The Archetypal Renaissance Man Contenders

By Darren Hartley


Among the Michelangelo paintings are two of the most influential works in fresco in Western art history. These are the scenes from Genesis on the Sistine chapel ceiling and the Last Judgment on the Sistine Chapel altar wall in Rome. These works are renowned inspite of Michelangelo's low opinion of painting.

An Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet and engineer, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simon is also famous for two sculptures, aside from his Michelangelo paintings, These sculptures, completed before he turned thirty, are the Pieta and the David.

As an architect, he revolutionized classical architecture by using plaster as the main element in his design of the dome of St Peter's Basilica also in Rome.

The Michelangelo sketches are among the earliest of Michelangelo paintings. The volume of these surviving sketches, together with correspondences and reminiscences, make Michelangelo the best documented artist from the 16th century.

Michelangelo has been considered for the title of archetypal Renaissance man based on his versatility in the disciplines of the highest order. His fellow Italian and rival, Leonardo da Vinci is his sole competitor for the title. Despite making only a low number of forays beyond the arts, Michelangelo was still able to acquire this discipline versatility. The Renaissance man represents a person whose seeming endless curiosity is matched only by his inventive skills.

Among the most famous, most reproduced and most parodied portrait and religious paintings of all time are the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, two Da Vinci paintings and the Creation of Adam, one of many Michelangelo paintings. They occupy that unique position in the art world.

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath, having been a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer, one time or the other. However, it is primarily for his Da Vinci paintings that he was renowned for.

Other than his iconic Vitruvian Man drawing, only 15 Da Vinci paintings were able to survive the passing of the centuries. This phenomenon, though largely due to Leonardo's persistent and more often than not disastrous experimentation with new techniques, is also attributable to his chronic procrastination of his own accomplishments.

However, these few Da Vinci paintings comprise a contribution to later generations of artists, together with his notebooks, containing drawings, scientific diagrams and thoughts on the nature of painting. Again, this contribution is only rivalled by the corresponding contribution of his chief rival contemporary, Michelangelo.

It was after studying in the studio of a renowned Florentine painter, that the earlier Da Vinci paintings came to life. The painter we owed this debt to is Verrocchio.




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