Masters of the Renaissance

1. I chose the video on Leonardo Da Vinci because I have always been fascinated by him as a person.  He really was the definition of the "Renaissance Man" and I have tried to emulate it in my own life.  I chose the El Greco video because he's one of the artists I don't know much about; I know he paints all his figures like they're starving to death but other than that I wasn't really knowledgeable about him.  

2.  The key concept or theme of the Da Vinci video was Da Vinci's life.  It didn't really go in depth with things like his art techniques or his works; the video was much more about facets of his life.  It looked at his schooling, his environment, his influences, and the friends he made.  Like the Da Vinci video, the El Greco video also looks at his life & what was going on around him while he created his famous works.  I feel like the El Greco video was more rife with intrigue/drama.  There was a lot of political turmoil in his lifetime.  I was amazed by the problems El Greco had just from painting.

3. The Da Vinci video ties into the readings by showing a real-life example of a member of the High Renaissance.  The book touched upon the art of this period, pointing out quintessential examples and breaking them down.  But the video gave me more of a broader understanding of the world the artist lived in and how it influenced the art.  I guess the El Greco video helps me see a different side of the Renaissance.  El Greco was part of the Renaissance, though he is more associated with Spain than Italy.  Yet, he didn't use the overtly beautiful, sculpted, seemingly perfect forms that dominated the Renaissance at the time.  I said above that his style is to make his figures look gaunt and dark, as if they are starving to death or something.

4. I enjoyed the Da Vinci video a lot; I thought it was beautifully done.  The scenes were shot very well, transposed with the art of the master to really make a point about where the art showed up in the life of Da Vinci.  The music was beautiful, and the narrator had a very soft, lovely voice that told Da Vinci's life as a beautiful story.  I had an issue with the El Greco video - the editing would leave these spaces where there were images fading but there wasn't any sound, not even background music.  I kept thinking the video was broken somehow.  It wasn't a really good way to transition to important points in history.  I also find the narrator for that video to be too booming for the video, though some of that changes like 20 minutes into the video.  I think it's poor audio quality.  Problems like these make the video hard to watch.