High Renaissance The High Renaissance is the area that contains some of the most recognizable works of art

in the western world. The Vitruvian man, The Last Supper, Mona Lisa, Michelangelo s David, The Roof of the Sistine Chapel, Sleeping Venus and Venus of Urbino, Last Judgment and many others were all reated during this time. This period was during the late fifteenth century and the first decade of the sixteenth century, the term High comes from the esteem ofthis area. It has many of the same features as the early renaissance, the humanism idea was still in every piece of work, theGreek and roman ideals held closely. A notable chance was the artist understanding of light and shadow. They human figures have a certain other worldly glow to them; great attention to detail to emotion is taken in to consideration. The great works of art were commissioned by the papacy; they hired major painter, sculptures and architects. The major painters where Leonardo da Vinci, Bramante, Michelangelo, Raphael, Giorgione, and Titian, these men did the majority of the works that we think about when the word Renaissance is spoken With so many amazing works of art created in this area it is almost impossible to choose just one to talk about. Each piece was created with such mastery that trying to discuss any of them with the limitations of words alone should be considered a crime. The piece that I shall try to give justice too, is the ceiling of the Sistine chapel, I will ultimately fail in this endeavor. The ceiling has nine masterfully painted panel which depict the book of Genesis,stories from the creation of the earth to the great flood of Noah. The ceiling took over four years to finish and the artist Michelangelo, had to lie on his back and disfigure his body to paint on the scaffolding. The artist painted this in creditable piece,suspended in the air while on his back, an unthinkable feat, while creating a marvelous work of art about creation itself. The central image of Adam and God, arms out reached an extremely famous image. Thetext suggests that this is the moment before god gives life to Adam. I happen to see the closeness between god and man, before sin shattered the perfect world that was created for us. Adam seems animated, with one leg bent, his arm supporting his body, an arm out reached. This to me suggests that he already has the spark of life inbounded in him. This piece embodieseverything that the Renaissance has to stand for. The perfection of the human form, the depth of its layers, and the lighting effect of the piece gives it a realism unseen before it, let alone the massive scale which makes the piece impossible to take in all at once. Each panel is easilyrecognizable from the Old Testament and speaks like the narratives seen in ancientRome. The pope that commissioned the piece had neither the army nor enough of the papacy to influence Europeto the degree he wanted too.But in this painting, he was able to give them an image of such papal power to impress all, for longer than he could have ever imagined. It is unfortunate that either the video or the text went into more depth of this piece. The question that I would like to propose is the restoration of this piece and all other pieces of art in general. Should we use modern techniques to try and restore these pieces to the originalwonder and glory; or should be focused on preservation alone without altering the piece.