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Bruce Cole's The Renaissance Artist At Work

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Bruce Cole wrote his work entitled The Renaissance Artist at Work in 1983 with the purpose to analyze art and artists of the Renaissance period. Within this work, Cole addresses topics ranging from the social lives of artists during the period to specific types of art present during the period. He covers how art, using styles such as the fresco, is created and how some of the reasoning and significance behind different works. While Cole is a respected author and figure in art history, the purpose of this essay is to further analyze and assess the accuracy of claims made within the book. Specific claims about the artists including that, “[The artist’s] creation was perceived…as an object with a function,” and, “From the moment the artist walked …show more content…

Vasari chronicled many of Michelangelo’s commissions and the purpose’s to which they served. One of the largest that Michelangelo was given was to complete the tomb of Pope Julius (Vasari 439). This was a massive and significant undertaking by Michelangelo which required six full sculptures of various biblical figures arranged along one wall. Michelangelo not only created beautiful art in the form of his sculptures for the pope’s tomb, but also created a work that commemorated the late pope and served as a final resting place and monument to his accomplishments. In this respect Michelangelo was creating artwork with a purpose in mind rather than solely for the enjoyment of others or himself. Pope Paul III (1468–1549) placed Michelangelo as the head architect of the building of St. Peter’s following the project stalling (Vasari 465). Though the building was never completed during his lifetime, Michelangelo’s influence on the design was lasting and his plans became the final to be used. He combined magnificent design and formulated pillars and stairways into a coherent design that gave the utilitarian functions within the building a form of beauty. Another work of architecture that Michelangelo was placed in charge of was a rebuilding of the Senator’s Palace within Rome. He redesigned the façades for each direction, creating different perspective artwork out of the design for each view. For example, the east side’s façade was two symmetrical sets of stairs leading into a middle hallway flanked by pillars and statues (Vasari 468). This once more demonstrates the utility within the artwork created and the importance of making something functional also

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