Week 9-- Video Reviews

Explain why you selected each of the FOUR videos you choose from the selection listed above.
The four videos that I chose are “The Drawings of Michelangelo”, “Albrecht Durer: Image of a Master”, “Leonardo da Vinci: The Mind of the Renaissance” and “ La Primavera (Botticelli)”. I chose the video about Michelangelo because based on the text I found him to be very interesting as well as Leonardo da Vinci. I would love to learn more about them and their works of art. I Chose “Albrecht Durer: Image of a Master” because he was another artist who stood out to me as well. He was an Italian artist and I thought it would be interesting to learn about someone from my ethnicity. “La Primavera (Botticelli)” sounded interesting to me; therefore I wanted to know what it was about.


For each video list/discuss the key concepts you learned.
“The Drawings of Michelangelo”
My art students can benefit greatly from comparing Michelangelo’s preparatory drawings to his finished works, but when viewing them together it is virtually impossible in a museum setting. The drawings that remained from Michelangelo, revealed his perfectionism and his amazing techniques. Michelangelo denied the influence of Ghirlandaio with his work, but there was very much similarity between these two artists and their works of art. Michelangelo taught himself to sculpt. He had a signature piece which was known as The “Pieta”. This was a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture which is housed in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. It was the first of number of works of the same theme by Michelangelo. He had such great knowledge for the human anatomy. “David” was the first colossal marble sculpture to be carved in Italy since antiquity. This is a very well known piece as well. Examining his draw3ings reveals the emphasis on the solar plexus of the human figures. With examining these closer, the figures show the almost impossibility of the torque of the artists’ figure as well as the unnatural emphasis of underlying structure. Michelangelo begins to paint the ceilings of the Sistine chapel in 1508; this was one of his most difficult tasks to accomplish. In 1516, he was called by the Medici pope to design for the family church. He was very religious and therefore his intensely felt Christian faith was his driving force. He created crucifixion drawings, exploring his conflicting feelings of hope and dread. This provided insight into Michelangelo’s tools, techniques, stylistic evolution, and sexuality. He was a very talented and well known artist who has impacted artists from this time until today!

 “Albrecht Durer: Image of a Master”
Albrecht Durer was a great Italian artist from the Northern Renaissance. He was an Italian artist. He was intrigued by the process of aging and reveals his gift for portraiture. He transcends Medieval Gothic art and opens Germany to the Italian Renaissance. The Renaissance forms and ideas were introduced into a Germany still dominated by the Gothic tradition. Durer was considered to be the first true landscape artists, which was influenced by the Venetian artists. His paintings and woodcuts evolved as he researches perspective and searches for perfect form. He gave such a visual expression to the Protestant Revolution in Germany. He did mass printing of his work, which was supported by Martin Luther. The influence of his father, a goldsmith; Anthony Koberger, Durer’s godfather and one of Germany’s finest printers and publishers; painter and illustrator Michael Wolgemun.  

 “Leonardo da Vinci: The Mind of the Renaissance”
This video shows the life and work of Leonardo da Vinci. He was classified as a fascinating genius. It showed his birth in Tuscany to his final years in Cloux. When he was younger he had such a great desire for understanding. He was a great observer, his artistic sensitivities developed over time. Da Vinci, mastered the persepcitive and proportions of man and animals, he became a good architect and drew from life. His drawings were based off of technical problems and philosophical considerations. When he turned twenty years old, he was accepted into the painter’s guild. His creative imagination served as the display of the Medici court. He was a painter, a sculptor, an architect, an engineer, and a student of anatomy, physiology, botany, architecture, aeronautics, and other disciplines. He studied machines of his day to improve them and to invent more complex ones. Leonardo da Vinci was sent to the court in Milan as a musician by Lorenzo de Medici. He presented himself as a military engineer who is armed with intricate drawings of weapons and machinery. He organized entertainments and shows at the court of Milan and experiments with the mechanical inventions and theatrical machinery. He developed urban projects in the city of Milan. He wanted to understand the essence of a man; therefore he carried out dissections of the human body and he recorded his findings. As a painter, proportion and balance was key to his paintings. He quoted “Beauty and harmony are the divine nature”. When he was fifty years old, he returned to Florence, Italy. The public wanted to see his paintings so bad. “Mona Lisa” was a very famous painting of this time. It was his true masterpiece. Leonardo da Vinci built canals as being an engineer. He moved to the Vatican in 1513. At the age of sixty-seven he died in 1519. He was known as the “Renaissance Man”.

 “La Primavera (Botticelli)”.
This was subject to numerous interpretations about its meaning for centuries. There were nine identifiable figures standing in a lush and fertile meadow. Botticelli apprentices under Fra Filippo Lippi from whom he learned the art of depicting female movement through drapery techniques. “La Primavera” is a secular painting that evokes religious sentiments. Historians speculate that the painting was originally commissioned for the marriage of Lorenzo’s nephew and his young bride. The theme of rape and violence was common in paintings commissioned for the newly married. “La Primavera” shows that adversity ends in a happy marriage, a suitable message for the young married couples. He painted with egg tempura, which was a technique that gives his paintings their peculiar ethereal magic. These paintings were translucent. Critics propose that understanding the painting means finding the key that links all the nine figures together, a task that engages not only the eye, but the mind as well. This was one of his well known talents in his paintings. In 1743 the last Medici died and gives the painting to the city of Florence. There was a growing interest in “La Primavera” with the earliest mass-produced art. Fine art reproduction are in high demand.


 How do the videos relate to the readings in the text?
The videos give more depth rather than just the readings from the textbook. You are able to see what really went on rather than trying to picture it during that time period.


What is your opinion of the films? How do they add depth to understanding of the readings and art concepts?
I thought that these videos were very interesting and it really helped me understand these topics a lot more. I felt as if I learned a lot more about these artists and their famous works and the history of them. The videos go in more detail than the text, therefore it was easier to understand and it was better to actually see it rather than just reading it and trying to visualalize it. I feel like watching the videos give a better understanding.