The Nigerian Mvies

The Nigerian Mvies
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Tuesday, 25 March 2014

Who Is The Archetypal Renaissance Man?

By Darren Hartley


The Genesis scenes mounted on the Sistine chapel ceiling and the Last Judgment painting on the Sistine chapel altar wall are two of the most influential fresco works in Western art history. These works are among the Michelangelo paintings and are found in Rome, where one can find the Sistine chapel. Despite Michelangelo's personal low opinion of painting, these works are well known all over the globe.

Aside from his Michelangelo paintings, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simon is also famous for his two sculptures, namely, the Pieta and the David. These sculptures were made before this Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet and engineer turned thirty.

In his design of the dome for the Roman St. Peter's Basilica, Michelangelo used plaster as his main ingredient. In doing this, he started a classical architectural revolution.

Michelangelo is considered to be the best documented 16th century artist. The basis of this fact is the volume of his surviving correspondences, reminiscences and sketches. These sketches are considered to be the earliest Michelangelo paintings.

The title of the archetypal Renaissance man is referred for the individual whose continuous curiosity runs parallel with his inventive skills. Only two artists have been under consideration for this honor, Michelangelo and his fellow Italian and rival, Leonardo da Vinci. Michelangelo earned his berth for the title from his versatility in the disciplines of the highest order. This versatility Michelangelo was able to attain despite the low number of forays he made beyond the arts.

The Mona Lisa and the Last Supper are two Da Vinci paintings that occupy the unique positions of being the most famous, most reproduced and most parodied portrait and religious paintings of all time. Only the Creation of Adam, painted by his co-Italian and rival, Michelangelo has been able to approached the fame of these two Da Vinci paintings.

Considered as an Italian polymath, Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was best known for his Da Vinci paintings. A polymath was a person who has been a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer in the span of his lifetime.

The Vitruvian Man drawing is among the iconic Da Vinci paintings. Unfortunately, the number of surviving Da Vinci paintings is very minimal, pegged at 15. This low survival rate has been attributed to Leonardo's constant and often times disastrous experimentation with new methods. His chronic procrastination of his works was also a contributing factor.

As far as contributions to later generations of artist, Da Vinci and Michelangelo find themselves rivalling one another once again. As far as Da Vinci is concerned, his contribution consists of the surviving Da Vinci paintings, together with his notebooks of drawings, scientific diagrams and personal insights on the nature of painting.

An education in the studio of Verrocchio, a renowned Florentine painter, produced the earlier Da Vinci paintings.




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