Anna,+Carly,+and+Caroline's+Renaissance+Art

__The Virgin of Rocks, Leonardo Divinc__i The Virgin of Rocks was the first painting that renowned artist Leonardo Divinci completed. This painting is a great example of Leonardo Divinci's ability to take the norm, or the status quo, and put a new spin on it, which was a growing trend in Renaissance artists. It is a painting of The Holy Family in a cave, as was the norm for pictures of them. But on the other hand, he uses a dimmer lighting scheme which was never used in paintings of this nature before. Divinci used his creativity and innovativeness to put a twist on this original drawing. - Anna Greenhall



__THE CREATION OF ADAM__ The Creation of Adam, which is a painting by Michelangelo, is actually a detail from the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The painting shows the hand of god in the intention to show that gods outstretched hand along with the creators of Adam is to give the physical creation of humanity by the touch of the fingertips. The people in the background of god are there to show the Divine into the soul of a man. Adams beauty is to confirm the words of the Old Testament in the representation of man evolving into god’s image of the non existing humanity of which he wishes to create by creating Adam. A good technique that Michelangelo used in this painting, and which is something he is known for being good at, is to tell a story with his painting by using the scenery around the central focus of the painting. Though he is telling a story with the scenery, the scenery is what lets the imagination run wild for the viewer, thus letting the viewer construct the meaning of his painting. - Carly Cassity



The bronze statue, David by Donatello is a vision of the end of the battle between David and Goliath. It displays David, the underdog standing atop Goliath, the beast’s head holding Goliath’s sword and wearing nothing but a pair of boots and a hat. There is much deep meaning behind each detail of the statue; however, in its entirety, it is significant to the renaissance time period because of its originality. It had been the first large-scale bronze statue of a naked person in the renaissance. This individuality defined the rebirth of the society because it strongly demonstrated the emphasis on new and creative ideas of the renaissance. In art, especially, this was a time for taking risks and exploring ideas that strayed from the norm. With David, Donatello integrated classical Greek sculpture with his own style. He used this piece to express his innovative opinions. For example, he contrasts David’s nudity with the heavy armor of Goliath further establishing that it was the strength inside of David and will of the Gods that lead to the defeat of Goliath. Also, Donatello gave him a rather feminine looking physique, which also contrasted with the strength burliness of Goliath. Donatello’s representation of David differed from many other previous artists and in addition, sparked the ideas of future pieces like David by Michelangelo. This piece of art by Donatello fit in perfectly with the ideas of exploration, expressiveness, creativity, individuality, and rebirth that are associated with the renaissance time period. - Caroline Miller

__Group Paragraph__ In all of the artwork our group has covered, one thing in common is that there is nudity in every picture. In the Creation of Adam and The Bronze Statue of David, the main characters are nude, while in The Virgin of Rocks, there are two minimal characters in the painting that are nude. Nudity was very significant in the Renaissance time period because it had never been shown in art in any time periods before then. When artists depicted nude people in their work, they were challenging the status quo and setting new standards and exploring new creative outlets. The emphasis on individual achievement and individualism drove these artists to try something different, such as finding new ideals, much like the rest of society during this time period. The Renaissance, or "rebirth" also lead to growth. Each of these paintings related to the growth that sparked during the time period in different ways. David, by Donatello related to said growth because it signified the story of the underdog winning in battle against the great beast. This sparked the idea that any average, or normal person can challenge themselves to great heights and rise up. The Creation of Adam related to growth because Adam was the first human on Earth, this was significant during the Renaissance because the Renaissance was "the rebirth" of society. The Virgin of Rocks symbolized the Renaissance's changing of status quo because it showed a very well- known, old tale, but in a different way than it had been depicted before. All in all, these three paintings all are very prevalent to the time period they were created in and show how the Renaissance time period challenged the status quo and focused more on the individual.

Bibliography: "Creation of Adam." //Musei Vaticani - Sito Ufficiale//. Web. 20 Jan. 2010. <[|http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/x-Schede] [|/CSNs/CSNs_V_StCentr_06.html]>. "Donatello's David." //Guy Shaked: Biography//. Web. 20 Jan. 2010. <[]>. "Leonardo da Vinci." //World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras//. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 19 Jan. 2010. <[]>. "The Creation of Adam, Michelangelo" ABC-CLIO, 2010. 20 Jan. 2010. <[]>. "Statue of David - Michelangelo and Donatello." //Statue.com | Home and Garden Statues, Fountains, and Statuary//. Web. 20 Jan. 2010. <[]>. Ward, Roger. "Donatello." //World Book Student.// World Book, 2010. Web. 20 Jan. 2010.