During the High Renaissance in Italy artist and art historian Giorgio Vasari wrote and spoke about how he favored the advancements of the artists during the early Renaissance The artists of the High Renaissance often looked back to the art of the early Renaissance to influence their own work This period is thought to have had some of the most well known and celebrated artists of Europe such as Leonardo Bramante Michelangelo Raphael Giorgione and Titian There are a few reasons why the works of these artists were so famous Powerful patrons would commission their work Each artist had a unique mastery and skill applied to their art The unsettling and unmanageable setting of the state of the government influenced how artists created their art High Renaissance During the High Renaissance Florence was no longer the center for arts and the Medici family s hold over the government ended with Lorenzo de Medici s death in 1492 After the execution of preacher Girolamo Savonarola who had brought about the burning of art commissioned by the Medici s the Medici family regained its hold over the government in 1512 The political unrest had sparked numerous innovations from many artist including Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarotti Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo da Vinci was a man of many talents and abilities He was a scientist painter sculptor musician architect and engineer After completing several commissions in Florence Leonardo went to Milan in 1481 His expertise can be seen and studied in his numerous analytical drawings The Vitruvian Man is an example of one of Leonardo s analytical drawings Leonardo was commissioned to paint The Virgin of the Rocks for a confraternity lay brotherhood who were devoted to the Immaculate Conception The Virgin of the Rocks depicts St John as an infant admiring Jesus with Mary in the scene The interesting aspect about this painting is the sfumato which gives warmth and invokes mystery within the composition Besides Leonardo s many acquired and innate skills he was also adept at creating illusions within his paintings This skill can be seen in his painting The Last Supper 1495 1498 Commissioned by Duke Ludovico Leonardo painted The Last Supper for the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie The painting won instant fame and was copied by many artists The medium of the painting was done with oil tempera The painting was often compared to Castagno s Supper which was done half a century earlier Leonardo s version of The Last Supper has more spatial atmosphere than Castagno s Many elements within the painting light composition colors setting focus its attention on Christ who has been strategically placed in the center One of Leonardo s most famous portraits is the Mona Lisa to whom he painted a woman identified as Lisa Gherardini The formal qualities of the portrait is often compared to Leonardo s earlier portrait Ginevra de Benci Both paintings are influential because they depict women in three quarter poses against landscape rather than the traditional profile pose They are also famed for their simplicity Instead wearing lavish ornate garments they wear simple clothing Rome and Bramante During the High Renaissance the papacy had gained back all it power as the spiritual political and military leader of Rome The new pope Julius II commissioned many projects involving architecture sculpture and painting in order to revive the culture of the ancient city Donato Bramante was Julius s most important architect involving the architecture of Rome His skill in using perspective with architecture was brought about by his influence of Brunelleschi Alberti and Leonardo During Alexander VI reign as pope Bramante was commissioned to build a church to mark the crucifixion of St Peter The temple was named Tempietto little temple because of its likeness of Roman circular central plan temples Because of the context it was set in the building is referred to as a martyrium Michelangelo Florence and Rome Julius also commissioned the works of antiquity by one of the most famous influential and imitated artist in history labeled as divine by Visari the highly acclaimed Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni Unlike Leonard who was a painter among other things Michelangelo was primarily a sculptor As a result from his background in sculpture Michelangelo was influenced by Giotto Masaccio and Donatello After leaving Florence to find work in Rome a French cardinal commissioned Michelangelo to carve the Pieta Because Michelangelo sculpted the Virgin Mary to appear younger the subject resembles both the Madonna and Child as well as the Pieta After completing the Pieta Michelangelo later returned to Florence and was commissioned by the Florence cathedral to sculpt David into a buttress of the facade Unlike Donatello s David which features the head of Goliath Michelangelo s version has removed the head completely while a slingshot is the only object on the sculpture Although both statues are nude Michelangelo s David has some Hellenistic influences Though the statue is still it expresses movement Michelangelo and the Tomb of Julius II No matter how many commissions he took Michelangelo was always looking to improve his skill This ambition was the staple of his career This is seen in the commission of the Tomb of Julius II in 1505 During this project Julius II had died leaving the project unfinished For the next 30 years Michelangelo was suppose to produce a simplified version of the tomb however he created the very striking and impactful Moses to be placed in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome Another figure Michelangelo had sculpted for the Tomb of Julius II was the unfinished Awakening Prisoner This piece gives us a look on how Michelangelo his process on creating art Before attempting the figure Michelangelo would visualize the figure or make numerous drawings and sometimes small wax or clay models Michelangelo and the Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel Even though Michelangelo was strictly an artist that worked with sculptures he had made numerous frescos on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel for a period of four years Numerous themes exist throughout the frescos many of which have the same dynamic movement displayed in his tomb figure Moses An example of these dynamic forms would be the Libyan Sibyl which depicts her body twisting backward as she closes her book The muscles on her body in semblance to a young men rather than women The palette that Michelangelo chose