Looking_on_Michelangelo

Michelangelo’s David embodies humanism because he is physically perfect. Also he embodies humanism because Michelangelo's David is a Renaissance interpretation of a common ancient Greek theme of the standing heroic male nude. In addition, Michelangelo’s David embodies individualism. His confident pose, in contrast to the Middle Ages' Christian humility, is used to symbolize that man accomplish anything. Michelangelo's David depict the rising secularism in the Renaissance. As a result of the Babylonian Captivity and the Great Schism, a general movement away from the Catholic Church occurred. Michelangelo's sculpture was a recreation of the Biblical figure David. Although Michelangelo used a religious theme in his art, religious themes were portrayed not to glorify God, but to glorify the artists themselves. Sistine Chapel Ceiling [pic] The overall subject matter of the ceiling is the doctrine of humanity's need for Salvation as offered by God through Jesus. It is a visual metaphor of Humankind's need for a covenant with God. The old covenant of the Children of Israel through Moses and the new covenant through Christ had already been represented around the walls of the chapel.While much of the symbolism of the ceiling dates from the early church, the ceiling also has elements that express the specifically Renaissance thinking which sought to reconcile Christian theology with the philosophy of Humanism. Mona Lisa [pic] The painting was among the first portraits to depict the sitter before an imaginary landscape and Leonardo was one of the first painters to use aerial perspective. Due to the expressive synthesis that Leonardo achieved between sitter and landscape it is arguable whether Mona Lisa should be considered as a traditional portrait, for it represents an ideal rather than a real woman, which embodies the concept of humanism. The woman sits markedly upright with her arms folded, which is also a sign of her reserved posture, which embodies the concept of individualism. This made the Mona Lisa also important because it was one of the first paintings to use a relaxed pose. The Last Supper [pic] Leonardo's Last Supper is an ideal pictorial representation of the most important event in the Christian doctrine of salvation. His representation of this part of the Christian doctrine has achieved unanimous acceptance and authority. Part of why Leonardo's version was so famous immediately was that he had chosen a very unusual way to portray the scene. Almost every painting of the Last Supper up until now had involved Jesus blessing the bread and wine, while Judas was always shown off in a corner, sulking, away from the rest of the disciples. This is what the Dominicans thought they were getting. When they instead got this "violent" version with the disciples all screaming and yelling, the monks were not exactly pleased.