Renaissance Painters

Leonardo da Vinci (April 15, 1452 May 2, 1519)

Leonardo got his start as an artist around 1469, when his father apprenticed him to the fabled workshop of Verocchio. Verocchio's specialty was perspective, which artists had only recently begun to get the hang of, and Leonardo quickly mastered its challenges. In fact, Leonardo quickly surpassed Verocchio, and by the time he was in his early twenties he was downright

Some of the Famous Paintings of da Vinci

Mona Lisa

whose facial expression has been frequently described as enigmatic. The ambiguity of the subject's expression, the monumentality of the composition, and the subtle modeling of forms and atmospheric illusionism were novel qualities that have contributed to the continuing fascination and study of the work.

The Last Supper

is a 15th centurymural painting in Milan created by Leonardo da Vinci for his patron DukeLudovico Sforza and his duchess Beatrice d'Este. It represents the scene ofThe Last Supper from the final days of Jesus.

Michelangelo Buonarroti 1475-1564

was one of the most important artists of the Italian Renaissance, a period when the arts and sciences flourished. Michelangelo became an apprentice to prominent Florentine painter,Domenico Ghirlandaio at the age of 12, but soon began to study sculpture instead. He attracted the attention and patronage of Lorenzo de Medici, who was ruler of Florence until 1492.

At age 23, Michelangelo completed his magnificent Pieta, a marble statue that shows the Virgin Mary grieving over the dead Jesus.

Some Works of Michelangelo

The Creation of Adam

a section of Michelangelo's fresco Sistine Chapel ceiling painted circa 1511. It illustrates the Biblical story from the Book of Genesis in which God the Father breathes life into Adam, the first man.

Manchester Madonna

is an unfinished painting by Michelangelo in the National Gallery, London. It is one of the four panel paintings by the artist, dating to Michelangelo's first period in Rome. The scene depicted is the meeting of the Virgin Mary and the Christ child with Christ's cousin St John the Baptist.

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (April 6 or March 28, 1483 April 6, 1520)

better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.

Some Works of Raphael

Madonna and Child

The Madonna and Child is a painting finished around 1504 by the Italian High Renaissance painter Raphael. It is housed in the Norton Simon Museum of Art inPasadena, California.

Coronation of the Virgin

"The Crowning of the Virgin was painted for the altar of the Oddi Chapel in the church of S. Francesco al Prato in Perugia. In 1797 it was confiscated by the French and transferred to Paris. When it was returned after 1815, Pius VII (pontiff from 1800 to 1823) had it placed, instead of in its original setting, in the new Vatican Art Gallery.

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