Madonna of the Stairs 1490-92 1. This is the earliest extant work of Michelangelo. 2.

The waxy, translucent slab, like alabaster, is reminiscent of Desiderio. 3. Carved in "rilievo schiacciato" it represents Michelangelo's exploration of quattrocento techniques. 4. In both form and content we see the influence of Greek "stelai". 5. The Madonna's face is in classical profile and she sits on a square block, Michelangelo's hallmark. 6. He chose not to show the Child's face but placed him in an odd position, either nursing or sleeping and encased in drapery, suggesting protection. 7. In the background, four youths handle a long cloth, identified either the one used to lower Christ from the cross or a shroud. 8. Altogether the relief is much closer to Donatello's Pazzi Madonna then the intervening lyrical madonnas by Rossellino and Desiderio.

The Battle is the second piece of Michelangelo. It was carved in white Carrara marble for Lorenzo de' Medici and left unfinished

1492 - Lorenzo de' Medici dies.

1. Michelangelo then studied anatomy with the help of the Prior of the Hospital of Sto Spirito, for whom he appears to have carved a wooden crucifix for the high altar. 2. A wooden crucifix found there (now in the Casa Buonarroti) has been attributed to him by some scholars. 3. The next few years were marked by the expulsion of the Medici and the gloomy Theocracy set up under Savonarola 4. Michelangelo avoided the worst of the crisis by going to Bologna and, in 1496, to Rome. 5. He settled for a time in Bologna, where in 1494 and 1495 he executed several marble statuettes for the Arca (Shrine) di San Domenico in the Church of San Domenico.
Angel with Candlestick - 1494-95

Bacchus 1497
1. Age of 21 Michelangelo went to Rome for the first time. We still possess two of the works he created in this period (Bacchus and Piet); others must have been lost for he spent five years there. 2. The statue of Bacchus was commissioned by the banker Jacopo Galli for his garden and he wanted it fashioned after the models of the ancients. 3. The body of this drunken and staggering god gives an impression of both youthfulness and of femininity. i. Vasari says that this strange blending of effects is the characteristic of the Greek god Dionysus. ii. But in Michelangelo's experience, sensuality of such a divine nature has a drawback for man: in his left hand the god holds with indifference a lionskin, the symbol of death, and a bunch of grapes, the symbol of life, from which a Faun is feeding. iii. Thus we are brought to realize, in a sudden way, what significance this miracle of pure sensuality has for man: living only for a short while he will find himself in the position of the faun, caught in the grasp of death, the lionskin. 4. The statue was transferred to Florence in 1572.

1499 - Pieta Michelangelos first major work he is 23 It is the only work he ever signed.
The twenty-three year-old artist presents us with an image of the Madonna with Christ's body never attempted before. Her face is youthful, yet beyond time; her head leans only slightly over the lifeless body of her son lying in her lap. "The body of the dead Christ exhibits the very perfection of research in every muscle, vein, and nerve - Vasari

1. 1501 - David commissioned by the Arte della Lana (Guild of Wool Merchant), who were responsible for the upkeep and the decoration of the Cathedral in Florence. 2. Was given a block of marble which Agostino di Duccio had already attempted to fashion forty years previously, perhaps with the same subject in mind. 3. Portrays the youth in the phase immediately preceding the battle 4. The artist places him in the most perfect " contraposto", as in the most beautiful Greek representations of heroes. 5. The right-hand side of the statue is smooth and composed while the left-side, from the outstretched foot all the way up to the dishevelled hair is openly active and dynamic. The muscles and the tendons are developed only to the point where they can still be interpreted as the perfect instrument for a strong will, and not to the point of becoming individual selfgoverning forms. 6. Once the statue was completed, a committee of the highest ranking citizens and artists decided that it must be placed in the main square of the town, in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, the Town Hall. 7. It was the first time since antiquity that a large statue of a nude was to be exhibited in a public place.

