Renaissance Artists

Mona Lisa Information

Mona Lisa

• Believed to have been started in 1503 c.e. but he never made it public. It was discovered in his studio after his death in 1519 c.e.
• It is one of the world's most famous paintings
• Oil painting on a Poplar (type of wood) panel.
• The woman in the painting is believed to be Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a cloth merchant (not a famous or even wealthy person).
• Historians are not 100% sure of this, other ideas about who is in the painting include... His mother, girlfriend, or even a self portrait of himself as a woman.

• Use the link below for additional information about the Mona Lisa.
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mona-Lisa-painting

The Last Supper

The Last Supper

• Best example of Da Vinci's use of symmetry and anatomy in his paintings.
• Started in 1495 c.e. and finished in 1498 c.e.
• Painted on the wall of the Dominican Monastery Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, Italy.
• The painting is a depiction of a scene mentioned in the gospels where Jesus declares that one of the Apostles will betray him.
• Last Supper is a Tempera/Oil Mural on dry plaster (Not a Fresco which is on wet plaster) Da Vinci worked too slow to paint on wet plaster. Painting on dry plaster was a new technique and experimental. It did not work out well.

• Use the links below for more information on the Last Supper.
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Last-Supper-fresco-by-Leonardo-da-Vinci
• https://www.leonardodavinci.net/the-last-supper.jsp
• https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/early-europe-and-colonial-americas/renaissance-art-europe-ap/a/leonardo-last-supper

Saint Jerome In the Wilderness

Saint Jerome in the Wilderness

• Unfinished work by Divici believed to have been started in 1480 c.e.
• Was not discovered until after his death
• Oil painting on a Walnut (type of wood) plank. Was cut into five pieces after the discovery.
• All five pieces were recovered and put back together, today they are displayed at the Vatican Museum.
• The painting is of Saint Jerome in advanced age during his retreat to the Syrian desert, where he lived the life of a hermit.
• Saint Jerome is credited with translating the Bible to Latin.

Sistine Chapel Information

• Took four years to complete
• 1508 - 1512
• Fresco - Painting on wet plaster
• Not a single painting but a collection of paintings, all illustrating stories from the bible.
• The complete work is 133 feet long and 46 feet wide.

Sistine Chapel

Pieta Information

• Sculpture by Michelangelo 1498 - 1499
• Currently at St. Peter Basilica, Vatican City
• Sculpted from a single block of marble
• Only piece of art that Michelangelo ever signed.
• Depicts the body of Jesus on the lap of Mary after the crucifixion.
• Laszlo Toth - Attacked the sculpture (1972)

Pieta info

Zuccone information

• Worked on from 1423 - 1425
• Zuccone translates to idiot or dimwit
• Best known for its realism or naturalism
• It is believed to Donatello's favorite (this is the one he talked to the most)

Zuccone

Transfiguration

• Started in 1516 and completed in 1520
• The last painting that Raphael completed
• Is believed to be the most famous oil painting in the world.
• The painting illustrates two episodes narrated in succession in the Gospel according to Matthew: the Transfiguration above, with Christ in glory between the prophets Moses and Elijah, and below, in the foreground, the meeting of the Apostles with the obsessed youth who will be miraculously cured by Christ on his return from Mount Tabor.

Transfiguration