Renaissance+Art

|| ||
 * **"David" -Donatello** || ===== ** "The Gift of the Mantle" -Giotto​ ** ===== ||
 * [[image:David.jpg align="center"]]
 * ** The sculpture above, David, was sculpted in both marble and bronze by the famous Renaissance sculptor Donatello. Donatello influenced many people with his artwork, especially by painting the first free standing nude sculpture since Ancient Greece and Rome. After this, many artists began to create these types of sculptures too.

Shown above, the sculpture David was created by Donatello. It shows a young David with the head of his enemy from the Bible, Goliath, laying at his feet. He is also modeled after Ancient Greek and Roman statues. The statue is very realistic and anatomically correct, which is a very general characteristic of most art created during the Renaissance.

Lastly, Donatello's, David, even had a political impact on the world. It came to symbolize the Florentine Republic which was in conflict with more powerful enemies, yet still favored by God. ** || ** This picture, The Gift of the Mantle, was painted by Giotto, who was sometimes called the "Father of Renaissance Painting". Many people think of his as the first in a line of many great artists that influenced the Italian Renaissance. Giotto influenced many artists and was the first to try out many things.

Giotto painted with an unbelievable sense of depth, although he did not use linear perspective. Many painters that came after him began to use his strategies. Giotto was also a pioneer in fresco painting. (Fresco paintings are works painted onto wet plaster which will later harden.) Many artists took after him in this way too.

One painting that really shows off both his sense of perspective and fresco paintings is called the Gift of the Mantle, which is the painting shown above. The painting illustrates a scene from one of the stories about Francis of Assisi, and in the painting, Francis is trading a man's lambs for his mantle in order to save the lambs. Some think that it should be called "The Rescue of the Lambs". ** || || ||
 * **"Sistine Chapel" -Michelangelo** || **"Mona Lisa" -Leonardo da Vinci** ||
 * [[image:Sistine_Chapel.jpg align="center"]]
 * ** This image is of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which was painted by Michelangelo, a famous Renaissance artist. In 1508, Pope Julius II asked Michelangelo to to paint the ceiling of the chapel in the Vatican. He painted hundreds of figures on several panes covering 12,000 square feet, and made the entire work look 3-dimensional. It took him four years to complete.

The Sistine Chapel is the best-known chapel in the Vatican, the home of the pope. It is famous for its beautiful decorations which had been frescoed by many great artists during the Renaissance. (The artist most recognized for it is Michelangelo, although other artists include Raphael and Bernini.) The ceiling includes nine stories from the biblical book of Genesis and the 12 Prophets.

This chapel influenced many other artists because it was a great example of using fresco painting and 3-dimensional strategies such as linear perspective. ** || ** This painting, The Mona Lisa, was painted by the true "Renaissance Man", Leonardo da Vinci. Painted nearly 500 years ago between 1503 and 1506 during the Italian Renaissance, this picture is considered by some to be the world's most recognizable painting.

The Mona Lisa is named for Lisa del Giocondo, a member of the Gherardini family of Florence and Tuscany. She was the wife of a wealthy Florentine silk merchant, Francesco del Giocondo. Leonardo was often asked to paint portraits of wealthy people and their families, which is how The Mona Lisa came about. This picture was painted with oil on a poplar panel, and exemplifies Leonardo's use of light and shadow to create realism on humans.

The Mona Lisa did not become a very popular picture until the 20th century. It became a revolutionary painting that used many new techniques such as pyramidal composition and sfumato. This inspired many new people to use some of these techniques and was a model painting in the art world. ** ||