Leonardo Da Vinci's Annunciation

Will humanism or science ever be strong enough to defeat the belief that there is a stronger force than humans? Humanism was a large part of the Renaissance, which was a rebirth for Europe and a change from the dark ages. It was an optimistic time where human productivity was at its finest. Leonardo da Vinci and Andrea del Verrocchio are famous artists who were influenced by the Renaissance. They began painting the Annunciation in 1472 and finished it three years later in 1475. It should be noted that the painting is meant to be viewed from the the right and a little below. Leonardo da Vinci’s Annunciation represented the effects of the Renaissance. The artwork showed the changes of mediums in art, as well as the changes in beliefs during this
It is possible that Andrea used tempera and Leonardo used oil paints. This is because they both had very different styles of paintings. Andrea used heavy brush strokes whereas Leonardo used light brush strokes. The Renaissance did not only have an intangible effect on art, but also had a tangible effect.
Secondly, the subject of the painting may have been influenced, however the details in the painting were untouched by the Renaissance. To begin, the colours of the people in the painting were realistic. As stated earlier, Leonardo and Andrea took advantage of the oil paints in order to better represent the beauty of the human figure. The beauty of the human figure inspired humanism. Furthermore, the painting depicts a scene where the Angel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she is to carry and nurse God’s son, Jesus. By painting the Annunciation, the artists are connecting the Renaissance and the Annunciation (event) together. The painting is an allusion connecting the two time periods together. The Renaissance is similar to the Annunciation because both are thought to have been a turning point for mankind and both are thought to be optimistic moments for humans. Just like in The School of Athens, the artist changes the colours of
He was willing to move forward with the Renaissance, but continued to respect the past. First and foremost, in the background of this painting, ships can be spotted. It is unusual for Leonardo to have ships in the backgrounds of his paintings. The ships in the background were Renaissance ships. To be specific, they were called Cogs. Leonardo might have been willing to go against his usual style of art for this piece because he was in favour of the Renaissance. Continuing on, this painting takes place in the Florentine palace garden. The palace was a building of Renaissance architecture, which is unusual for Italian Renaissance art. Typically, Italian Renaissance art has buildings with Gothic architecture. This might mean that Leonardo was influenced by the Renaissance and so decided to paint a Renaissance building instead of a Gothic building. Even though it may seem that Leonardo is in favour of the Renaissance, the artwork is completely about god. The painting connects the Renaissance to the Annunciation. It connects the power of humans to the power of god. This completely contradicts the Renaissance. The Renaissance is about what humans can do, not what gods can do. Continuing on, even though oil paints were widely available during da Vinci’s time and tempera was not the ideal medium or as popular, da Vinci continued to use both mediums to create his painting. This was