Module Nine

1) I chose “Leonardo da Vinci: The Mind of the Renaissance” because of the first chapter for this section was about the Renaissance and Da Vinci goes hand and hand with that period. Also I never really studied him in depth so it was interesting to learn about him. The second was The “Drawings of Michelangelo”, which chose because he is my favorite Renaissance artist so I picked that to learn more about him. Also to see how he approached making his master pieces.

2) In “Leonardo da Vinci: The mind of the Renaissance” he shows about Da Vinci’s life. How he was encourage from a young age to use his skills and how he studied not just art but all areas. Also he considered himself a military tactician and weapons creator, and displays his ideas for structures in Milan, where continues to do works. He creates inventions and paintings, but he more often is experimenting with his sciences, and creates entertainment with them at Milan. Here he studies architecture and studies anatomy. He eventually returns to Florence and here unveils many of his most known master pieces like “Mona Lisa”, he died at 63.

“Drawings of Michelangelo” explains his life and the difficulty he faced as he planned and painted the Sistine chapel. How he had a fascination with the male body and his drawings showed the ‘perfected’ male body. Also shows his drawings of the paintings and sculptures he created. It fascinates artists looking at the beginning drawing and the complete art work. His art also displays a movement that few others can replicate.

3) The videos relate to the reading because the reading explains how there was a return to showing humanity and its beauty that the Romans and Greeks had, that seemed to disappear for a time. In the videos it show the masters are studying the body attempting to show it in all its glory and how beautiful it is. The videos show the return to trying to recreate the human body with that spark of life in artwork that occurred during the Renaissance. Also how the masters were fascinated by this and pushed it further by exaggerating figures like the Romans and Greeks to create the perfect human and show their beauty.

4) I liked the films. I especially like the Michelangelo one, it is reassuring to see that the masters also struggled sometimes and had to try again. It adds depth by explaining through visuals what the reading tried to do in words. By seeing the concepts compared to real artwork and ideas it is much easier to understand.