Video Review: Renaissance and Baroque Periods

          I chose the video  The Drawings of Michelangelo, because I was aware of his sculptural work, such as the David, but wanted to know more about  his other bodies of work and his story as an important Renaissance painter. I chose the video about Caravaggio, because he is my favorite Italian artist, but I did not know enough about his personal history.
 
         For The Drawings of Michelangelo, I learned about the history of Michelangelo's life. He was born near Florence, Italy around  1500. He began his training as an artist with an apprenticeship under Ghirlandaio. His drawing style was clearly influenced by Ghirlandaio as  one can see in the technique of hatching and crosshatching. His most famous commissions were the Sistine Chapel in Rome and the Chapel de Medici in Florence. Another key concept that I learned about was Michelangelo's artistic style. He was a perfectionist and he celebrated the human form. He was trained as a painter but also excelled at marble sculpture and architectural design. I learned that his celebration of the male form created a personal conflict because on one hand he had a sexual attraction to men, but he was devoutly Catholic.
      In the video The Power of Art: Caravaggio, the  key concepts I learned included the Roman time period and Caravaggio's colorful career and life. During this time in the 1600's, the Roman Catholic church was creating an aggressive propaganda campaign to fight the influence of the Protestant church. Caravaggio was commissioned by the church to create religious paintings that the public could connect with easily. Caravaggio's was of common background, he associated with other starving artists in the seedy district of Rome. He was noticed for his style of dramatic contrasts of value and his realistic, enigmatic figures. These figures were used to break down comfort barriers and make the viewer feel like they were right there with the painted subjects. He used common people as his models . Although he painted religious scenes, Caravaggio was known as a sinner, jailed for liable and then wanted for murder.  He escaped to Malta and was knighted in exchange for a large commission of The Beheading of John the Baptist.
    
     The video on Michelangelo relates to the text in Chapter 16 on the High Renaissance, and there is also a full page summary of this artist. Caravaggio relates to the text of Chapter 17, which focuses on the Baroque era in which this artist lived. We see a lot of influences of the time period described in the chapters on these artists' work.

       I really liked these videos because not only did they give an in depth look into the artist's work and style, they gave us a personal look into their lives.  I especially liked the video on Caravaggio because the dramatic reenactments put you right there in the time period of this artist and gave a visual embodiment of the artist.  These videos also added depth to my knowledge of the artists' works and showed a wide range of their most important pieces.