Vasari: The Sistine Chapel Ceiling Frescos

679 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay for the michelangelo

1. While I enjoyed Vasari’s beginning, where he provides background on Michelangelo’s life…it almost reads like a novel not a history. I sense not only admiration for Michelangelo, but love. Vasari, it seems idolizes him.

2. It took me a moment to realize Vasari was speaking about the Sistine Chapel Ceiling Frescos. I wonder if there is any truth to the beginnings of the frescos. Vasari raises Michelangelo so much, making his appear “divine”. The story regarding the “mould” humanizes Michelangelo, he had to learn too, and sometimes made mistakes. I am grateful the problem was corrected, or we would surely be missing out on an amazing piece of art.

3. Vasari’s statement that the frescos “could never be equaled by a brush in the hand of any …show more content…

From page 470 to 488, I enjoyed reading about Michelangelo’s life. I particularly enjoyed his reaction to the painter who received a lot of money from his painting. “As long as he wants to be rich, he will continue to be poor” (477). The comment displays a shift in attitudes toward art, it had become a profession in which one could now amass fame and fortune. As Michelangelo stated, sometimes chasing money did not equate quality. (Which is often true today.) Vasari depicts Michelangelo who was an artist for his love of the profession, not for the money, and his lifestyle seems to support that notion.

9. I really wish Vasari wrote Michelangelo’s story like he did Titian. All the superlatives that he used to describe Michelangelo really took away from his history. Titian’s history seemed more objective, while remaining subjective. I do not know if some of the writing was lost in translation.

10. I appreciated here his “frowning” down on how Giorgione made use of models. Vasari surmises that because they (Giorgione, Palma, and Il Pordenone) had not been to Rome to study “perfect works” they were not as great as those artists who did. This statement reminded me of Chapter 17 which discusses disegno/colore. The Italian Renaissance book stated Vasari caused quite a controversy with his statements. As we know today beautiful art can be made using different techniques, mediums, and

Show More
Related

  • Conditions of Trade by Michael Baxandall

    1177 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...olour scheme used showed how much value was engaged in the style and material that were presented in the painting. In evaluating the chapter comparing to the painting the author felt that the beginning of the era the skill level was often not acknowledged whereas materials were, but at the end of the era, skill level played a larger factor in who was chosen to complete the artwork. Therefore, the significance of the applicability of the chapter to the fresco painting changed as a deposit of relations of the artist and art they created with there talent, style, and skills.

    Read More

  • Comparison Essay

    703 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, although Mycerinus and Kha-merer-nebty II and Augustus of Primaporta, do appear very different, come from entirely different geographic regions and were separated by thousands of years, they do have many things in common. When we consider subject, style, and function; perhaps other works of art have more in common than they appear to have.

    Read More

  • Sistine Chapel Painting Analysis

    1336 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is a known fact that artists paint how they feel or about how they view the world, modern famous artists paint about political or social problems facing our world today such as Kerry James Marshall who paints about his view towards modern day racism. Artists of the renaissance period used art to materialize their thoughts and ideas instead of voicing their opinions and thoughts, artist of the renaissance period preferred to display their thoughts on a canvas splattered with paint. One example of artists expressing their beliefs through a brush and paint is the famous painting by Michelangelo, which was painted on the celling of the Sistine chapel. In the book titled Art, Power, and Patronage in Renaissance Italy by John T. Paoletti and

    Read More

  • Renaissance Humanism In The Renaissance During The Renaissance

    843 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the Renaissance, people were dedicated to studying human works. They would observe from real life to gain inspiration, new ideas, and to try to recreate the world as they saw it in their art. New techniques such as scientific and atmospheric perspective were created, changing art forever. Artists would use their skills to create works for patrons, from the Church, various guilds, and other religious orders. During the High Renaissance, Julius II commissioned Raphael to decorate the Vatican Palace. The first of the rooms he decorated was The “Room of the Signature”, where he painted The School of Athens. Originally, this room housed Julius II’s personal library, but later on it would be the room where papal documents were signed. In 1508, Raphael began painting four frescoes that represented theology, philosophy, law, and the arts. As stated in Janson’s History of Art Volume II, This fresco “represents a summation of High Renaissance humanism, for it attempts to represent the unity of knowledge in one grand scheme.” Raphael’s The School of Athens is a prime example of humanistic art, as evidenced by the subject of the art itself, the classical elements in the piece, and it’s scientific and illusionistic rendering.

    Read More

  • Winckelmann Article

    627 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this article Winckelmann states that the good taste in art that is present in contemporary works stems from the work of the ancient Greeks. The beauty in the modern works of artists like Raphael (especially his Madonna and child with St Sixtus and St Barbara) hold such beauty, complexity of emotion, and good taste because he draws on the ideas set up by the great ancient sculptures and society in which they lived and drew inspiration from. Winckelmann categorizes the ancients greatness into two main ideas that are necessary for contemporaries to draw from in order to reach greatness: Natural beauty and noble simplicity and quiet grandeur.

