Da Vinci Vs Michelangelo

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Lisa Gioconda gazes serenely into the distance, almost unaware of the comical little artist for whom she has been posing for so long. Mona Lisa was painted during the Age of Reason. Coming directly after the Medieval Period of superstition and lore, the Age of Reason sought to liberate people from their spiritual preconceptions. Artists during this period did not emphasize emotion; instead, they focused on painting thoughtful paintings or sculptures. The Age of Reason affected two of the great masters especially: Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci. Their art was affected in three ways: their strive for perfection, the humanness of their art, and the lack of emotion in their art.

Perfection was signature of the Age of Reason. According to philosophers of that age, man could be perfect. They did not see themselves as fallible creatures. Devoted to these ideals, Da Vinci never gave his Mona Lisa to its commissioner during his lifetime. He kept it as a constant work in progress. Michelangelo devoted only a year of his life to Pieta; and, compared to Da Vinci’s lifetime work, it would seem Michelangelo was not as perfection oriented. However, the Pieta is not large and he devoted every day of that year into her making. Perfection seemed attainable to the artists of this age. …show more content…

During the Age, attention was taken from God and placed on man. Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is parallel to Michelangelo’s David. Da Vinci desired Mona Lisa to be the perfect woman. In the Pieta, Michelangelo sculpted the dead Jesus being held by a larger than life Mary. Michelangelo did not draw attention to Jesus, but Mary, going so far as to carve his name across her chest. The artists reflected the philosophers of the time in their rejection of a personal God, and their emphasis on