In the painting of Mona Lisa shows an ordinary women looking directly at you with her hands crossed and a tiny smile. From what I read about this portrait in these times the 1400’s to 1500’s women don’t normally look directly at you and the artist would normally cut off the women’s body to show a close up of the face. The point of this portrait was to make Mona Lisa look as naturally as possible and show that wealth was not important. Apart from the naturalism in the figure, the painting includes a background. If you look over her shoulder to the left side, you see a road that leads to distance, and mountains painted as background.
On the right side, we can see a bridge, and a road which leads to sea in the distance. “The contrast between the woman and the background landscape is therefore quite remarkable, and it lends to the power of the painting”. (According to “Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa” (June 21, 2012), what I felt was unique about the Mona Lisa was the artist took a different approach in painting this women he didn’t follow the rules of other artist. He focused on her being simply natural and beautiful. Also he made a wonderful background which makes you think of a happy place some were far away. But his main focus was her ordinary but beautiful look.
Next Michelangelo carved a sculpture using a block of Carrara marble. He said it was the most “perfect” block he ever used. His statue was to go into a side chapel at Old St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. “The scene of the Pieta shows the Virgin Mary holding the dead body of Christ after his crucifixion, death, and removal from the cross, but before he was placed in the tomb”. “This is one of the key events from the life of the Virgin, known as the Seven Sorrows of Mary, which were the subject of Catholic devotional prayers”. “The subject matter was one which would have probably been known by many people, but in the late fifteenth century it was depicted in artworks more commonly in France and Germany than in Italy”.( According to “Michelangelo’s Pieta” (July 23, 2012), “In her utter sadness and devastation, she seems resigned to what has happened, and becomes enveloped in graceful acceptance. “Michelangelo’s talent in carving drapery is matched by his handling of the human forms in the Christ and the Virgin, both of whom retain a sweet tenderness despite the very tragic nature of this scene”. “This is, of course, the moment when the Virgin is confronted with the reality of the death of her son.
Christ, too, is depicted almost as if he is in a peaceful slumber, and not one who has been bloodied and bruised after hours of torture and suffering”. According to “Michelangelo’s Pieta” (July 23, 2012), What I felt was unique about this work of art is that it was not just another painting, it was hand carved and took a lot of time and patience to complete. I felt the way he made you feel emotion was amazing. I felt sadness and I feel this sculpture was there to tell the world a powerful message. That Jesus died for our sins and was tortured and beating so many times for the world to understand. This is a beautiful and powerful statue. To compare the Mona Lisa and this sculpture made by Michelangelo is difficult. Both are unique in their own ways both share a powerful meaning and both took patience and skill. Both works of art capture my attention and I believe will keep having meaning for century’s to come. What made their work so famous is that it was unique form any other artist and shared a powerful message with lots of different meanings.
