Michelangelo...

The Peita is a masterpiece. The David a work of wonder. But the Sistine Chapel…what’s the word, fantastico!

Michelangelo exploited his cunning stylistic approach to the human body and story telling. His frescos look like sculptures. The bodies have a superior 3-d quality. I’m floored by the number of figures he incorporated into the interior; over 300. How does someone, especially someone who doesn’t see himself as a painter, conceive of this? I can barely get watercolors by numbers right. Here he skillfully tells the story of ancient Christianity with bright and vivid colors and vibrant active scenes. His prowess with foreshortening is second to none. He manipulated light and shadow like a sculptor creating volume where there really shouldn’t be any. But it’s real, it’s believable and it’s splendid.

The restoration, though controversial, truly restored Michelangelo’s vision. He meant for the vaulted ceiling to proceed not retreat. A pleasure to study and another gem to see on my Grand Tour.

http://users.wfu.edu/boguka5/FYS100/sistineceiling.htm
http://www.scuolarestauro.it/sistine_chapel.html
http://www.asds.org/2005A/Ariana/mainpage.htm

I’m certain Leonardo had x-ray vision or, a sense of what lied beneath; not just the physical but the emotional and intellectual too. He understood how to represent the body, the scene, and the context of a figure. He was a master of perspective, the workings of space and setting. The antithesis of Michelangelo, Leonardo worked in colors and applied brush techniques reminiscent of the Flanders school. Dark, misty, and smoky, Leonardo knew how to create a mysterious atmosphere and how to charge a figure with emotion or energy. He could capture the essence of the individual ala Mona Lisa. Whereas Michelangelo still built his figures upon the idealized Greco-Roman human form. This Master was a delight. As for seeing Lisa up close, the secret is to use your elbows!

http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/
http://www.drawingsofleonardo.org/
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/vasari1.html