Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Apothesis of the Renaissance




Also known as the "Glorification of the Renaissance". Completed by the Hungarian painter Mihaly Munkacsy in 1888, this ceiling painting from the Kunsthistoriches Museum in Vienna is a  representation of the atelier of the Renaissance Masters. In the bottom left we see Raphael and Leonardo conversing with Veronese working on a large canvas just behind them. In the centre is Titian instructing a young student working from the model. Just below and to the right is Michelangelo with hammer,  leaning on a balustrade.  In the loggia above is in Pope Julius II whose papacy was marked by ambitious building projects and patronage for the arts. The goddess could be Ozwiena, the Slavic goddess of Fame and Glory or the Allegory of Peace and Prosperity.
Just above the reclining female is the self-portrait of Munkacsy, considered one of the most important painters of 19th century Hungary.