And Contrast The Awakening Slave And The Subtractive Method Of Sculpting

To study the human anatomy he went a step further to study the corpses of the dead which was forbidden by The Church), the prior of the church of Santo Spirito, Niccolò Bichiellini, received a wooden crucifix from Michelangelo, it was a detailed view of Christ’s face. But his contact with the dead bodies caused problems with his health, obliging him to interrupt his activities periodically. Michelangelo produced at least two relief sculptures by the time he was 16 years old, the Battle of the Centaurs and the Madonna of the Stairs which show that he had achieved a personal style at a precocious age. In Michelangelo's personal diary he recounts his first two works: "My first work was a small bas-relief, The Madonna of the Stairs. Mary, Mother of God, sits on the rock of the church. The child curls back into her body. She foresees his death, and his return on the stairway to heaven. "My second work, another small relief. My tutor read me the myth of the battle of the Lapiths against the Centaurs. The wild forces of Life locked in heroic combat. "Already at 16, his mind was a battlefield: his love of pagan beauty, the male nude, at war with his own religious faith. A polarity of themes and forms...one spiritual, the other earthly, I've kept these carvings on the walls of my studio to this very day."

Created in 1489 this masterpiece is made out of pure marble. This sculpture is located in the Vatican City. At first glance this sculpture looks like child dead in a mother's arms, which is correct but there is more too it. The sculpture represents the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Its shows his mother Mary holding him and he lays there dead. A very little detail that usually goes unnoticed is that Mary is not touching her son directly, but a cloth is between the two. This signifies the Higher Renaissance belief in Neoplatonic, that the beauty on earth signifies God's beauty. This masterpiece is not only amazing by the meaning but the glorious detail that Michelangelo was able to go into with practically a hammer and chisel.

During this painting, Michelangelo didn’t have the drive he usually did, but when his greatest enemy, Perugino started to work on it with him, that drove him to another level. Michelangelo’s interest in portraying the human body, reflected how the people in this time period felt, and that made the people who viewed his art interested in his work. Also, his sculptures reflect how dramatic of a shift it was to the Renaissance Period from the Middle Ages, and shows how the

Both of the paintings by Michelangelo are excellent examples of Renaissance era art. These two paintings are the Last Judgment and the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The ceiling was worked on from 1508 to 1512 and shows many themes common throughout Renaissance art. One of the most prominent is the stunning realism in both pieces. Despite there being hundreds of figures is both pieces each is extremely realistic. There’s a huge stress on the human figure in this painting and they look as though they could be real people. There’s also a fair amount of perspective, although this isn’t one of the most important parts of the paintings.

Michelangelo's study of a reclining male nude was a sketch done in preparation for the painting on the Sistine Chapel's ceiling by Michelangelo. The drawing was made first and then red chalk was applied over the initial sketch. Some parts were sketched and researched until the artist felt they were right.

One of the most famous painter and sculptors of the Italian Renaissance, the age of renewal and cultural achievement circa 1500, was the artistic genius Michelangelo Buonarroti. The man that desired nothing but perfection often reached it in his work. He captured the motion of the human figure and the anatomy of muscles in a way that was increasingly beautiful and startlingly realistic. Whether because of one of the most famous sculptures in history, “the David” or the paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, that became the textbook examples for the art period of High Renaissance, Michelango’s art changed the world and he will continue to be studied with awe throughout history.

Michelangelo’s creation is his interpretation of the biblical figure of David. “The brave David stands in a tense manner, with one leg relaxed while the other holds its total body weight. Hence, this causes his shoulders and hips to rest at an opposite angle. Moreover, David’s head turns towards his left, and he is carrying a sling at his back. With all these features, many people regard the sculpture as a symbol of youthful beauty and human strength (History).” “Michelangelo’s hero is at rest, in a moment of calm anticipation before confronting Goliath (Sayre, 327).” The lack of movement and straight posture shows balance and clarity within the sculpture, which is why most people would consider this piece of art work ethos. “In contrast, Bernini’s sculpture captures the young hero in the midst of action. David’s body twists in an elaborate spiral, creating dramatic contrasts of light and shadow. His teeth are clenched, and his muscles strain as he prepares to launch the fatal rock (Sayre, 327).” Bernini’s David uses the characteristic of emotion and motion to label his sculpture as pathos. “Bernini’s David uses the space around it – reaching out into the space of

Ross King’s Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling narrates the four years from 1508-1512 that Michelangelo spent laboring over the immense project handed to him; to fresco the 12,000 square foot ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. King’s book describes the battles that Michelangelo faced; the internal struggles, political turmoil and rivalries among fellow artist that encompassed his surroundings. Michelangelo’s battles with his health, family problems, financial burdens, rival artists and the ever impatient Pope are told in great detail by King. King also provides precise artistic descriptions of the process required to fresco scenes so magnificent they are considered one of the greatest artistic masterpieces of all time.

