Perspective was a Renaissance technique developed 600 years ago and was so effective we still use it today. It creates the illusion of depth on a two dimensional surface.

One Point perspective utilizes one vanishing point.

Where as two point perspective utilizes two vanishing points. The vanishing point is the point at which the lines leading into the distance seem to meet and disappear.

Both Renaissance artists Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo utilized perspective in their artworks. Perspective in the Last Supper is used to help emphasize the focal point.

Another technique widely used was foreshortening. This drawing technique gives the illusion that a part of the picture is coming out towards the viewer. This was accomplished by enlarging the part closest to the viewer.

Leonardo da Vinci is best known for his painting of Mona Lisa. This piece of artwork is the most recognized piece of art in history. It is believed that this person was Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of a Florentine banker. Leonardo kept the unfinished painting with him through out his entire life, working on it form time to time.

What is being depicted in the foreground, middle ground and back ground of this painting?

Leonardo is often referred to as the original “Renaissance Man”. This is someone who is very good at a variety of different subjects. Leonardo’s specialties included inventor, mathematician, philosopher, engineer, musician, biologist and botanist.

Leonardo’s biggest negative was that he was so involved with so many different projects that he would often start something, lose interest in it and move on to something else before the project was finished.

Leonardo is also well known for his detailed and descriptive sketchbooks that he would keep. He filled thousands of pages with thoughts, ideas, sketches and plans.

In Florence Leonardo entered the services of Cesare Borgia, the son of Pope Alexander VI, acting as a military architect and engineer. It was here that he designed many war themed devices.

Leonardo was also given credit with making great advances medicine through his dissections and diagrams of the human body even though some of his means were considered unconventional.

Leonardo’s depiction of the Vitruvian Man is also a widely known piece. The drawing is based on the correlations of ideal human proportions with geometry described [4] by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise De Architectura. Vitruvius described the human figure as being the principal source of proportion among the Classical orders of architecture. Leonardo's drawing is traditionally named in honor of the architect. [4]VitruviusDe Architectura Classical orders

Leonardo’s second most well known work would be the Last Supper.

The biggest question in this painting is the mysterious knife and who is sitting at the right of Jesus?

The Last Supper was made using experimental pigments directly on the dry plaster wall and unlike frescos, where the pigments are mixed with the wet plaster, it has not stood the test of time well. Even before it was finished there were problems with the paint flaking from the wall and Leonardo had to repair it.

The Sistine Chapel ceiling was considered Michelangelo's greatest work of art.

The Sistine Chapel ceiling is located in a chapel in the Vatican city in Rome, Italy. Central in the ceiling is nine scenes from the Book of Genesis in the Bible.

The ceiling took Michelangelo four years to complete, painting mostly alone day and night on a three story tall scaffold. When finished, the painting would include 350 separate figures from the Old Testament.

The most recognized of the nine Old Testament middle panels is Michelangelo's depiction of God creating Adam.

In 1980 restorers started a 10 year project to preserve the paintings of the Sistine Chapel.

At age 23, Michaelangelo created the marble sculpture “The Pieta” Mary holding the dead body of Christ.

Unbeknownst to many, sculptures during this time would have been elaborately painted and not the plain white sculptures that we see in the museums today.

Michelangelo's second greatest piece of art work is considered the marble sculpture of David made for the city of Florence. David stands 17 feet tall.

At the age of thirty Michelangelo, had two big projects in the works, the Sistine Chapel ceiling and creating the tomb of Pope Julius II.

The tomb was to originally include forty life size sculptures but the project was abandoned after a year due to lack of funds. Only the sculpture of Moses was completed.