High Renaissance Research Paper

The High Renaissance was the brief period that started in 1495 and ended with the passing of Leonardo da Vinci in 1519 and Raphael in 1520. While the Early Renaissance served as the foundation that High Renaissance artists built their work on, there was no single unified style during this period. The lack of a defining style during this time period is shown through the work of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo. Prior to the Cinquecento, humanist scholars and art patrons shared the view of ancient Greek philosopher Plato that poetry was the highest form of art (Kleiner 624). In a departure from this view, artists and sculptors of the Cinquecento reached the high status held by poets and were able to become “international celebrities”

However, Michelangelo’s style was a great departure from the rest of his High Renaissance contemporaries. He rejected the mathematical approach of creating perfect measurements and instead argued that beauty in art should be based on what is seen by the eyes and not based on perfect proportions achieved through calculations. Michelangelo’s belief about the beauty of art is clearly shown in his sculptures. While Mary is too large in relation to the adult Christ cradled in her lap, the proportional inaccuracy of Michelangelo’s Pieta is overlooked due to his stunning work in “[transforming] marble into flesh, hair, and fabric” (Kleiner 634). In fact, Michelangelo was consistent in that he was less concerned with “facial features and expressions than for the overall human form” (639). Michelangelo conveyed expressive strength through positioning of the body and great attention to anatomy that is characteristic of his complex and large style, seen especially in his towering statue of David and expansive Sistine Chapel ceiling. The Sistine Chapel, his most famous work, was created under the direction of Pope Julius II, further cementing the assertion that the center of Italian art had shifted to the Rome and the Catholic