The Patrons of the Renaissance

 Pope (not so) Innocent VIII

(1432 July 25, 1492), born Giovanni Battista Cybo (or Cibo), was Pope from 1484 until his death. Succeeded Pope Sixtus Died 1492 leaving behind several illigitimate children 1487 married off his elder son Franceschetto Cybo to Maddalena de Medici, Lorenzo de Medici, in return obtained the Cardinals hat for his 13 year old son Giovanni the Later Pope Leo X His daughter Teodorina Cibl married Gerardo Llisodimare and had a daughter Savonarola chastised him for his worldly ambitions The unsympathetic Roman chronicler Stefano Infessura provides many lively details, among them the apparent attempt to revive Innocent VIII on his deathbed by blood transfusions from three young male children (who died as well in the process).

 Pope Innocent VIII dies on July 25, 1492

The three likely candidates for the Papacy were cardinals Borgia (who becomes Pope

Alexander VI ), Ascanio Sforza and

Giuliano della Rovere. While there was never substantive proof of simony, the rumour was that Borgia, by his great wealth, succeeded in buying the largest number of votes, including that of Sforza, whom, popular rumour had it, he bribed with four mule-loads of silver. Della Rovere, jealous and angry, accused Borgia of being elected over him by means of simony and a secret agreement with Ascanio Sforza. He at once determined to take refuge from Borgia's wrath at Ostia, and a few months afterwards went to Paris, where he incited Charles VIII of France to undertake a conquest of Naples. Accompanying the young King on his campaign, he entered Rome along with him, and endeavoured to instigate the convocation of a council to inquire into the conduct of the pontiff with a view to his deposition Pope Alexander, having gained a friend in Charles VIII's minister Brionnet by offering him the position of cardinal, succeeded in defeating the machinations of his enemy.

 Pope Alexander died in 1503, and his son, Cesare

fell ill at the same time. Della Rovere did not support the candidature of Cardinal Piccolomini of Siena, who was (on 8 October 1503) consecrated under the name of Pope Pius III, but who died twenty-six days afterwards. Della Rovere then succeeded by dexterous diplomacy in tricking the weakened Cesare Borgia into supporting him. He was elected as Pope Julius II to the papal dignity by the nearunanimous vote of the cardinals Julius II set himself with a courage and determination rarely equalled, to rid himself of the various powers under which his temporal authority was almost overwhelmed.
Portrait of Julius by Raphael 1511

The pontificate of Julius II (150313)

The "Warrior Pope" who donned armour to lead troops in defence of papal lands, would forever change the Vatican. Dynamic but difficult, with an ego matched only by his vision, Julius was one of the great patrons of Renaissance art and architecture. In 1505, he took up the task left incomplete by Nicholas V (r. 144755), who had begun an expansion of the apse of Saint Peter's.

Rex Harrison as Pope Julius in the agony and the Ecstasy

 The new apse, Julius decided, would house his tomb

an enormous freestanding monument designed by Michelangelo. Julius soon decided to tear down the Constantinian basilica and rebuild Saint Peter's entirely, an idea met with opposition from parties who felt that the old church, which had existed almost from the dawn of Christianity, should be preserved.
Michelangelo drawing for Pope Juliuss Tomb

 The reconstruction of St. Peters Basilica, beginning in 1506.

When Julius took the papal office, the condition of the Church was extremely poor, and he took the opportunity to expand it, modernize it, and leave his impression forever on the Vatican. Julius hired Donato Bramante to design the Basilica, a prominent architect and artist of the day. Della Rovere wanted the splendour of the new Cathedral to inspire awe in the masses, produce support for Catholicism and prove to his enemies he was a pious and devoted man. Bramante wanted to build a Basilica that would surpass in beauty, invention, art and design, as well as in grandeur, richness and adornment all the buildings that had been erected in that city" (Scotti, 47).
Famous book - famous movie

 Enter the Sculptor

The tomb was originally commissioned in 1505 yet was not completed until 1545 in a much reduced scale: 1505 - Commissioned by Julius; Michelangelo spends 6 months choosing marble at Carrara 1506 - Michelangelo returns to Rome due to a lack of funds available for the project, and is dismissed by an angry and bitter Julius. Michelangelo moves to Florence until Julius threatens to wage war on the state unless he returns, which he does.