173) Michelangelo’s art brings out these humanistic ideas in human figures. He learns anatomy to show the beauty of the human form accurately even though it was forbidden. He says, “all forms that exist in God’s universe can be found in the human figure” (Stone Book 5, p. 291). This rebellion of the church’s views makes him great because he refuses to see humanity as evil. This portrayal allows his paintings to stand apart from many others. Also Michelangelo wants to create perfection in life through the arts to perform Gods will. He says to Spina, “I am fulfilling the law of Moses through an art form, to compensate for the spiritual degradation of Allesandro and his bullies” (Stone Book 9, p. 656). Michelangelo integrates the nobility of classical art by showing a form of Christian humanism by not replacing God but rather glorifying him: “If my soul is to be saved, it can only be through sculpture. That is my faith, and my discipline” (Stone Book 3, p. 170). In peoples search for God freedom of thought plays a huge role. Michelangelo’s soul searching to interpret the figures, his striving for originality of vision, and in the way he executes his work is practicing this freedom. It is said that

“No other sculptor managed to capture the realism and beauty of the Renaissance quite like Michelangelo. The work of Michelangelo represented the power and vulnerability of the human form in a way that still fascinates the world today”(Italian Renaissance Art and Artists). During the Italian Renaissance, the 14th to 15th century, Michelangelo created multiple pieces of artwork that are still admired by people around the world today, such as, his work on the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling and his sculpture “David”. Michelangelo has created an assortment of pieces including sculptures, frescoes, paintings, and even architectural work involving churches and tombs. Additionally, Michelangelo was infamous for his incomplete pieces of artwork known as “non-finto” (Michelangelo's Prisoners or Slaves at the Accademia Gallery).

In Michelangelo's personal diary he recounts his first two works: "My first work was a small bas-relief, The Madonna of the Stairs. Mary, Mother of God, sits on the rock of the church. The child curls back into her body. She foresees his death, and his return on the stairway to heaven. "My second work, another small relief. My tutor read me the myth of the battle of the Lapiths against the Centaurs. The wild forces of Life, locked in heroic combat. "Already at 16, my mind was a battlefield: my love of pagan beauty, the male nude, at war with my religious faith. A polarity of themes and forms...one spiritual, the other earthly, I've kept these carvings on the walls of my studio to this very day."

Michelangelo’s Bathers, though a mere sketch for a never-executed fresco, causes an enormous artistic uprising in Florence and its surrounding areas. His “wholly different art” intrigues painters all around Italy, with mixed reactions of fascination and wrath. Talented young artists including Raphael Sanzio and Sebastiano de Sangallo are moved to “start back at the beginning” and rethink their techniques and knowledge of painting (Stone 435). Michelangelo applies this same talent to the Sistine ceiling at the request of Pope Julius II to create his most religious piece of work, a documentation of God’s creation of the world and an illustration of the artist’s belief in God. Michelangelo in essence becomes a self-appointed god himself as he praises His supreme power and pays homage to the Creation. Instead of complying to previously stipulated artistic norms, Buonarroti displays his own trademark of complex nude figures while at the same time combining Greek ideals and Christian morals. Michelangelo also paints the Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel, another selection of his art that was awarded with mixed reactions from the public. Michelangelo’s work in the Sistine chapel was completed in the early and mid-1500’s, but it remains some of the most well-known and respected Renaissance art. Contrary to Lorenzo’s theory that the “finest flowering [arts] of every age are torn down, broken, [and] burned by the next” (Stone 179), the art of Michelangelo survives as a result of his resilient

As I closely approached the painting I began to realize the differences between Jan van Eyck and Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment”. Contrary to Michelangelo’s “Last

Michelangelo always saw himself as a sculptor, even though some of his most famous works are his paintings and architecture. In Michelangelo’s words, “Painting is beautiful in the measure that it approaches sculpture; sculpture is bad the more it approaches painting”. In fact, when Pope Julius II ordered Michelangelo to decorate the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in fresco, Michelangelo rebelled. The Sistine Chapel is an example of Michelangelo’s impatience with others as previously mentioned. In the fall of 1508 Michelangelo began the painting of the Sistine ceiling, calling on assistance from Giuliano Bugiardini, Aristotile da Sangallo, Francesco Granacci and several laborers. However, the work that Michelangelo’s friends and laborers

Objects tend to be placed against, and sometimes beyond, the picture plane, allowing for virtuoso displays of foreshortening” (“Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio”). During his initial years in Rome, Caravaggio expanded upon many techniques. He specifically created detailed backgrounds while retaining focus on small objects within the painting, thus creating illusions of depth and volume. This technique led to his command of foreshortening, which became a technique Renaissance artists used to makes limbs appear shorter or objects fade into a background. Having worked tirelessly for years in Rome barely escaping poverty, Caravaggio became known for his revolutionary artistic style and volatile temper. Despite his trouble with the law, his personal connections won him the commission of two paintings for the Contarelli Chapel. The pieces blended elements from his past religious work and utilized both light from the sun as well as an overhead light from an artificial source (“Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio”). Unlike most artists, Caravaggio used two sources of light to enhance his painting. Sun light flowing from a window brighten some of the painting while an unseen lamp illuminates the other side of the scene. The paintings for the Chapel made Caravaggio’s name known to the world and he demonstrated that innovative use of light could differentiate certain aspects of his art from the surrounding gloom. Throughout the rest of his life as an artist,