ARTH101: Art Appreciation

Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo probably come to mind when you think of the artists of the High Renaissance. Many consider Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel Ceiling the greatest work of art in the western world. This was a period of big, ambitious projects. How does the High Renaissance differ from the Early Renaissance?

Fra. Filippo Lippi, Madonna and Child with Two Angels, tempera on wood, ca. 1455 - 1466. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

A problem arises as the Humanism of the Early Renaissance develops. Look at Friar Filippo Lippi's Madonna and Child with Angels. The figures of the Madonna and Christ Child appear so human that we can hardly tell they are divine figures (except for the faint outline of a halo and Mary's sorrowful expression and hands clasped in prayer). On the other hand, during the Middle Ages, the need to create transcendent spiritual figures meant moving toward abstraction, flatness, and elongation.

Tension arose during the Early Renaissance. To create spiritual figures, your image cannot look real, and if you want your image to appear real, you sacrifice some spirituality. During the late 15th century, Leonardo da Vinci created figures who are physical and real (just as real as Lippi's or Masaccio's figures), yet they have an undeniable and intense spirituality. We could say da Vinci united the real and spiritual, or soul and substance.

Andrea del Verrocchio (with Leonardo da Vinci), Baptism of Christ, 1470-75, oil and tempera on panel, 70 3/4" x 59 3/4" or 180 x 152 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

We see this best in this painting by Verrocchio, an important Early Renaissance artist da Vinci was apprenticed to when he was young. Verrocchio asked da Vinci to paint one of the angels in the Baptism of Christ.

Andrea del Verrocchio (with Leonardo), Baptism of Christ, detail, 1470-75, oil and tempera on panel, 70 3/4" x 59 3/4" or 180 x 152 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Can you tell which angel is da Vinci's? One angel should look more like a boy (that is the Early Renaissance angel painted by Verrocchio), and the other angel should look truly divine, sent by God from heaven (that is da Vinci's angel). The angel on the left is da Vinci's.

Da Vinci's angel is ideally beautiful and moves in a graceful and complex way, twisting her upper body to the left but raising her head up and to the right. Figures that move elegantly and are ideally beautiful are typical of the High Renaissance.

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Source: Beth Harris and Steven Zucker, Smarthistory, smarthistory.org
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