On Monday, February 26, our focus centered on High Renaissance in Italy, specifically discussing Leonardo da Vinci and his strong influence on many artists to come. Before speaking about Leonardo, we looked at Botticelli and Raphael. Both artists incorporated Ancient Greek myths, historical events, and philosophers. Raphael’s The School of Athens displays Plato versus Aristotle is necessary to discuss and analyze. Plato points upward to the sky, referring to the platonic school’s ideal principal to achieve excellence. Aristotle, on the other hand, holds down his palm, representing the Aristotelian philosophy, the principle of observing life through observation and using one’s senses to gain experiences and new ideas/concepts.
Moving on in class, we focused on Italian painter and polymath, Leonardo da Vinci and his focus on macrocosmic and microcosmic worlds, believing mathematics was the “absolute paradigm of knowledge” (Powerpoint from class). Leonardo drew great interest from the anatomy of human bodies and the geometrical design of the shape of the human body. Leonardo specifically portrayed this interest through sketches, such as the Virtruvian Man. By developing the three aspects of painting: pictorial, graphic, and speculative, it displayed his love for abstraction and deep thinking. Of course we all know Leonardo da Vinci as the painter of the famous Mona Lisa, however this class, and Professor Plesch specifically, opened me up to the complex story behind Leonardo’s paintings, and ultimately why Leonardo serves as a paragon of the bridge between mathematics and painting. Leonardo was looked up to so much by society that when his Madonna of the Rocks was never completed after starting it in 1483, Leonardo was sued by the confraternity for not finishing the work. Finally the painting depicting the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, young Jesus, and the Angel Uriel, was finished in 1508.
Lastly, I would like to recount our discussion on the Mona Lisa. Leonardo utilizes a technique that contrasts light and dark, known as chiaroscuro and a technique portraying tones and colors shading into one another, known as sfumato. The painting depicts Lisa Gherardini, a rich Florentine woman. Ms. Gherardini’s dress is simple, and she is free of jewelry (drastically different motive than that of many portraits in which are purposeful to show wealth). The smile of Ms. Gherardini is the most well known feature of the woman. Her grin is mischievous, yet simple, calm, and welcoming. The background of the work displays a complex landscape, and upon closer look, an expansive greenery. Given what I have learned about Leonardo, I wonder whether it was his choice solely to provide a woman without displaying her wealthy class or if Lisa Gherardini had any say of what she wore and what her expression was for the painting. I could spend a whole week on this incredible work and what the story and feelings behind this work consist of.