Artwork that Changed the World



Leonardo Da Vinci




Nationality: Italian
DOB: April 15, 1452
DOD:  May 2, 1519
Place of Birth: Vinci, Italy


Artwork that changed the world:




                       Mona Lisa (a.k.a. La Gioconda)










The Mona Lisa is a very controversial painting, as some say the picture is Leonardo’s female version of himself. Many are/were concerned with her facial expression as she doesn’t seem happy, maybe she was troubled. Mona Lisa was believed to be 24 at the time of the portrait.

Da Vinci used oil paints to create the artwork in 1503. However, in 1911, the painting was stolen from the Louvre on August 21st. Pablo Picasso was a suspect for this theft but was innocent.


One mystery of the painting is that Mona Lisa features very faint eyebrows and apparently does not have any eyelashes. In 2007, a French engineer and inventor called Pascal Cotte said he discovered with a high-definition camera that Leonardo da Vinci did actually paint eyebrows and eyelashes, which were just not clear to the naked eye.





Michelangelo



Name(s): Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
DOB: 6th March 1475
DOD: 18th February 1564
Nationality: Italian
Occupation(s): Sculptor, painter, architect, poet


Artwork that changed the world:

The Creation of Adam (1510)



Reason behind artwork:
It illustrates the Biblical creation narrative from the Book of Genesis in which God breathes life into Adam, the first man. The religious painting of the near-touching hands of God and Adam has become iconic of humanity. The image has been recreated countless times. It forms part of the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling.

The artwork contains a hidden symbol: the shape of a brain outlined by God's billowing shroud (a length of cloth or a surrounding garment). The message seems to be that consciousness is the true gift that a creator can give its own creation. The fact that God gives Adam the ability to continue his work (creating mankind) was thought to be astonishing.


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