Video Review

Leonardo Da Vinci

At the age of 15 in 1468 Leonardo moved to Florence, the capital of the Medici family. He became an apprentice of Ardrea del Verrchio. He was obsessed with perspectives and proportion of animals and man. Book quote: “his interest in mathematics is also evident from his careful rendering of perspective”

At the age of twenty he was accepted into the painters guild, and works for the Medici family. Leonardo was knows to renounce there was a distinction between mechanical and fine arts. At the age of thirty he was sent to the court of Milan as a musician. There he boasts himself as a military engineer. He experiments with his mechanical innovations via theater and performance. He also developed a multi level city to provide circulation in a city that just underwent a plague. In 1499 he leaves Milan. He goes on to help the Venetian republic devise defense plans against the threatening Turks. In 1503 he returns to Florence where he is finally respected. People flock to see his paintings of “ earthly beings transformed into heavenly creatures. In 1513 he moves to the Vatican and is reunited with the Medici's. In 1516 he travels to Ambroise France where he is given the title of first painted, architect, and engineer.

Da Vinci famously proclaimed that in order to draw an impressive beast, one must take the eyes from one, the nose from another, and the mouth from yet another. The book quotes him as saying “Be on the watch to take the best parts of individual faces.

Albrecht Durer

Early is his career, Albrecht Durer became obsessed with the effect of again. This penchant can be seen in his portraits of elderly family members. He is given credit as the artist to bring the Italian renaissance to Germany. He is credited as the first true landscape artist influenced by Venetian artists. At 15 years old he becomes an apprentice to Michael Wolgamut. In 1489 at the age of 18, he sets off on a journey as a painter and draftsman. For four years he was a traveling craftsmen, surviving off income from his prints. One of his most important works was an altar painting commissioned by residents of the commercial center of Fondaco dei Tedeschi for their parish chapel. Durer was known to apply 4-6 layers of each color to his paintings, giving it an almost enamel like quality. Like Leonardo, he spent a large amount of his time writing treatises. Also like Leonardo, he was an accomplished mathematician.

Durer was a member of the council that decided to break away from Rome. He actually designed a number of prints in support of Martin Luther’s Protestant Reformation. A famous set of these prints depicted the Apocalypse. They were intended to reveal the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church. Durer said that he “expended the greatest industry in The 4 apostles.

Rembrandt The Night Watchman

The Night Watchman was painted in the year 1642 in Amsterdam. It was commissioned as yet another group picture of the militia, but Rembrandt took it to another level. The painting weighs 337 kg, and is 11' by 14'. It has become an object of pilgrimage for the Dutch, similar to Mecca for the Muslims. At this time, the militia, under Frans Banning Cocq, was mainly ceremonial. Rembrandt interprets the group portrait as a historical composition. The lack of lines guiding out eyes provide a sense of motion, as the eyes search the painting. X-rays of the painting show the painstaking attention to detail Rembrandt gave the painting. He rearranged a dagger multiple times in order to the viewer the sense that it was protruding from the art work. On top of the men who paid for their liking to be made a part of the portrait, Rembrandt added additional figures, namely a little girl illuminated by a bright light seeming to come from within. Today, The Night Watchman is hung at Rijksmuseum at the metaphorical altar of the cathedral like museum.

Michelangelo

During his lifetime, he kept is drawings behind closed doors. He did not want people to see the inter workings of his mind, or the hesitation with, which he designed his works. This desire to only reveal his final works, led him to destroy many of his drawings. At the age of twelve he was an apprentice to Ghirlandaio. From Ghirlandaio, he learned the concepts of rough sketching space, and using geometric renditions of human forms to lay out paintings.

Michelangelo was a self taught sculptor. The only sculpture he ever signed was The Pieta. In1505 he was summoned to Rome by Pope Julius II. In 1508 he started the decoration of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. IN 1516, the Medici Pope commissioned him to design the Medici family church of San Lorenzo. Christian teachings, and the beauty of man both had big influences on his art. They often conflicted with each other in his drawings.