What are the innovative features of Leonardo’s painting?
Leonardo researched in depth about optics and human vision. Leonardo introduced sfumato and implemented it in many of his works including the virgin of the rocks and the Mona Lisa. This technique allowed tones and colors to shade gradually and blend into one another which created softened outlines or hazy forms. This technique is one of the canonical painting modes of the Renaissance. Leonardo was also a genius in the way he knew human anatomy, his anatomical drawings and architecture art were beyond his time. Leonardo seemed to put his understanding of science into his works of art, this is seen in his paintings where you can see his organization of depicted space. Aside from his works of art his personality was truly mysterious and I believe this was because of how genius the man was, this shined through in his paintings.
Main influences in Raphael’s art, the portrait of Pietro Bembo
Raphael is regarded as one of the most influential artists who impacted the Renaissance through his unique painting techniques. His paints portrayed particular Renaissance virtues such as royalty, peace, and wisdom. The painting of the portrait of Pietro Bembo marked the highest level of Raphael’s paintings as an artist of the Renaissance. The portrait was attractive and had the exact shape and colour of the young Pietro Bembo. Raphael used specific dimensions to paint the portrait on oily wood. Being motivated by the Florentine painting style, which had replaced the Umbrian style, Raphael made this detailed portrait more beautiful by using different colours to paint the clothes. He used a charming conspicuous red colour on the clothes, making the picture appear natural (Lucco, 2000).
When the portrait of Pietro was completed, it raised questions whether some parts were the representation of Pietro. This is because Raphael painted the young Pietro before he became cardinal. As a result, many artists were influenced by this portrait and began drawing replicas of Pietro Bembo. In reality, Raphael had been influenced by the pictures drawn by Leonard Madonna that depicted humanism, simplicity, and intimacy. This can be seen in the portrait of Pietro, especially the way the hands are rested on the parapet. Since then, many artists have drawn inspiration from the picture of Pietro Bembo.
Differences between southern Italian (Florence and Rome) and northern Italian (Venice) painting during the High Renaissance.
The artists’ paintings from Florence and Rome were carefully done after thorough preliminary research on various designs. In other words, the artists from Southern Italy were more architects than mere painters. As seen from work Raphael, artists used specific measurements and ratios to determine how the final drawing would appear. The idea was to paint a picture that is very attractive and resembles the real stature.
On the other hand, in northern Italy, famously known as Venice, the artists preferred style over details and logic. They were not focusing on representing the human figure in their drawings, unlike the artists of Rome and Florence. Although Venetian artists would plan before drawing the final picture, they did not give the preparation stage too much attention the way southern artists did (Horton, 2021). They believed that there was always room for modifications. While the Roman and Florentine architects emphasized strict poses and narrative in their paintings, Venetians focused on literary features such as colour, passion, and poetic styles.
It is believed that Roman and Florentine artists (Northern Renaissance) used the choreography technique in their artworks. This involved systematic and detailed analysis and descriptions, especially on geographical districts. This system was derived from ancient Greek civilizations and then manifested in Northern Renaissance artistic works and culture where people were keen on details whenever they were painting images. On the other hand, the Venetians used ancient Roman and Greek ideologies in their works which were focused more on appearance rather than details.
The post What are the innovative features of Leonardo’s painting? Leonardo researched in depth appeared first on PapersSpot.
