Lesson 90 essay

The Renaissance period was a time of new development and thinking. It influenced religion, culture, and most famously, art. Some of the greatest artists were from the Renaissance time. These included, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Donatello, and Titian. I will be talking about the first two.

Leonardo da Vinci was born in Florence, Italy in 1452. In his early life, he received an informal education, comprising of Latin, geometry, and mathematics and was apprenticed by the artist Verrichio. He was also exposed to different skills such as drawing, painting, and scientific skills like mechanics, chemistry, and metalworking. Because of this, Leonardo was a master in the Guild of St. Luke at the age of twenty. His first known work is a pen and ink drawing of the Arno Valley, while his most famous painting is Mona Lisa, in fact, it is one of the most famous paintings in the world. No one actually knows who the actual model was, but we do know that he spent many years working toward perfection. It now hangs in the Louvre Museum.

He also saw that art and science can be connected. He worked on many scientific and mathematic projects, designed flying machines, studied plants, and was even an architect for a few buildings. When he came up with ideas, he drew them out in great detail, then wrote all his observations and inventions down in a collection of about 13,000 pages.

He died in 1519, remembered as a genius and one of the greatest men of the Renaissance.

Born in Caprise, Italy in 1475, Michelangelo was another great painter and sculpter. He was apprenticed a man who owned the largest workshop in Florence at that time. This happened when he was sent to Florence to study grammar, but he found no interest in it and took up drawing instead. The man we was tutored by was Domenico Ghirlandaio who specialized in painting perspective, portrait, and figure drawing.

Some of Michelangelo’s most famous works include the David statue and the paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Just before his death in 1564, he designed St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Sadly, he died before the construction was complete.

These artists preformed incredible work , but didn’t pass their skills on to others. So, when painters and scientists tried to imitate the Renaissance men, no one could copy them. This is what makes the Renaissance men, unique.