The Quarries of Carrara

 1508 -

It is rumoured that Bramante and Raphael, apparently jealous of Michelangelo's commission, convince the Pope that it is bad luck to have his tomb built in his lifetime, and that Michelangelo's time would be better spent on the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Vatican Palace (assuming that Michelangelo, primarily a sculptor, would have great difficulty in completing a painting of such scale).

Sistine chapel
The chapel takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who restored the old Cappella Magna between 1477 and 1480. During this period a team of painters that included Pietro Perugino, Sandro Botticelli and Domenico Ghirlandaio created a series of frescoed panels depicting the life of Moses and the life of Christ, offset by papal portraits above and trompe loeil drapery below. These paintings were completed in 1482, and on August 15, 1483,Sixtus IV consecrated the first mass in honor of Our Lady of the Assumption.

1. To be able to reach the ceiling, Michelangelo needed a support; the first idea was by Julius' favoured architect Donato Bramante, who wanted to build for him a scaffold to be suspended in the air with ropes. 2. However, Bramante did not successfully complete the task, and the structure he built was flawed. He had perforated the vault in order to lower strings to secure the scaffold. Michelangelo laughed when he saw the structure, and believed it would leave holes in the ceiling once the work was ended. He asked Bramante what was to happen when the painter reached the perforations, but the architect had no answer.
3. The matter was taken before the Pope, who ordered Michelangelo to build a scaffold of his own. Michelangelo created a flat wooden platform on brackets built out from holes in the wall, high up near the top of the windows. He lay on this scaffolding while he painted

1512 - Michelangelo
completes the Sistine Chapel ceiling project and returns to the tomb.

1513 - Between 1512 and 1513,

Michelangelo completes three sculptures for the project: the 'Dying Slave' and the 'Rebellious Slave' (now in the Louvre, Paris) and 'Moses' which is now a part of the final design. After these sculptures are completed, Julius dies and the new Pope Leo X abandons the project.

1516 - A new
contract is agreed between Michelangelo and Julius' heirs who demand the completion of the project.

 1520s -"The Genius of

Victory" 4 unfinished slaves, which now sit in the Academia in Florence with the David 1532 - A second new contract is signed by Michelangelo which involves a wall-tomb. 1542 - The wall-tomb is begun by Michelangelo after final details are negotiated with Julius' grandson. 1545 - The final tomb is completed, and installed in San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome; it includes the original 'Moses' sculpture along with 'Leah' and 'Rachel' (probably completed by Mich's assistants) on the lower level, and several other sculptures (definitively not by Michelangelo) on the upper level.

The slaves (four in Florence and two in Paris) were intended to be at the lower level of the tomb of Pope Julius II, while the Moses for the middle level. From the realized version of the tomb, erected in the church San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome after several redesign and reduction of the original plan, the slaves were left out.

Clement VII
Original name Giulio de' Medici (b.1478, Florence, d. 1534, Rome), pope from 1523 to 1534. Succeeded his cousin Pope leo (Giovanni di Lorenzo de Medici)

The Sistine Chapel's frescoes restoration began on November 7, 1984. The restoration complete, the chapel was re-opened to the public on April 8, 1994

Daniel Before and after.

 1527 - the Medici were again

expelled from Florence, and Michelangelo, who was politically a Republican in spite of his close ties with the Medici, took an active part in the 1527-29 war against the Medici up to the capitulation in 1530 (although in a moment of panic he had fled in 1529) and supervised Florentine fortifications During the months of confusion and disorder in Florence, when he was proscribed for his participation in the struggle, it would appear that he was hidden by the Prior of S. Lorenzo. A number of drawings on the walls of a concealed crypt under the Medici Chapel have been attributed to him, and ascribed to this period. After the reinstatement of the Medici he was pardoned, and set to work once more on the Chapel which was to glorify them until, in 1534 - left Florence and settled in Rome for the thirty years remaining to him.

