pleasant man who enjoyed joking around and he was also a man of pride and honor. 

The Holy Trinity by Masaccio

The Holy Trinity, Masaccio, 1425, Santa  Maria Novella

The Holy Trinity was created by Tommaso Masaccio in the year 1425. It is a fresco and remains in the Santa Maria Novella Basilican Church  in Florence. This painting shows Christ hanging on the cross that is being supported by God. The cross is also being flanked  by Mary and John. The kneeling figures on the step below show their devotional praise to Christ and God, many say they are members from either the Berti Family or the Lenzi Family, who might have commissioned this painting. Although we do not much about who commissioned this fresco, we do know that this was one of Masaccio's major commissions and one of his greatest works of art. Architecturally speaking, Masaccio showed his great admiration for linear perspective  and his appreciation for roman antiquity by accurately painting the Roman barrel vault along with the Ionic and Corinthian capitals on the columns that create the boundary for this scene. He also brilliantly creates the vanishing point  at the viewer's eye level which contributes to his genius perspective of the receding barrel vaults that tower over God and create depth. This visual effect is know as Tromp l'oiel, which means "Deceiving to the eyes." One can really understand the brilliance Masaccio showed artistically and architecturally while in its presence.

Leon Battista Alberti

Leon Battista Alberti, Courtyard of the Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Vasari states "But when by chance theory and practice meet and join together, there is nothing more useful to our lives, for through the means of science, art is perfected and enriched, and the advice and writings of learned artisans are more useful and trustworthy than the words or works of those artisans who do nothing more than practise their craft, whether they d so well or badly. The truth of these statements is clearly demonstrated by Leon Battista Alberti [...]" Alberti seriously studied the work of ancient Roman architectural treatise of Vitruvius and with his combined and earned observations of architecture, many consider him to be the first Renaissance architect to understand the classical architecture in depth. He designed the Palazzo Rucellai and used different capitals for each story of the building. This he compared to the Coliseum and it gets lighter with height. He believed  in the system of ideal proportions and actively advocated it. He became an architect rather later in life but nonetheless his impact of Renaissance and his advocacy for the importance of classical architecture and the balance and harmony of perfect proportions made a profound contribution to architectural design.

The Tribute Money (Masaccio)

Masaccio, The Tribute Money, Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria Del Carmine, 1424-27, Fresco

Masaccio, in my opinion was among the greatest Renaissance artist, he has really helped me to see how the use of perspective and light has helped the Renaissance. He experimented with perspective and the illusion of light as it hits different objects and figures. In this particular fresco, which is located in the Brancacci Chapel, (which I can't believe I saw) in the Santa Maria Del Carmine in Florence, Masaccio depicts the episode from the the Gospel of Matthew. He shows this fresco as a three part story. Starting from left to right, we have Saint Peter by the shore side retrieving the money from the fish, the middle depicts the tax collector, who confront Jesus as they try to enter the Roman town of Capernaum. Jesus asks St. Peter  to go get the money he will need to pay the tax form the belly of the fish. Peter, after finding the money returns and pays the tax collector ( far right). Masaccio shows the bulk of his characters by allowing us to see the traces of light as it hits the figures. It hits objects at an angle developing dark shadows the light does not touch, which adds to the dimensionality. He also created perspective by using a vanishing point, just above Jesus's head, which he uses for his buildings. We can also see his unprecedented technique of showing blurred objects as they are more distant and more detailed objects as they are closer. It must have been truly amazing to witness Masaccio create this ingenious three part story in one piece of artwork.