    Read More

  • Michelangelo: The Renaissance Mastermind

    789 Words  | 2 Pages

    His artwork took sculptures and paintings to another level. While he was sculptor and a painter, he also was a poet. One of my personal favorite quotes by him is, “the greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it”. Michelangelo is saying that we settle; we do not push ourselves. We find contentment in not making a change or challenging the world, but we are okay with hiding behind the norm. Michelangelo did not settle. He performed to his best ability, and he left the world

    Read More

  • Comparing John Constable's Painting The Cornfield and William Wordsworth's Poem Tintern Abbey

    1607 Words  | 4 Pages

    It appears to me that pictures have been over-valued; held up by a blind admiration as ideal things, and almost as standards by which nature is to be judged rather than the reverse; and this false estimate has been sanctioned by the extravagant epithets that have been applied to painters, and "the divine," "the inspired," and so forth. Yet in reality, what are the most sublime productions of the pencil but selections of some of the forms of nature, and copies of a few of her evanescent effects, and this is the result, not of inspiration, but of long and patient study, under the instruction of much good sense…

    Read More

  • The Pieta and David by Michelangelo Buonarroti

    1044 Words  | 3 Pages

    Michelangelo Buonarroti is one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance times, as well as one of the greatest of all time. He did was a painter, a sculptor as well as an architect, excelling in all areas from a young age. Michelangelo’s art was a symbol of the Florence people’s cultural and political power and superiority. Michelangelo thought of himself as a divine being, meaning he thought he was perfection and no one could ever compare. To this day through, in terms of his art, this may hold some truth depending mostly on opinion. He created some of the most magnificent, and most sought after pieces of all time. Some of them are still around today for us to witness including Michelangelo’s Pieta, and one of his most famous Michelangelo’s David.

    Read More

  • Michelangelo's Last Judgment- Barnes Critique

    1367 Words  | 3 Pages

    As we read through the third chapter of "The Last Judgment and The Critics" from Bernadine Barnes's Michelangelo's Last Judgment - The Renaissance Response, it is striking to see the two completely opposite views on the fresco by the sixteenth century critics, where " those who approved of it saw it as the height of Renaissance art; those who disapproved saw it as an unsuitable use of art" and that "it was censured as the work of an arrogant man, and it was justified as a work that made celestial figures more beautiful than natural" (71).

    Read More

  • The Impact of the System of Patronage Upon Works of Art

    2850 Words  | 6 Pages

    So, as has been seen, the system of patronage was extremely important in Renaissance Italy. It brought with it mixed blessings for artists. On the one hand, it gave them the income to support themselves and continue to produce works. On the other hand, though, it could be very constrictive on what the artist could produce, and could even sometimes decide the quality of a work.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Death Of Marat And Pieta

    1614 Words  | 4 Pages

    In these two exquisite works of art or shall we call them the grand masterpieces of their era’s. Both Jacques-Louis David’s The Death of Marat and Michelangelo’s Pieta flawlessly reflects the untimely deaths of two significant figures that we know of today. The two figures comprised of Jesus Christ in Michelangelo’s Pieta and Jean-Paul Marat in Jacques-Louis David’s The Death of Marat. In the two pieces, we see that the pair of artists portrays the figures in a divine and yet virtuous way. One work of art almost mimicking the other, yet there is still some differences between the characteristics of each piece still making it its own individual self. In the following paragraphs, we will be diving deeper into the similarities and differences

    Read More

  • The Lives Of The Most Excellent Sculptor And Giorgio Vasai

    1781 Words  | 4 Pages

    Interestingly, he also refers to Donatello as a ‘craftsman’. The correlation between the artist or sculptor and craftsman is an important aspect in Italian Renaissance art. The craftsman was something more than just an artist. This person was talented and considered by others in Italian Renaissance society as exceptional or as Vasari’s title suggests, ‘the most excellent’. They were also tradespeople rather than just artists. This is because they created works for other people, which often meant they expressed other people’s ideas. Through an analysis of Vasari’s biography on Donatello, this essay will explore the importance of culture in Renaissance Italian society, an examination of Vasari’s biography of Donatello as a historical document and the ways in which Vasari portrays Donatello, which ultimately was significant for future Renaissance craftsmen. This paper will analyze the life of Donatello through Vasari’s The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects to show the importance of Donatello not only as an artist but also as a

    Read More

  • Michelangelo's Motivation

    1901 Words  | 4 Pages

    The night Michelangelo Buonarroti was born, “Mercury and Venus were in the house of Jove,” says Vasari. This means that, according to a lucky star, Michelangelo could be expected to produce extraordinary works of both art and intellect. How true this turned out to be! Whether it was fate or coincidence, few haven’t heard of this world renowned and avant-garde talent. From painting to architecture and sculpture, it seems like there is nothing Michelangelo couldn’t master. Michelangelo is said to have considered himself a sculptor, but why was it then that he produced his sculpture with such a unique and striking depiction of the human body? Why did Michelangelo create such masculine forms, and was it self expression that provoked this intense artistry? There are many factors that can influence an artists creative process, but with Michelangelo the most prominent were most likely his religion, society, travels, and self perception.

    Read More

  • Body Representation in Renaissance Portraits

    1501 Words  | 4 Pages

    1. Ward, H. (2011). “The rising genius': Simeon Solomon’s unexplored interpretation of Alessandro Botticelli. British Art Journal, 12(3), 60.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Michelangelo And Caravaggio

    1093 Words  | 3 Pages

    Michelangelo and Caravaggio at some point in history were the most famous artists in Rome, Italy. Michelangelo a prominent architect, poet, sculptor, and painter found his success in Italy during the High Renaissance period (1490-1527). While Caravaggio was the most popular painter in Rome and spearheaded the Baroque period (1650-1750). Artists like Caravaggio in the Baroque period turned to a powerful and dramatic realism, intensified by bold contrasts of light and dark. Michelangelo’s reputation as a painter fluctuated during the High Renaissance, but his devotion to his art and his genius undoubtedly influenced artists such as Caravaggio during the Baroque Period. However, each artist had incredibly different styles, and utilized different mediums in their most popular works of art. Despite that there are also many similarities which indicate Michaelangelo’s heavy influences on Caravaggio and Baroque Period art. The comparison will be between Michelangelo, Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome, Fresco. c. 1508-1512 and Caravaggio, Calling of St. Matthew, Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome, Oil

    Read More

More about Vasari: The Sistine Chapel Ceiling Frescos

Open Document