Pope Paul III succeeded Clement VII (r. 153449)

Original name Alessandro Farnese (b. 1468, Canino, d. 1549, Rome), Italian noble who was the last of the Renaissance popes (reigned 1534-49) and the first pope of the Counter-Reformation. The worldly Paul III was a notable patron of the arts and at the same time encouraged the beginning of the reform movement that was to affect deeply the Roman Catholic Church in the later 16th century. He called the Council of Trent in 1545. would take over a commission ordered by Clement VII in the last year of his rule to have the artists fresco the altar wall of the chapel with the Last Judgment (153641). Michelangelo's apocalyptic vision depicts hundreds of human souls rising from the earth and ascending to heaven or being pulled into hell under the thunderous hand of Christ the Judge, rendered against a blue sky that suggests a dematerialization of the chapel wall.
Pope Paul III Titian 1543

Farnese Family
1. Italian family that ruled the duchy of Parma and Piacenza from 1545 to 1731. 2. The family became noted for its statesmen and soldiers, especially in the 14th 15th century, as well as by contracting politically useful marriages. 3. In 1545 Pope Paul III, a Farnese, detached Parma and Piacenza from the papal dominions and made them into duchies.

The last judgement

Where West wall of the Sistine chapel God Gods majesty rather than his fatherhood is seen here. The world Irredeemably corrupt, this was the orthodox viewpoint at that time. Christ Christ the Judge is represented as a great avenging Apollo The power of the painting comes from the artists tragic despairs.

Self portrait. He paints himself in as a flayed skin. An empty envelope of dead surface, drained of his personhood through artistic pressure. Saint Bartholomew He was martyred by being flayed alive. Through his sacrifice he is saved and this is Ms promise of salvation.

The Last Judgement

He began work on it in 1536 at the age of 61. In the interval there had been the Sack of Rome and the Reformation, and the confident humanism and Christian Neoplatonism of the Ceiling had curdled into the personal pessimism and despondency of the Judgement. It was unveiled in 1541 and caused a sensation equalled only by his own work of thirty years earlier, and was the only work by him to be as much reviled as praised, and only narrowly to escape destruction, though it did not escape the mutilation of having many of the nude figures 'clothed' after his death. Paul III, who had commissioned the Judgement, immediately commissioned two more frescoes for his own chapel, the Cappella Paolina; these were begun in 1542 and completed in 1550. They represent the Conversion of St Paul and the Crucifixion of St Peter.

The angels in the middle blow their horns to raise the dead. One of them holds the Book in which all has been written down and upon which Jesus will base his judgment. To the left, the chosen are escorted to Heaven by angels.

On the far left of the ring made by the blessed stand the women - saints, virgins and martyrs, along with the sibyls and heroines of the Old Testament. The gigantic figure, who seems to be protecting a young girl who kneels beside her, is usually identified as Eve.

At the bottom of the painting the boatman Charon can be seen ferrying the damned into hell. Charon is the mythical boatman of Roman and Greek mythology who ferried the damned to hell. He is featured in Dante's Devine Comedy, and also in Virgil's Eneid,

The detail shows a group of elect standing to the right of Christ. The figure holding the cross has been variously identified as the Cyrenean who came to Christ,s aid on the way to Calvary. Below to the right, the St Sebastian He clasps in his hand the arrows which are the symbol of his martyrdom. To the left, Catherine of Alexandria turns towards St Blasius. In the original picture both of them were entirely naked Scandalising contemporaries

St Catharine of Alexander

To the right, the damned are going to Hell. Michelangelo was inspired by Dantes Inferno. Charon (with oar) and his devils are leading the damned to judge Minos (with snake).

The damned being sucked down into hell.

They are reminiscent of the descriptions in Dante's Inferno, which Michelangelo knew by heart. The judgment passed on them is represented by the figure in the centre who seems to be suffering an inner torment Similar to that of the artist himself: despair, remorse, and the fear of physical and spiritual annihilation.

