High Renaissance Artists & Works

Front 1

Madonna of The Meadow

Back 1

Raphael

Arranged figures in pyramidal configuration to createbelievable and balanced space. Beautiful modeling of the human forms.
The human quality of the virgin is Raphael's trademark.

Front 2

School of Athens

Back 2

Raphael

A large fresco executed in 1509-1511 in an office of the Vatican palace.
Highly symbolic homage to philosophy symbolizing poetry, law & theology.

Plato (holding Timeaus and pointing up) & Aristotle (holding Ethics and pointing down, representing his science of emperical observation starting from the earth) are in center. A portrait of Michelangelo writing in the foreground and a self portrait of himself looking at the viewer in the extreme right corner.
The work shows a high degree of ordered space, classical thought, brilliant sense of color, and a love for intellectual clarity. Framed with Roman architecture.

Front 3

The Transfiguration

Back 3

Raphael

His last work, left unfinished at his death. Evenly diveded between airy transcendence of Christ, flanked by OT figures, and blinding apostles and the rest of the earth in the darker level of earth.
Thr hands of the people frame the figure of Christ.

Front 4

Moses

Back 4

Michelangelo

Commissioned by Pope Julius II's tomb and begun after his death in 1513.
Conveys Moses's bulky physicality and strength. His face radiates both divine fury and divine light. The look refers to Moses's decent from Mt. Sinai after God gives him the 10 Commandments.
Marked by its 'terribilita' / awesomeness

Front 5

Boboli Captives

Back 5

Michelangelo

Commissioned for the tomb of Pope Julius II.
4 figures reveal MCAO's belief that living figures need to be released from the marble they are confined to (Neo-Platonic notion).
Most likely were meant to serve as the bottom corner supports of the tomb.

Front 6

Sistine Chapel

Back 6

Michelangelo

Commissioned during his work on the pope's tomb.
Overall organization consists of: 4 large triangles at the corners depicting heroic action of the OT. Outer border of 8 triangles consisting of biblical ancestors of Christ. The central panels are scenes from Genesis.
Consists of complex tree symbolism

Front 7

Creation of Adam

Back 7

Michelangelo

A panel in the Sistine Chapel showing a muscular Adam arising from sleep in an almost-non-chalant way.
Below Adam a cornucopia is spilling forth leaves and acorns which symbolize the della Rovere family.
The fresco demonstrates MCAO's intense involvement with human (masculine) anatomy.
The depiction of God is replicated from paganism. He holds Eve under his left arm and is surrounded by a brain-shaped surrounding.

Front 8

The Last Judgement

Back 8

Michelangelo

His 2nd contribution to the Sistine Chapel.
Depicts the Divine Judge standing in the upper center of the scene, with the world being divided into the Dantean hell at the bottom and heaven above.
Released his own religios views into the work including a self portrait of himself.
Extensive nudity with loinclothes added later (post-Reformation)

Front 9

Enthroned Madonna with Saint Liberalis and Francis of Assisi

Back 9

Giorgione

Demonstrates many aspects of Venetian art including:
-Oil paints for vibrant colors
-Landscape background (ironic for Venetian art)
-Highly geometric
Echoes style of Jan Van Eyck

Front 10

Le Concert Champetre

Back 10

Giorgione

A non-religios work without a recognizable storyline.
Voluptous nude women frame young men playing the lute and the recorder.
The men are shadowed but glowing.
Renders an appreciation of life with richness & color.
Completed by Titian

Front 11

Assumption of the Virgin

Back 11

Titian

At his best, showing the Madonna ascending to the heavens with swirling colors and subtle different shadings, complimented by the gestures of the principals.
Utilizes triangular composition both above and below the virgin.
There are 3 distinctive levels of composition

Front 12

Venus of Urbino

Back 12

Titian

A homage to feminine beauty from a human perspective.
Includes an architectual background and evenly divided light.
The little dog represents fidelity and fertility.
Obviously, this was painted for a wealthy aristocrat.

Front 13

The Last Supper (1592-1594)

Back 13

Tintoretto

Good example of his energetic and dramatic style. Very dramatic use of light. Unique perspective and depiction of the scene contrasting it with Leonardo's.

Front 14

Deposition

Back 14

Pontormo

Stiking in its use of shocking colors: pinks, apple-greens, and washed-out blues.
Prime example of Mannerism

Front 15

Madonna of the Long Neck

Back 15

Parmigianino

Contains a overwhelmingly large Madonna that is quite sensual. The giant proportions force the viewer to focus on the prophetic figure in the middleground and the single column.
The Madonna's eroticism is reinoforced by the clustered figures at her side.
(Mannerism)

Front 16

Dead Christ With Symbols of the Passion

Back 16

Lavinia Fontana

Obviously Mannerism, this depiction of Christ surrounded by pagan figures boasts an apparent debt to MCAO's Pieta.
Arrangement of colors are primary reference to Mannerism

Front 17

Perseus

Back 17

Cellini

Finished in 1554 for Cosimo Medici as a highly refined work made more interesting because of his record of its genius. Describes casting the bronze for the sculpture in his autobiagraphy

Front 18

Baldassare Castiglione

Back 18

Raphael

Reflects Castiglione's aristocratic and intellectual qualities as author of the Courtier.