Artistic Theory in the High Renaissance: Leonardo compared to Michelangelo
Sir
Anthony Blunt, Artistic Theory in Italy
(pp. 23-38, 58-81)
It
is acceptable to say that Leonardo and Michelangelo begin as
scientists in art, and rely on the sciences in order to formulate
their works. Both were raised in the Humanist era and therefore
studied the arts and sciences. Foundations in linear perspective and
accurate proportion developed a standard for accuracy in art. The
exactitude of the portrayal of 'man' came only through much
schooling and personal study (dissection). Leonardo and Michelangelo
had much of the same upbringing; being apprenticed to great artists
and eventually surpassing them significantly in skill and theory.
Beyond their similar roots these two great artists of the Renaissance
formulate different ideas of what art is, and how it should be
depicted and thought of.
Leonardo
judges art by its completeness of rendering nature (Blunt, 27). “For
leonardo, painting is a science because of its foundation on
mathematical perspective and on the study of nature” (Blunt, 26).
Through Leonardo's words one can see how he judges other artist's for
not being at the same skill level as himself. Leonardo has
“...a
particular scorn for those who ignore theory and think that by mere
practice they can produce a work of art: 'Those who devote themselves
to practice without science are like sailors who put to sea without
rudder or compass and who can never be certain where they are going.
Practice must always be founded on sound theory.' He also disapproves
of those who rely on devices for exact imitation, like Alberti's net
for the method of painting on a piece of glass held in front of the
view. These short-cuts should only be used by those who have enough
knowledge of theory” (28).
He
believes that one can only truly be a true master of realism, of
accuracy of nature, with study and underlying understanding of the
subject; a true traditional master. This obsession, or thirst, for
perfection is apparent due to the numerous amount of notebooks
Leonardo filled throughout his lifetime. Leonardo judged his own
artwork by the exactness that it imitated real life or nature. He
used a mirror to check life-likeness, and “the reflection in a
mirror as 'the true painting'” (Blunt, 30). This mirror method is
still used by artists today.
For
through all of Leonardo's obsession with understanding how the world
worked, he became a genius before his time. “His knowledge of human
anatomy was not attained by members of the medical profession for
half a century after his death, and many of the facts which he
observed had to wait still longer before they could be properly
fitted into man's scheme of the universe” (Blunt, 25). Perhaps
because of his studies, Leonardo comes to conclusions about what is
the greatest art, “Leonardo maintains that painting is the finer
art, [not poetry], because 'it makes images of the works of nature
with more truth than the poet'” (Blunt, 27). The same idea comes
out when Leonardo claims superiority for painting over sculpture
because “the latter cannot use color, or aerial perspective, or
depict luminous or transparent bodies, clouds, storms, and many other
things” (Blunt, 27). It is known that Leonardo and Michelangelo
disliked each other. One can only imagine Leonardo says these things
against poetry and sculpture so that Michelangelo, who was foremost a
sculpture and privately a poet, would hear them or that their social
circle or contemporaries would know how Leonardo felt. Leonardo felt
that the most beautiful and successful of art was that which could
allude the most exactly to real life.
Contrastingly,
Michelangelo, by the end of his life does not believe that art should
be the “exact imitation of nature” (Blunt, 61). Michelangelo was
not just trained in Humanism, but also Neoplatonism, which “spoke
of spiritual beauty” (Blunt, 61). His training in Neoplatonism “led
to a belief in the beauty of the visible universe, above all in human
beauty” (Blunt, 60). To Michelangelo, beauty (especially in the
depiction of man) was a reflection of the divine (Blunt, 62).
Unlike
Leonardo, Michelangelo was an extremely devout man. He wrote a poem
that said, “nowhere does God, in his grace, reveal himself to me
more clearly than in lovely human form, which I love solely because
it is a mirrored image of Himself” (Blunt, 69). This explains his
attention to the male figures in his artwork, as well as the
masculinity of his females, because men are the likeness of God in
Michelangelo's eyes. One can see this especially with the Sibyls in
the Sistine Chapel fresco (1508-12), which is “a worship of the
beauty of the human body” (Blunt, 60).
Many
years later Michelangelo paints “The Last Judgement” in the
Sistine Chapel (1536-41) and one can compare this fresco to the
ceiling and see that, “physical beauty is not the most important
but the portrayal of the soul is what occupies Michelangelo's
thoughts” (Blunt, 66). Michelangelo became consumed with getting
into heaven, wrought with emotion of whether his soul was good enough
to avoid damnation. His thoughts became that “love of physical
beauty is a cheat, but the true love, that of spiritual beauty, gives
perfect satisfaction, does not fade with time, and elevates the mind
to the contemplation of the divine” (Blunt, 67).
Michelangelo's
artistic theory concludes that physical portrayal of beauty is not as
important to the portrayal of spiritual beauty. This might be why
many of his sculptures, like those in the Medici Tombs, have
unfinished faces. This unfinished quality might have meant something
to Michelangelo and his relationship with God that onlookers won't
ever comprehend. Leonardo also had many unfinished artworks in his
lifetime, but these were probably not intentional. His artistic
theory was that art should imitate life's beauty exactly; which can
only be accomplished by a thorough study of the sciences and only
truly through painting. Leonardo said to “never imitate another
painter, or you will be their 'grandson' and and not a son of nature
in your art” (Blunt, 33). This is because this copying leads to
Mannerism. Leonardo disapproved of Mannerism because “it was away
from the real nature of things” (Blunt, 33). It is because of
Michelangelo and his theories and depictions in art, not Leonardo's,
that the Renaissance leads into Mannerism. Despite their similar
roots, these two artists arrived at very different opinions on what
art should be.
…This
begins the debate of which great Master had a more profound influence
on the art world then and now?