The Figure of Christ a mighty avenging Apollo

Jesus is seated in the middle with his mother Mary at his side.

The two large figures are Paul (left) and Peter (right, with keys in hand).
The figure underneath and to the right of Jesus is St. Bartholomew - a self-portrait by Michelangelo. In his hand, his mortal skin.

St Bartholomew with Michelangelo's self portrait

St Peter with his keys

Coversion of St Paul 1542

Crucifixion of St Peter 1546- 50

The last sculpture of the artist, it remained unfinished when he died. fashioned up to six days before his death: the Piet Rondanini This also marks the development undergone by the whole European culture: from the Renaissance, from the revival of Antiquity and the rediscovery of nature, to the splitting up of the Christian Church, the return of faith after the Counter Reformation and the Manneristic art of an El Greco.
According to Vasari, he had already begun to work on it in 1555, He destroyed the first version of this. This version, still unfinished at the artist's death, was probably begun not much later then 1555. The unity between Mother and Son is even more intimate. It is almost impossible to tell whether it is the Mother supporting the Son, or the Son supporting the Mother, overcome by despair. Both are in need of help, and both hold themselves up in the act of invocation and lament before the world and God.

Early Raphael 1.Raphaels teacher Pietro Perugino (14781523) 2.particular talent Had precocious talent from the beginning and an absorber of influences. Whatever he saw he took possession of always growing from what was taught him. 3.Peruginos Crucifixion with the Virgin etc... . was given to the church of San Gimigniano in 1497 when Raphael was only 14.

Raphael in Florence 1504-08.

Who were working there? Leonardo and Michelangelo both were working there. Who influenced him the most? Particularly by Leonardo Paintings take on a more serious graphic energy. Give an example of this influence Cowper Madonna Softness of contour and perfection of balance. The faces have the inwardness of Leonardo, made firm and unproblematic.

Michelangelo Holy Family Raphaels Alba Madonna.

1508 Raphael is summoned to Rome by Pope Julius II

1. He was to remain in the city serving successive popes until his death. 2. His first commission was the decoration of the Stanza della Segnatura, a room located on the upper floor of the Vatican palace and almost certainly used by the Pope as a library. 3. This room and the other rooms of the papal apartments already contained works by Piero della Francesca, Perugino and Luca Signorelli, but the Pope decided that these works would have to be sacrificed to accommodate the young artist's frescoes.

The four Stanze di Raffaello

1. ("Raphael's rooms") in the Palace of the Vatican form a suite of reception rooms, the public part of the papal apartments. 2. Julius commissioned frescoes for the interior of the Vatican palace. 3. He asked Raphael to paint four stanze, or rooms, for use as papal offices and reception spaces.

4. One of these, the Stanza della Segnatura, contains Raphael's famous fresco The School of Athens. Executed in 151011,

This view of the Stanza della Segnatura shows the Parnassus (Poetry) in the left lunette, and School of Athens (Philosophy) in the right. The popular but somewhat misleading name the School of Athens dates back only to the eighteenth century.

1. Below the tondo on the vault representing Philosophy, ancient philosophers have assembled in the School of Athens. 2. In the centre Plato and Aristotle carry books they have written: Timaeus and Ethics, respectively. 3. Their gestures are rich in meanings: Plato points upward, into the sphere of higher thoughts. 4. With his outstretched hand Aristotle is presumably alluding to his mastery of natural phenomena. 5. On the steps in front of Aristotle rests the Cynic philosopher Diogenes, with the cup that he tossed away.

Plato
1. Is the idealist he points upward towards divine inspiration. Human reason is rooted to the earth divine reason floats in the sky above the heads of the philosophers theologians and church fathers who try to interpret it. 2. Beyond him to the left are the philosophers who appealed to the intuition and to the emotions, 3. They are nearer to the figure of Apollo and they lead to the wall of Parnassus.

