Portrait of a Young Man
Leonardo da Vinci
c.1490.
Oil on wood.
Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan
Leonardo da Vinci
c.1490.
Oil on wood.
Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Leonardo da Vinci,
Leonardo DA VINCI (b. 1452, Vinci, Italy --d. May 2, 1519, Cloux, Fr.), Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, and engineer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal.
His Last Supper (1495-97) and Mona Lisa (1503-06) are
among the most widely popular and influential paintings of the Renaissance.
His notebooks reveal a spirit of scientific
inquiry and a mechanical inventiveness that were centuries ahead of his time.
Michelangelo works - part 3
Over 300 figures adorn the vaulted ceiling of that chapel, each of them painted solely by Michelangelo.
He’d originally began work with several assistants but it only took a short time before he became dissatisfied with the way the project was going and started
over by himself, letting no one but the Pope see his progress for the first three years.
It’s hard to get a real sense of the size and magnificence of the Sistine
Chapel unless you see it yourself, since any reproduction is limited to the space on a page or screen.
Because of that, I’ve chosen to show just two of the figures, rather than large sections.
Suffice it to say, it’s doubtful whether any work by an individual artist
will ever rival this masterpiece in scope, composition, or sheer impressiveness.
Michelangelo works - part 2
His first works, however, were sculptures—including the Pieta —which led to a commission for his most famous sculpture, the David.
Michelangelo felt most fulfilled working with marble and stone
so if the Pope hadn’t requested that he paint
the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, it’s likely that Michelangelo
would have continued sculpting and left painting to other artists entirely.
Luckily for the world, Michelangelo complied with the Pope’s request, and after four years of back-breaking, demanding labor, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was completed.
Michelangelo works - part1
Michelangelo Buonarroti was born in 1475 in Florence, Italy, and came
into his own at the height of the Renaissance.
For an artist of his talent and abilities, it was simply perfect timing.
Like his contemporary and rival Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo had a wide range of talents, including architecture, sculpture, painting, and poetry, all of which
he used prolifically during the course of his life.
The tasks he undertook were immense, many of them taking several years to complete.
If for no other reason, the sheer scale of some of his projects
(most notably the Sistine Chapel) is enough to prove Michelangelo’s place in history.
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
(6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564)
commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer.
Despite making few forays beyond the arts, his versatility in the disciplines he took up was of such a high order that he is often considered a contender
for the title of the archetypal Renaissance
man, along with his rival and fellow Italian Leonardo da Vinci.
Greece Sculpture
Greek art and sculpture has had a profound effect throughout the ages.
Many of the styles have been reproduced
and copied by some of what the modern day audiences would class as some
of the finest artists to have ever lived e.g. Michelangelo.
Western art and sculpture derived from Roman art, while in the East, Alexander the Great's conquest gave birth to Greco-Buddhist art, which has even had an influence as far as Japan all of which stem from ancient Greek art.
plato - Philosophers
The Athenian philosopher Plato (427-347) is usually called a pupil of Socrates
but his ideas are no less inspired by Parmenides.
Plato accepted the world of the phenomena as a mere shadow of the real world of the ideas.
When we observe a horse
we recognize what it is because our soul remembers the idea of the horse
from the time before our birth. In Plato's political philosophy
only wise men who understand the dual nature of reality are fit to rule the country.
He made three voyages to Syracuse to
establish his ideal state, both times without lasting results.
Plato's hypothesis that our soul was once in a better place and now lives in a fallen world made it easy to combine platonic philosophy and Christianity
which accounts for the popularity of Platonism in Late Antiquity.
One element, however, was not acceptable: the idea of platonic love - a homosexual relation with pedagogical aspects.
antisthenes
Antisthenes (c. 444-365 BC), the founder of the Cynic school of philosophy, was born at Athens of a Thracian mother, a fact which may account for the extreme boldness of his attack on conventional thought.
In his youth he studied rhetoric under Gorgias, perhaps also under
Hippias and Prodicus. Some suggest that he was originally in good circumstances, but was reduced to poverty.
However this may be, he came under the influence of Socrates, and became a devoted pupil.
So eager was he to hear the words of Socrates that
he used to walk daily from Peiraeus to Athens, and persuaded his friends accompany him.
Filled with enthusiasm for the Socratic idea virtue, he founded a school of his own in the Cynosarges. Thither he attracted the poorer masses by the simplicity of his life and teaching.
He wore a cloak and carried a staff and a wallet, and this costume became uniform of his followers.
Diogenes Laertius says that his works filled ten volumes, but of these, fragments only remain.
His favourite style seems to have been the dialogue, wherein see the effect of his early rhetorical training.
Aristotle speaks of him as uneducated and simple-minded, and Plato describes him as struggling in vain with the difficulties of dialectic.
His work represents one great aspect
of Socratic philosophy, and should be compared with the Cyrenaic and Igarian doctrines
antisthenes - Philosophers
In the decade after the death of Socrates, Antisthenes (c.445-c.365)
was the most important Athenian philosopher.
Like his master, he tried to find out what words mean
but he was convinced that it was not possible to establish really good definitions
(which brought him into conflict with Plato).
He did only partially agree with Socrates that someone who knew what was good
would not do a bad thing.
Antisthenes added that one also had to be strong enough ("as strong as Socrates") to pursue what was good. Therefore, Antisthenes recommended physical training of all kinds, and wanted his students to refrain from luxury.
His most famous pupil was Diogenes of Sinope.
socrates - Philosophers
Thales, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Parmenides, and Democritus had been trying to explain the diversity of nature.
The object of the studies of the Athenian philosopher Socrates (469-399) was altogether different: he was interested in ethics.
It was his axiom that no one would knowingly do a bad thing. So knowledge was important, because it resulted in good behavior.
If we are to believe his student Plato, Socrates was always asking people about what they knew, and invariably they had to admit that they did not really understand what was meant by words like courage, friendship, love etc. Socrates was never without critics.
The comic poet Aristophanes ridiculed him in
The clouds, and when his pupil Alcibiades had committed
high treason, Socrates' position became very difficult.
He was forced to drink hemlock after a charge that he had corrupted the youth. Among his students were Antisthenes, Plato and Xenophon.
The object of the studies of the Athenian philosopher Socrates (469-399) was altogether different: he was interested in ethics.
It was his axiom that no one would knowingly do a bad thing. So knowledge was important, because it resulted in good behavior.
If we are to believe his student Plato, Socrates was always asking people about what they knew, and invariably they had to admit that they did not really understand what was meant by words like courage, friendship, love etc. Socrates was never without critics.
The comic poet Aristophanes ridiculed him in
The clouds, and when his pupil Alcibiades had committed
high treason, Socrates' position became very difficult.
He was forced to drink hemlock after a charge that he had corrupted the youth. Among his students were Antisthenes, Plato and Xenophon.
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