Michelangelo Buonarotti

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Michelangelo Buonarotti – the Renaissance Artist

6. March 2023 Harald Sack

On March 6, 1475, Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was born. Michelangelo exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. He is considered to be the greatest living artist during his lifetime, he has since been described as one of the greatest artists of all time. Despite making few forays beyond the arts, his versatility in the disciplines he took…

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Raphael and his famous School of Athens

6. April 2022 Harald Sack

On March 28 or April 6, 1483, Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, known as Raphael was born.[4] His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Michelangelo [5] and Leonardo da Vinci,[2] he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period. Apprenticeship Raphael was born in the small but…

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El Greco – Precursor of Expressionism and Cubism

7. April 2021 Harald Sack

On April 7, 1614, Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance Doménikos Theotokópoulos, widely known as El Greco, passed away. A major master of Spanish Mannerism and the fading Renaissance, he painted mainly pictures with religious themes and portraits. His painting developed away from naturalism toward an individual style, as he attempted to find a new expression for spiritual phenomena, and in his later work increasingly referred back to his…

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Peter Paul Rubens and the Baroque Extravaganza

28. June 2020 Harald Sack

On June 28, 1577, German-born Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens was born. He is best known for his extravagant Baroque style that emphasised movement, colour, and sensuality. “The light falls so unfavorably on the altar that one can hardly discern the figures or enjoy the beauty of color and the delicacy of the heads and draperies which I executed with great care from nature and completely successfully according to the judgement…

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Donato Bramante and the Invention of the High Renaissance Style

11. April 2020 Harald Sack

On April 11, 1514, Italian architect Donato Bramante passed away. He introduced Renaissance architecture to Milan and the High Renaissance style to Rome, where his plan for St. Peter’s Basilica [3] formed the basis of design executed by Michelangelo.[1] His Tempietto (San Pietro in Montorio) marked the beginning of the High Renaissance in Rome (1502) when Pope Julius II appointed him to build a sanctuary over the spot where Peter was allegedly…

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Antonio Allegri da Correggio – Master Painter of the Italian High Renaissance

5. March 2020 Harald Sack

On March 5, 1534, Antonio Allegri da Correggio, painter of the Italian High Renaissance, passed away. A master of chiaroscuro, he was responsible for some of the most vigorous and sensuous works of the 16th century. In his use of dynamic composition, illusionistic perspective and dramatic foreshortening, Correggio prefigured the Baroque art of the 17th century and the Rococo art of the 18th century. Correggio’s Early Years The birthplace of Correggio, after…

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Giotto di Bondone – Making a Decisive Brake with the prevalent Style

8. January 2020 Harald Sack

On January 8, 1337, Italian painter and architect Giotto di Bondone passed away. He is regarded as the decisive pioneer of the Italian Renaissance (Rinascimento). Geniuses are Born as such Sources indicate that Giotto grew up in Florence as the son of the blacksmith Bondone. Most experts believe that Giotto was his real name. Others think that it is a short form of Ambrogio (Ambrogiotto) or Angelo (Angiolotto). His life is attested…

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Benvenuto Cellini – Master of Mannierism

3. November 2019 Harald Sack

On November 3, 1500, Italian goldsmith, sculptor, draftsman, soldier, musician, and artist Benvenuto Cellini was born. Cellini was one of the most important artists of Mannerism. He is remembered for his skill in making pieces such as the Cellini Salt Cellar and Perseus with the Head of Medusa. Cellini’s Family and Youth Benvenuto Cellini was born in Florence, the son of the architect and musician Giovanni Cellini and his wife Maria Elisabetta…

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Titian – the Sun Amidst Small Stars

27. August 2019 Harald Sack

On August 27, 1576, Italian painter Tiziano Vecelli, better known as Titian, passed away. The most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school, he was recognized by his contemporaries as “The Sun Amidst Small Stars“. Titian was one of the most versatile of Italian painters, equally adept with portraits, landscape backgrounds, and mythological and religious subjects. His painting methods, particularly in the application and use of colour, would exercise a profound influence…

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Giorgio Vasari and his Foundations of Art-Historical Writing

30. July 2019 Harald Sack

On July 30, 1511, Italian Renaissance painter, architect, writer and historian Giorgio Vasari was born. He is best known today for his Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, considered the ideological foundation of art-historical writing. One of the Lesser Known Renaissance Artists From all the great Renaissance artist, Giorgio Vasari might be one of the lesser known. The reason for this might be that although an artist of considerable…

Michelangelo Buonarotti