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Somers Ann Reece ART101 Professor Plumb Due 11-20-13

The art work that was chosen to observe and analysis was by Leonardo de Vinci, Madonna and Child with a Pomegranate. Leonardo da Vinci (April 15, 1452 May 2, 1519) was an Italian polymath, having been a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer. The painting is from the National Gallery in D.C. The painting is of a woman holding a male child with a Pomegranate. She is in a beautiful reddish pink dress with bluish- green robe. The baby boy is naked to show that he is male and pure. The Virgin's left hand, which holds a pomegranate, symbol of the Resurrection. (Fredlund, 2013) There is a Landscape in the background. The Virgin is holding Baby Jesus. You can clearly see the landscape in the background of mountains and trees, resembling untouched land.
Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the "Renaissance man", a man

whose seemingly infinite curiosity was equaled only by his powers of invention. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived. (Iannone, 2002-2013) The time the painting that was chosen 1475-

1480 which is, High Renaissance was a period of deep humanism. People were recognizing their value as humans and looking beyond religion toward science to understand the workings of their universe. Artist became newly interested in observing the natural world, and they worked to reproduce it as accurately as possible. Studying the effects of light, they developed the technique of Chiaroscuro; noting that distant objects appeared smaller than near ones, they developed the system of linear perspective; seeing how detail and color blurred with distance, they developed the principles of atmospheric perspective. (Getlein, 2013) The nude reappeared in art, for the body was held to be the noblest of gods creations. (Getlein, 2013) Leonardo portrayed the baby boy naked in the Madonna and child with a pomegranate naked showing pureness of him, and how he looks in gods eye and because of the era in which it was painted. The visual elements and principles of this painting done by Leonardo da Vinci are two dimensional arts. The Madonna's is beautiful and gazes tenderly at her son, and the calmness of the distant mountainous landscape, reflects humanist dreams of ideal man and a harmonious life. Once profound and noble, the painting reveals great beauty in its coloring and composition. There is a unity between the virgin and her son. The landscape is representing life on earth when he was born as being untouched and pure. The coloring used is beautifully contrasted with reds, blues, greens, nude color of their skin, and shading for light. The painting is part of the renaissance period, which was called The High Renaissance focused on drama, balance and physical presence. This was an era where artists started experimenting with oil-based paints and mixing pigment powder with linseed oil to get the perfect painting medium. These paints used to dry slowly, and as a result the artist could edit and re-edit his work for many months together. During this period, light and perspective became very important in addition to accurately depicting the architecture in the background of paintings.

(Getlein, 2013) Artists during this period painted a lot of artwork related to Madonna, and got their inspiration from Roman and Greek art. In addition, this was also the era, when human body, especially nude human body, was very interesting to artists. Human body was depicted as being physically perfect and pure with its own unique personality and expression. Leonardo da Vinci produced this work in Milan. In conclusion, the Madonna and child with pomegranate by Leonardo da Vinci have more meaning then one knew. The pomegranate is a sign for resurrection and the baby Jesus is naked because he is purest and noblest in that way. The Virgin Mary is in delicate shades of reds and blue and beautiful as she looks at her son not knowing what he becomes. Paintings are beautiful and have more meaning and are done corresponding with the time or era it was.

Bibliography
Fredlund, W. (2013). Institute Images Online. Retrieved November 14, 2013, from Institute Images Online: http://westerncivimages.com/items/show/2885 Getlein, M. (2013). Living with Art. New York: McGraw-Hill. Iannone, A. A. (2002-2013). Leonardo Da Vinci: The Complete Works. Retrieved November 14, 2013, from Leonardo Da Vinci: The Complete Works: http://www.leonardoda-vinci.org/