Important Painters of the Renaissance
After the deprivations experienced by most Europeans during the Middle Ages, the Renaissance -- 1350 to 1600 -- was considered a "rebirth" in the areas of art, learning and philosophy. Centered in Italy, the artistic movement of the Renaissance was divided into "Early" and "High" periods. The Early Renaissance was influenced by the paintings of Fra Angelico, while the High Renaissance featured the now world-famous paintings of Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael.
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Fra Angelico
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Fra Angelico was both an artist and a member of the Dominican order of friars. He lived a strict, cloistered life and devoted his art to the glorification of God. He influenced painters who followed him, because he exemplified the Renaissance artistic principles of ideal beauty and the emphasis on rendering the figure naturally, as a human individual. Fra Angelico's gift was his ability to connect these humanistic impulses of the Renaissance with his deep devotion to God. His painting of the early 15th century, "The Annunciation," shows a startled, beautiful Virgin Mary receiving the news that she will bear the Christ child, at once a lifelike and idealized representation of a holy moment.
Leonardo Da Vinci
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Da Vinci's interests were wide-ranging and he lived well into his 70s, quite a long life for his day and age. As a painter, Da Vinci was extremely interested in rendering the human figure in as lifelike a manner as possible. He was even noted for using cadavers as "models," studying and copying their physiques. Da Vinci painted religious and secular subjects, imbuing both with a realistic sense of form and movement. One of the most famous paintings in Western Art, "La Gioconda," is better known as "The Mona Lisa." This painting is renowned for its lifelike depiction of a 15th century woman, who sits, staring directly at the viewer, an enigmatic smile on her lips.
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Michelangelo
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Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, better known simply as Michelangelo, is perhaps the most famous artist of the Renaissance period. He was commissioned by the pope himself, painting both the ceiling and an entire wall of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, the most sacred residence of the head of the Catholic Church. His life spanned the 15th and 16th centuries, and he created paintings, sculptures and architecture. His paintings in the Sistine Chapel focus on the power of the human figure in motion. Nearly all of the painted figures seem to be caught in the middle of action. The most famous of these captured moments is "Creation of Adam," in which the finger of God reaches across a wide expanse to touch the finger of Adam, giving life to mankind.
Raphael
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A contemporary of Michelangelo, Raphael was also a famous and "in demand" painter of the day. There seems to have been a rivalry between the two great painters, competing for commissions from the pope for work at the Vatican. Raphael's most famous works include a fresco in a Vatican library called "The School of Athens," which pays homage to the great thinkers of Ancient Greece. A unique feature of this painting is that it is believed that the artist painted himself into it, as a brooding dark figure leaning on his fist, sitting at the bottom of the painting. Raphael also painted portraits of both Pope Julius II and Pope Leo X before his death at the relatively young age of 37 from syphilis.
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References
- The History of Art and The Curious Lives of Famous Painters: The Early Renaissance
- The History of Art and The Curious Lives of Famous Painters: Fra Angelico
- The History of Art and The Curious Lives of Famous Painters: The High Renaissance
- The History of Art and The Curious Lives of Famous Painters: Leonardo Da Vinci
- The History of Art and The Curious Lives of Famous Painters: Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
- Art History.net: Introduction to the Artist: Raphael (1483-1520)
Resources
- Photo Credit Photos.com/Photos.com/Getty Images
