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Medieval
Renaissance
1. No expressions on
faces
1. Faces are filled with
emotion and expression
2. Stiff and unrealistic
poses
2. Human poses are lifelike
and realistic
Medieval Artwork
Renaissance Artwork
Raphael: The Nymph Galatea 1512-1514
Famous works by Italian
Renaissance Artists
Leonardo
Michelangelo
Raphael
Donatello
 Was a famous Renaissance Italian artist and sculptor.
 Born in Florence Italy in 1386.
 He brought back work with bronze which was a
common material during the Roman times. It was not
used during the middle ages but he brought it back.
 David by Donatello
 1430
 First free-form bronze
since Roman times!
Michelangelo
 Sculptor and Painter
 "In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as
though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in
attitude and action. I have only to hew away the
rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to
reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it."—
Michelangelo
 Michelangelo’s David.
 This statue is perhaps
the most iconic image
of the Renaissance
period.
 Michelangelo’s statue
stands 13-14 feet high
(about 3 metres)
 It was sculpted between 1501 and 1504.
 Michelangelo was only twenty-six years old, when
he won the commission to complete the statue
from a block of marble (the giant) that had been
abandoned 30 years earlier by another artist.
 When it was finished, David was placed in front of
the entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall.
In 1873 the statue was moved from the piazza, to
protect it from damage, and brought to its current
location in the Academia Gallery, in Florence.
 David is a Renaissance interpretation of a common ancient
Greek theme of the standing heroic male nude.
 In David, the figure stands with one leg holding its full
weight and the other leg relaxed. This classic pose causes
the figure’s hips and shoulders to rest at opposite angles,
giving a slight s-curve to the entire torso. This curve gives
the figure its classical grace.
 Michelangelo’s David has become one of the most
recognized pieces of Renaissance sculpture, becoming a
symbol of both strength and youthful human beauty.
 Traditionally, David was portrayed after his victory,
triumphant over the giant Goliath. Both
Verrochio’s and Donatello’s Davids are depicted
standing over Goliath's severed head.
 Michelangelo has depicted David before the battle.
Davis is tense, but not so much in a physical as in a
mental sense. The slingshot he carries over his
shoulder is almost invisible, emphasizing that
David's victory was one of cleverness, not sheer
force.
 The hand that holds
the stone is larger than
the other, drawing the
viewer’s attention to
the action that is about
to unfold.
 Michelangelo was a citizen of the city state of
Firenze (Florence), and Florence was surrounded
by much more powerful enemy city states.
 When the statue of David was placed on the
square in front of the city hall, the people of
Florence immediately identified with him as the
cunning underdog triumphing over the big bad
guy. David was positioned so that his glare was
directed south, toward the rival city of Rome.
 Pieta means ‘Pity,’ and this is certainly the emotion
that this magnificent sculpture evokes.
 We feel pity for Christ’s suffering, but also for his
grieving mother, who holds her son’s body in an
attitude of quiet acceptance.
 Only sculpture to be signed by him
 The Pieta balances the Renaissance ideals of
classical beauty with naturalism. The statue is one
of the most highly finished works by
Michelangelo.
 The structure is pyramidal. The statue widens
progressively down the drapery of Mary's dress, to
the base. The figures are quite out of proportion,
owing to the difficulty of depicting a fully-grown
man cradled full-length in a woman's lap. By
concealing much of Mary's body in her
monumental drapery, Michelangelo made the
relationship of the figures appear quite natural.
 The Sistine Chapel is located in the Vatican City




in Rome, attached to St. Peter’s Basilica, the papal
apartments and the vast complex of buildings that make up
the Vatican museums.
Michelangelo was commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint
the ceiling of the chapel. He resisted, as he preferred
sculpture to painting, but had to do as he was told.
The works are frescoes, (painted into fresh plaster) and
they cover about 4,000 square meters of ceiling.
Michelangelo built scaffolding so that he could work on his
back, and labored over the frescoes from 1508 to1512. (4
years)
100 stories from the Bible and 300 different faces
The Sistine Chapel’s Ceiling
Michelangelo Buonarroti
1508 - 1512
 1483-1520
 Interested in archeology,
he became an expert in
ancient Roman art.
 Commissioned to
decorate the state rooms
in the Vatican at the
same time that
Michelangelo was
working on the Sistine
Chapel frescoes.
 He always carried around a sketch book in which
he constantly sketched women and children.
These sketches formed the basis of his many
Madonnas.
 He used soft colours, simple circular forms, and
gentle landscapes in his paintings.
 He is best remembered for his madonnas, his
portrayals of the Virgin with the infant Jesus.
 Raphael’s famous fresco decorates a wall in the
papal palace at the Vatican, in Rome.
 He depicts famous figures from various fields of
knowledge, with the Greek philosophers, Plato
and Aristotle at the centre of the composition.
Plato is shown with Leonardo da Vinci’s features.
 Also included in the painting are Socrates (another
philosopher), Alexander the Great (military
genius) and Pythagoras and Euclid
(mathematicians).
 Raphael has also paid
tribute to his fellow artist,
Michelangelo, by placing
him in the foreground.
 The work is a brilliant
demonstration of the
technique of linear (line)
perspective. The
architectural space recedes
infinitely through the
arches of the marble hall to
the open sky beyond.
The School of Athens – Raphael, 1510 -11
Da Vinci
Raphael
Michelangelo
The School of Athens – Raphael, details
Plato:
looks to the
heavens [or
the IDEAL
realm].
Aristotle:
looks to this
earth [the
here and
now].
Clockwise:
Plato (Leonardo),
Aristotle,
Raphael,
Michelangelo
Artist
•
Sculptor
•
Architect
•
Scientist
•
Engineer
•
Inventor
•
 The term “renaissance man” is used to describe someone
who has a wide variety of interests, and expertise in many
fields.
 Leonardo da Vinci was the quintessential renaissance man.
He was a painter, sculptor, inventor, architect, musician,
engineer, and scientist.
 He is widely recognized as a genius of the highest level.
 Historians tell us that he was not only intellectually gifted,
but that he was noble in appearance and manners as well.
Leonardo, the Architect:
Pages from his Notebook
Study of a
central church.
1488
Leonardo, the Architect:
Pages from his Notebook
Plan of the city of Imola, 1502.
Leonardo, the Scientist (Biology):
Pages from his Notebook
An example of
the humanist
desire to unlock
the secrets of
nature.
Leonardo, the Scientist (Anatomy):
Pages from his
Notebook
Leonardo, the Inventor:
Pages from his Notebook
Leonardo, the Engineer:
A study of siege defenses.
Pages from
his Notebook
Studies of water-lifting
devices.