Renaissance+-+Group+1

In many of his pieces, Pieter Bruegel the Elder uses many techniques and skills to make more sophisticated pieces of art like from the ancient Greek and Roman world. In his painting, The Hunters in the Snow, Bruegel uses many elements of art that are not seen in the Middle Ages. He brings sophistication and realism to this piece. **Condense first three sentences into one. The main idea is the emphasis on realism.** Painted on canvas with oil paints, Bruegel uses detail to capture every little part of the picture that a viewer will see. This painting is a third person view, with the view looking down upon the people and the landscape. One thing about Pieter Bruegel is that he usually captures in his paintings the life of peasants and commoners of Netherlands. He does not show profound events happening, just mountains covering the background while the area below is a grand display of houses and people going in and out of daily activities. **How does this relate to realism?** In the foreground to the bottom left-hand corner is seen a group of men with their dogs. Here is where Bruegel depicts realism in this piece. It shows the small threesome trudging along on a snowy hill down to the village with their skinny dogs; the men have their backs hunched over as well as the dogs, and they all look very skinny, as if they have been on their journey for a long time. His paintings were said to be from more of his memory, for he grew up in Netherlands, in a village like the one in his painting. This painting is a part of a series of paintings called "The Series of the Months". His detail came from his insight of putting emphasis on the landscape instead of the seasons change on the world.

Sources:

1. "Peter Bruegel the Elder." __Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.__ No Post Date. 13 January 2010. <[]>. 2. "The Series of the Months." __Web Gallery of Art.__ No Post Date. 13 January 2010. <[]>.



The Last **S**upper**,** which is a famous painting created by Leonardo Da Vinci during the Renaissance, greatly signifies two of the main themes of the Renaissance. The first theme is the religion of Christianity, and the other main theme is the realistic feature the painting has to it. **GOOD INTRO** During the Renaissance, Christianity was the dominant religion and is depicted in the Last Supper. In the painting of the Last Supper it depicts **awkward wording** Jesus telling his disciples that one of them will betray him, and this moment is a very key moment in the religion of Christianity. This is where the theme of realistic paintings comes into the picture because during the Middle Ages paintings and sculptures were not nearly as detailed as they were in the Greco-Roman World or during the Renaissance because during the Middle Ages the way of life and the social hierarchy didn’t allow for job specialization especially in the fine arts. But since during the Renaissance there was the option for people to specialize in jobs and those people including Leonardo Da Vinci were able to devote themselves to art and thus allowed more realistic paintings and sculpting to occur. In the Last Supper, the emotions depicted on the disciples face are very realistic and life like. The religion of Christianity combined with the realism in the Last Supper depicts the Renaissance World to almost perfection.

Sources:

1. "Leonardo Da Vinci The Last Supper" About.com:History. No Post Date. 13 January 2010. http://arthistory.about.com/cs/leonardo/a/last_supper.htm 2. "The Last Supper A study of the Painting by Leonardo Davinci." Jaydax Computer Information Centre. No post date. 14 January 2010. http://www.jaydax.co.uk/lastsupper/lastsupper.htm



The Pieta by Michelangelo was vital to the start of Renaissance art **pretty vague**. In 1498 Michelangelo was approached to make a sculpture of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus in her arms. In two years, he created “one of the most magnificent sculptures ever created” **where does this quote come from?**. The Pieta is famous for its attention to detail, realism, and impact towards religion **This is a better intro sentence**. One of the fundamental themes of the Renaissance was re-emphasizing Christianity and that is exactly what this piece did. Mother Mary is holding Jesus’ dead body; this was a very powerful and sensitive piece during the Renaissance. The realism of this piece is especially astounding as well; this was one of the first Renaissance pieces and really helped set a tone for renaissance art. In the Middle Ages detail was not stressed, but in this piece the facial expression and limp lifeless body of Jesus Christ help express the intricate detail of the piece. The Pieta was, and still is widely acclaimed for its excellence, precision, and detail. There is only one flaw Michelangelo confesses to have made on this magnificent sculpture, and that was signing his name across the sash of Mother Mary. He said he would never sign another piece of art again. The ultimate impact of The Pieta was very positive for Renaissance art and helped establish high standards of religion and realism in future Renaissance art pieces.

Sources:

1. “St. Peter’s – Chapel of the Pieta”. STPetersBasilica.org. No posting date given. January 14, 2010. [] 2. “The Pieta by Michelangelo”. Statue.com. 2010, no specific date. January 13, 2010. [|http://www.statue.com/michelangelo-pieta.html]


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These three paintings show emphasis on realism but two focus on religion while one does not. They brought back elements of realism, distance, size, detail, color, as well as the depiction of Christianity. The painting "The Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci and "La Pieta" by Michelangelo focused on Christianity. The Last Supper was a turning point in Christianity where Jesus is depicted telling his disciples that one of them will betray them, and one of the main focuses on of this painting is the realistic details of the emotions of the disciples. Similar to the Last Supper//, La Pieta// also focuses on realism and religion. It was the first art piece ever done by Michelangelo, still regarded as one of his best//. La// Pieta is Jesus Christ being held in Mother Mary's arms after his death. This piece is considered unique because of the way Michelangelo depicted it, it is very realistic and he interpreted it in a different way than most people saw it. In the painting "Hunters in the Snow", Pieter Bruegel has a different approach to what he wants emphasized. While he focuses on realism, he does not focus Christianity like the other two. He focuses on a simple peasant village and not of religion.

Citations: 20 pnts Picture Paragraphs: 25/30 Summary Paragraph: 19/20
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74/80**