Aristotle
1. To the right is Aristotle the man of good sense holding out a moderating hand. 2. Beyond him are representatives of men engaging in rational activities logic grammar and geometry. 3. Raphael curiously places himself in this group next to an alleged portrait of Leonardo da Vinci

1. the painting offers a hint of what Bramante's church interior might have looked like, while not based on an actual building, all suggest Raphael's familiarity with Bramante's designs.

2. The painting depicts an imaginary gathering of Greek philosophers, many rendered as portraits of Raphael's contemporaries. 3. Plato and Aristotle preside over the group, the former probably painted in the likeness of Leonardo da Vinci.

1. Below them Euclid

1. Is a portrait of Bramante, the building representing Bramantes idea for a new St Peters. 2. Heraclitus is the figure in the foreground. 1. Michelangelos Sistine chapel ceiling. 2. Michelangelo would not have let anyone into the building whilst he was working, but Bramante had the key. 3. It is possible he let the young Raphael in. 4. The detail represents Heraclitus with the features of Michelangelo. 3. In the groups the seekers after revealed truth are arranged with the same regard for their relations with each other. 1. with the philosophic scheme of the whole room consists in grasping imaginatively all the is best in the thought of the time and these walls represent the summit of human achievement.

1: Zeno of Citium 2: Epicurus 3: Unknown (Frederik II of Mantua?) 4: Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius 5: Averroes 6: Pythagoras 7: Alcibiades or Alexander the Great 8: Antisthenes or Xenophon 9: Hypatia (Francesco Maria della Rovere or Raphael's mistress Margherita.) 10: Aeschines or Xenophon? 11: Parmenides 12: Socrates 13: Heraclitus (Michelangelo). 14: Plato holding the Timaeus ( Leonardo da Vinci). 15: Aristotle holding the Ethics 16: Diogenes of Sinope 17: Plotinus 18: Euclid or Archimedes with students( Bramante) 19: Strabo or Zoroaster (Baldassare Castiglione or Pietro Bembo). 20: Ptolemy R: Apelles (Raphael). 21: Protogenes (Il Sodoma or Perugino)

1. On the right side of the scene, Euclid who is explaining to his pupils a geometric diagram he has drawn on a slate. 2. It is thought that Raphael was here portraying the architect Bramante. 3. Behind stands the geographer Ptolemy, recognizable thanks to his crown and world sphere, and the astronomer Zoroaster, who is presenting the sphere of the stars.

Raphael appears as himself, listening to a lecture by the astronomer Ptolemy. Raphael's decoration of the stanze continued under Julius's successor, Leo X ( 151321). The rooms vary widely in subject matter, but invariably stress the pope's status as Christ's vicar on earth, the long history of the papacy, and its continuing protection by God.

This view of the Stanza della Segnatura shows the Cardinal Virtues in the left lunette; left of window: Justinian Presenting the Pandects to Trebonianus; right of window: Gregory IX Approving the Decretals; on the right wall: Disputation of the Holy Sacrament (Theology).

1. 2.

3. 4. 5. 6.

7.

The fresco can be seen as a portrayal of the Church Militant below, and the Church Triumphant above. A change in content between a study and the final fresco shows that the Disputa and The School of Athens can be seen as having a common theme: the revealed truth of the origin of all things, in other words the Trinity. This cannot be apprehended by intellect alone (philosophy), but is made manifest in the Eucharist. The painting is built around the monstrance containing the consecrated Host, located on the altar. Figures representing the Triumphant Church and the Militant Church are arranged in two semicircles, one above the other, venerate the Host. God the Father, bathed in celestial glory, blesses the crowd of biblical and ecclesiastical figures from the top of the composition. Immediately below, the resurrected Christ sits on a throne of clouds between the Virgin (bowed in adoration) and St John the Baptist (who, according to iconographic tradition, points to Christ). Prophets and saints of the Old and New Testament are seated around this central group on a semicircular bank of clouds similar to that which constitutes the throne of Christ. They form a composed and silent crowd and, although they are painted with large fields of colour, the figures are highly individuated.

