Michelangelo | The young Saint John the Baptist, 1495-1496

The biographies of Michelangelo by Vasari (1550) and Condivi (1553) recount that following the artist’s return to Florence from Bologna in 1495, his first commission was for a marble sculpture of a “San Giovannino” for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’Medici (cousin of Lorenzo the Magnificent), now identified as the present work.

Rather than following the model of Donatello’s Saint John the Baptist (Florence, Museo del Bargello) as other Florentine sculptors had done, Michelangelo depicted the Baptist as much younger, no more than a boy of six or seven.

Why the Michelangelo's David statue is so famous?

David is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture created between 1501-1504 by Michelangelo.

It is a 5.17-metre (17.0 ft)[a] marble statue of a standing male.

The statue represents the Biblical hero David, a favoured subject in the art of Florence.

Originally commissioned as one of a series of statues of prophets to be positioned along the roofline of the east end of Florence Cathedral, the statue was placed instead in a public square, outside the Palazzo della Signoria, the seat of civic government in Florence, where it was unveiled on 8 September 1504.

What did the Medici family do for the Renaissance?

The Medici family's extraordinary patronage of art in Florence, it's a story that fundamentally shaped the Renaissance and left a massive legacy.

Here's a breakdown, covering their history, motivations, key figures, notable artists and the impact of their support.

Michelangelo Buonarroti | Tomb of Lorenzo de' Medici, 1524-1527

Donatello | The bronze David, 1440

David is the title of two statues of the biblical hero by the Italian early Renaissance sculptor Donatello, an early work in marble of a clothed figure (1408-09), and a far more famous bronze figure and dates to the 1430s or later. Both are now in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence.

The Story of Music: A Chronicle of Resonance

The impulse began, as all things do, from a foundational state of near-silence.

Not a void, mind you. A state of potential.

A world teeming with vibration, but lacking organization.

Consider the cave: a resonating chamber.

Water dripping, wind sighing… these were the first notes.

Not "music" as we understand it, but precursors.

The potential for pattern was always present.

Orazio Gentileschi | Young Woman with a Violin (Saint Cecilia), 1612 | Detroit Institute of Arts

La Bocca della Verità / The Mouth of Truth, Roma 1485

The Mouth of Truth / Bocca della Verità is an ancient Roman marble disc with a relief carving of a man's face.

According to legend the face's mouth closes if a liar sticks his hand in it.

The massive marble mask weighs about 1300 kg and probably depicts the face of the sea god Oceanus. The eyes, nostrils and mouth are open.

Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Vacanze Romane, 1953

Leonardo da Vinci | Ultima Cena / Last Supper, 1494-1498

Last Supper, one of the most famous artworks in the world, painted by Leonardo da Vinci probably between 1494 and 1498 for the Dominican monastery Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan.

It depicts the dramatic scene described in several closely connected moments in the Gospels, including Matthew 26:21–28, in which Jesus declares that one of the Apostles will betray him and later institutes the Eucharist.

According to Leonardo’s belief that posture, gesture, and expression should manifest the “notions of the mind”, each one of the 12 disciples reacts in a manner that Leonardo considered fit for that man’s personality.

The result is a complex study of varied human emotion, rendered in a deceptively simple composition.

Leonardo da Vinci | Ultima Cena / Last Supper, 1494-1498 | Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan

Andrea Mantegna | La Camera degli Sposi, 1465-1474

The Camera degli Sposi ("bridal chamber"), sometimes known as the Camera picta ("picture chamber"), is a room frescoed with illusionistic paintings by Andrea Mantegna in the Ducal Palace, Mantua, Italy.

During the fifteenth century when the Camera degli Sposi was painted, Mantua was ruled by the Gonzaga, who maintained Mantua's political autonomy from its much stronger neighbors Milan and Venice by bidding their support out as a mercenary state.

By commissioning Mantegna to paint the chamber, Ludovico III Gonzaga, the Marquis of Mantua, sought to give the Gonzaga rule more cultural credibility at a time when other Northern Italian courts such as the Ferrara were commissioning their own "painted chambers".

5 Masterpieces from the Hermitage

The State Hermitage Museum / Государственный Эрмитаж has been open to the public since 1852.

It was founded in 1764 when Empress Catherine the Great acquired a collection of paintings from the Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky.

The museum celebrates the anniversary of its founding each year on 7 December, Saint Catherine's Day.

Antonio Canova | Hebe, 1800-1805

Hebe is one of the most famous works of Antonio Canova (1757-1822), an outstanding Neoclassical sculptor of the late 18th - early 19th century.

According to ancient myth, Hebe was the daughter of Zeus and Hera and was the embodiment of youth.

As serving-maid to the gods on Mount Olympus, she was responsible for bringing round cups of nectar, the drink of eternal youth and immortality, during feasts.

Canova depicted the goddess flitting swiftly and easily across the clouds, hardly touching them with the toes of her bare feet. | © Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

Antonio Canova (1757-1822) | Hebe, 1800-1805 | Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

Masterpieces of the Pinacoteca di Brera

The collection of the Pinacoteca di Brera includes some of the greatest masterpieces of Italian and foreign art from the 13th to the 20th century.

The works are displayed on the first floor of the building, where the Academy of Fine Arts is also located.

The Pinacoteca museum, which opened in 1809 thanks to Napoleon Bonaparte, was born as a collection of the finest works of art and was dedicated to the education of students.

