Essay On High Renaissance

The High Renaissance refers to a short period of 30 years in which several artists produced exceptional works of art. The best known arts of the High Renaissance period include Leondardo de Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael. Known for a renewed importance on classical tradition and the visual arts, High Renaissance expanded networks of financial support and gained popularity among the wealthy. (“High Renaissance”)

Scholars have stated that paintings hanging in the Vatican done by Michelangelo and Raphel are a representation of the High Renaissance style due to their ambitious scale and complexity of their composition. They depict closely observed human figures and classical antiquity. The High Renaissance also represented new attitudes towards beauty, fashions in literary culture and obsessions with interpretation and meaning.

Leonardo da Vinci, the best known Renaissance Man, because he was interested in and very informed about a lot of different subjects. (Landua, Sara) Da Vinci was a genius painter, sculptor and architect. In addition, he also dabbled in engineering, military science, anatomy, botany, geology, geography, hydraulics, and aerodynamics. Designs for

airplanes, parachutes, helicopters, screw propellers, machine guns, and canal locks were found in his notebooks. (“The Italian Renaissance”) Da Vinci never received a classical education and because of this he did not speak or write Latin. His acclamation that he was a homosexual did not discourage his popularity. Three works of his art that stand out the most are the Drawing of Ideal Proportions of the Human Figure, The Last Supper and Mona Lisa. (“High Renaissance”) The distinctive way he handled light and shadow is his most unusual characteristic.
Another famous artist was sculptor of the Michelangelo.

Michelangelo was so outstanding in his craft that he was called Divine. However, his father believed his son would not amount to anything more than a stone-cutter. This remark was constantly on Michelangelo’s mind and as a result he often signed his work “Michelangelo the stone cutter.” His most famous work is the painting of the Sistine Chapel in St. Peter’s Church in Rome. The Ceiling depicts nine scenes from the book of Genesis and took 4 years to paint under the most difficult of conditions. He was fascinated with the problems of representing the human body and dedicated himself completely to mastering it which lends itself to his most famous sculptor of the statue of David. (“High Renaissance”) Other works include The Last Judgment and

Pieta.

Raffaello Sanzio, another High Renaissance Man was known as Raphael and was an extraordinary painter and came from a family of artists. (“Ralphel Sanzio Biography”) He was strongly influenced by Leonardo and Michelangelo. From Leonardo he learned how to group figures in space and he used Michelangelo's influence in the twisting postures of his human figures. As with Michelangelo, Raphael was called to Rome by Pope Julius II as a result of his beautiful painting style. He had a special gift for painting spacious and open landscapes. All the paintings Raphel painted, especially his Madonna’s, had an air of tranquility and poise to them. Another of his famous paintings is the Galatea, and is based on a several mythological characters. The last painting by Raphael was The Transfiguration. The painting exemplifies Raphael's development as an artist and the culmination of his career. Raphael envisioned man as the ruler of his environment, not as its servant. This way of thinking was a High Renaissance idea beautifully expressed in this painting.

Work Cited

"High Renaissance." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Mar. 2016. Web. 19 Apr. 2016.

Landua, Sara. "Renaissance (1300s-1600s)." Scholastic Publishes Literacy Resources and Children's Books for Kids of All Ages. Web. 19 Apr. 2016.

"The Italian Renaissance." The Italian Renaissance. Web. 19 Apr. 2016

"Raphael Sanzio Biography (1483-1520) – Life of Renaissance Artist." Totally History Raphael Sanzio Comments. Web. 19 Apr. 2016.