1. At the bottom of the picture space, inserted in a vast landscape dominated by the altar and the eucharistic sacrifice, are saints, popes, bishops, priests and the mass of the faithful. 2. They represent the Church which has acted, and which continues to act, in the world, and which contemplates the glory of the Trinity with the eyes of the mind. 3. Following a fifteenth century tradition, Raphael has placed portraits of famous personalities, both living and dead, among the people in the crowd. 4. Bramante leans on the balustrade at left; the young man standing near him has been identified as Francesco Maria Della Rovere; Pope Julius II, who personifies Gregory the Great, is seated near the altar Dante is visible on the right, distinguished by a crown of laurel. 5. The presence of Savonarola seems strange, but may be explained by the fact that Julius II revoked Pope Alexander VI's condemnation of Savonarola (Julius was an adversary of Alexander, who was a Borgia).

Baldassare Castiglione 1. Humanist and a writer, was one of the most important men of the Italian Renaissance. 2. His popular book "Il cortegiano" (The Courtier) summed up the tastes and culture of the Renaissance, it gives insights into the thinking and culture at the court of Urbino at the turn of the 16th century, and is written in a style that is delightfully clear and precise. 3. Rubens admired Raphael's portrait of Castiglione so much that he copied it.

Giorgione Tempest 1505 1. Though many interpretations of the subject of this small painting have been suggested, none of them is totally convincing. Thus the mystery remains of what exactly the significance is of the fascinating landscape caught at this particular atmospheric moment, the breaking of a storm. Who are these figures? There is no recognisable genre to this theme. A naked women nursing her young? And a shepherd observing absorbed in private reveries, and every other detail, from the little town half-hidden and the course of the stream to the ancient ruins, the houses, the towers and the buildings in the distance .

2.

3.

4.

Giorgione - The Three Philosophers - 1509

The Three Philosophers

1. A work of the last couple of years of Giorgione's life, seems it was finished by Sebastiano del Piombo. 2. The subject matter has long been a source of disagreement. 3. In addition to interpret the painting as three philosophers (or three mathematicians) it is also assumed that the painting represents the three Magi 4. Whatever the precise theme, one can find three ages of man, three distinct temperaments, and three different nations

1. The painting probably began as a depiction of the the Magi, who are recorded in the Gospel as visitors who followed a star sign to Bethlehem 2. The three magi were apparently astrologers, a prominent form of divination even in Renaissance Italy. 3. The ages of man is seen from the seated youth on the left embarking on a study 1. He is dressed in Springtime simplicity, solitary dreaming and hopeful looking to the future 4. Held mentally and debated by the middle aged man. 1. Two elders seem to converse but also debate with themselves experience has made them more weighty and earnest 2. The central man has the appearance of a man of substance hands free for work 5. Stored in material form by the sage 1. Grasps a sky chart the astrologers guide to star divination

1. The three figures occupy the right hand side of the picture 2. The rest is the trees and rocky cave and beyond that, a sunny landscape with a village. 3. It suggests some metaphors 4. To venture into the unknown darkenss of the cave 5. To enter into the sunny meadow of familiarity beyond 6. Search within the spirit or enjoy the world with its rewards 7. Each man debates the same questions each with the attitude that time brings 8. Another suggestion is i. The Old man represents the timeless philosophy of Aristotle ii. The Middle man represents Islamic culture and learning iii. The young man represents modernistic natural philosophy we now call science.
9. The modern approach of Giorgione is the use of a personal motive that is not in line with pictorial conventions of the time. 10. This gives his work an element of mystery and is not easy to read.

The Adoration of the shepherds (Allendale nativity) Giorgione melts into Titian The focus of the painting is the evening light and this emphasis on light and landscape had a major influence on the work of Titian The Venetian emphasis on light is the overriding concern and it unifies all aspects of the painting and the mood is an overrall silence and stillness The world seems to have come to a standstill Parents child and Shepherds are lost in an eternal reverie a prolonged sunset that will never end Giorgione uses the element of light to portray a sense of spirituality to the world. He is able to portray the world as it is but transports us beyond its confines