The collection included Italian art masterpieces taken from churches and monasteries that were suppressed at the time when Milan was the capital city of the Kingdom of Italy. | Source: © Pinacoteca di Brera

Antonio Canova (Italian, 1757-1822) | Napoleone come Marte pacificatore / Napoleon as Mars the peacemaker, 1811 (detail) | Pinacoteca di Brera

Rogier van der Weyden | Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin, 1435-40

Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin is a large oil and tempera on oak panel painting, usually dated between 1435-1440, attributed to the Early Netherlandish painter Rogier van der Weyden (1399/1400 - 1464).

The painting is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

According to tradition, Saint Luke created the first portraits of the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus from life, making him the patron saint of painters.

Here, in one of the most important Renaissance paintings in North America, Rogier van der Weyden introduces an unprecedented sense of naturalism, grounding a sacred episode in everyday experience.

Vittore Carpaccio | Mannerist painter

Vittore Carpaccio (1460/1465-1525) was an Italian painter of the Venetian school who studied under Gentile Bellini.

Carpaccio was largely influenced by the style of the early Italian Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina (1430-1479), as well as Early Netherlandish painting.

Although often compared to his mentor Gentile Bellini, Vittore Carpaccio's command of perspective, precise attention to architectural detail, themes of death, and use of bold color differentiated him from other Italian Renaissance artists.

Leonardo da Vinci | Del dare i lumi..

Trattato della Pittura

Parte quinta | Capitoli 744-759

Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura | Testo Integrale

Indice

744. Regola del porre le debite ombre e i debiti lumi ad una figura, ovvero corpo laterato.

745. Regola del porre le vere chiarezze de' lumi sopra i lati del predetto corpo.

746. Perché pare piú chiaro il campo illuminato intorno all'ombra derivativa stando in casa che in campagna.

747. Del dare i lumi.

Leonardo da Vinci | De' termini de' corpi opachi

Trattato della Pittura

Parte quinta | Capitoli 724-743

Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura | Testo Integrale

Indice

724. Dell'ombra dell'opaco sferico posto infra l'aria.

725. Dell'ombra dell'opaco sferico posato sopra la terra.

726. Delle ombre de' corpi alquanto trasparenti.

727. Dell'ombra maestra che sta infra il lume incidente ed il riflesso.

728. De' termini de' corpi che prima si perdono di notizia.

729. De' termini de' corpi opachi.

Leonardo da Vinci | In quali superficie si trova la vera ed eguale luce

Trattato della Pittura

Parte quinta | Capitoli 706-723

Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura | Testo Integrale

Indice

706. In quali superficie si trova la vera ed eguale luce.

707. Della chiarezza del lume derivativo.

708. Della remozione e propinquità che fa l'uomo nel discostarsi ed avvicinarsi ad un medesimo lume, e della varietà delle ombre sue.

709. Delle varietà che fa il lume immobile delle ombre che si generano ne'corpi, che in sé medesimi si piegano, o abbassano, o alzano senza mutazione de' loro piedi.

710. Qual corpo è quello che accostandosi al lume cresce la sua parte ombrosa.

711. Qual è quel corpo che quanto piú si accosta al lume piú diminuisce la sua parte ombrosa.

Leonardo da Vinci | Quali colori fan piú varietà di lumi alle ombre

Trattato della Pittura

Parte quinta | Capitoli 681-705

Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura | Testo Integrale

Indice

681. Qual colore di corpo farà ombra piú differente dal lume, cioè qual sarà piú oscura.

682. Qual parte di un corpo sarà piú illuminata da un medesimo lume in qualità.

683. Egualità di ombre in pari corpi ombrosi e luminosi in diverse distanze.

684. Qual luminoso è quello che mai vedrà se non la metà dello sferico ombroso.

685. S'egli è possibile che per alcuna distanza un corpo luminoso possa illuminare solamente la metà di un corpo ombroso minore di esso.

Leonardo da Vinci | Del chiaro e scuro

Trattato della Pittura

Parte quinta | Capitoli 651-680

Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura | Testo Integrale

Indice

651. Di illuminazione e lustro.

652. Di ombra e lume.

653. Di ombra e lume.

654. De' lumi ed ombre.

655. Di ombra e lume.

656. Esempio.

Leonardo da Vinci | Dove le ombre ingannano il giudizio..

Trattato della Pittura

Parte quinta | Capitoli 621-650

Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura | Testo Integrale

Indice

621. Qual parte è di mediocre ombra nella superficie di un corpo ombroso.

622. Qual parte della superficie illuminata sarà di maggior chiarezza.

623. Qual ombra principale nelle superficie de' corpi avrà minore o maggior differenza delle parti luminose.

624. Delle ombre fatte nelle parti ombrose de' corpi opachi.

625. Qual corpo piglia più quantità di ombra.

626. Qual corpo piglia più quantità di luce.

Leonardo da Vinci | Delle ombre

Trattato della Pittura

Parte quinta | Capitoli 591-620

Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura | Testo Integrale

Indice

591. Condizione degli obietti oscuri di ciascun'ombra.

592. Qual campo renderà le ombre più oscure.

593. Dove sarà più oscura l'ombra derivativa.

594. Delle ombre.

595. De' termini che circondano le ombre derivative nelle loro percussioni.

Leonardo da Vinci | Natura ovvero condizione dell'ombra

Trattato della Pittura

Parte quinta | Capitoli 561-590

Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura | Testo Integrale

Indice

561. Di quante figure è l'ombra derivativa.

562. Dell'ombra che si muove con maggior velocità che il corpo suo ombroso.

563. Dell'ombra derivativa, la quale è molto più tarda che l'ombra primitiva.

564. Dell'ombra derivativa che sarà eguale all'ombra primitiva.

565. Dell'ombra derivativa remota dall'ombra primitiva.