Donatello carved his statue of St. George for the guild of armorers and swordmakers in Florence. Like the statue of St. Mark, the statue of St. George was destined for the guild’s niche in the building of Orsanmichele. Because the guild was of average size, it could only afford a …
Aside from his painting of the Primavera, Sandro Botticelli’s other greatest work, done for the Medici family, is the Birth of Venus. Unfortunately, we do not know for sure which Medici it was painted for, or which location it was originally hung in. Before considering the subject matter, it is …
Masaccio’s fresco depicting Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden of Eden by an angel is located in the Brancacci Chapel inside the church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence. The fresco is part of a larger cycle he painted for part of the chapel, while another painter, …
The painting of the Madonna in the Meadow (also called the Madonna Belvedere) was executed by a twenty-something Raphael while in Florence. The scene shows the Virgin with Christ and St. John the Baptist in a highly serene and tender moment against a landscape backdrop which places the scene in …
The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore was the major church in Florence in the Renaissance period, but it was a building which was largely built in the fourteenth century (thus pre-dating the Renaissance). The origins go back to the Middle Ages, when Italian cities competed to build larger and …
Michelangelo carved a number of works in Florence during his time with the Medici, but in the 1490s he left Florence and briefly went to Venice, … Read More →
The most famous section of the Sistine Chapel ceiling is Michelangelo's Creation of Adam. This scene is located next to the Creation of Eve, which is … Read More →
David is one of Michelangelo's most-recognizable works, and has become one of the most recognizable statues in the entire world of art. Standing … Read More →