Michelangelo's Influences

Well hiya mates! It’s been quite a while since you were here; guess you were out enjoying the snow that spring has brought to some parts of the world. Even though we never get snow down here, I really thought that winter was over. In any case I didn’t get up here to discuss the weather; I actually wanted to talk about one of my favorite artists. I’m going to let you guess, this artist was responsible for a colossal sculpture known as the David, as well as the magnificent ceiling painting in the Sistine Chapel. If you guessed Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, you are correct. Michelangelo was phenomenal Italian painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer of his time. Today, Michelangelo is recognized world wide as being one of the founders of what is known as the High Renaissance.

It is no secret that every good artist must have inspirations. However great artists such as Michelangelo must be inspired as well as have outside influences. As of late, there has been much adieu as to what influenced Michelangelo to create such masterpieces. One particular article entitled On How to Listen to High Renaissance Art written by John Onians claimed that the works of individuals such as Michelangelo brought about the recognition of such arts as painting, sculpture, and architecture that cause the surpassing of previously recognized arts such as music and poetry. Furthermore Onians goes on to state that Michelangelo as well as other founding artists of the renaissance were influenced from written works that focused particularly on each artist’s area of interest.

Despite having a rather interesting thesis, John Onians was not able to provide nearly as much evidence for Michelangelo that would have supported his theory as he did for the other artists. In fact it seemed as thought Onians was some what unsure about Michelangelo. Onians was able to conclude however that Micheangelo was influenced by poetry because of his contact with Pohitian. However that one piece of evidence was not convincing enough support his original thesis stating that it was music and poetry that Michelangelo used as inspiration for his artwork.

Interestingly enough another article had an entirely different take on what influenced Michelangelo. The Influence of Neo-Platonism on Michelangelo written by Dr. Deborah Vess is smothered with evidence in order to support her thesis. Dr. Vess maintained that Neo-Platonism had a great influence on the Renaissance and that it was the very thing that influenced Michelangelo as well. Neo-Platonism is a term coined for schools that thrive based on religious and mystical philosophy. Such schools first appeared around the 3rd Century AD.

Dr. Vess was able to support her theory with evidence from several sources in which most were direct quotes that were said by Michelangelo himself. Dr. Vess stated that the artist in Michelangelo’s eyes was like God, which no doubt comes from neoplatonism. Dr. Vess also provides interpretations of his artworks in a rather vivid manner that again supports her thesis. Art historians are aware of Michelangelo’s obsession with the body, but Dr. Vess takes the opportunity to explain the reason for such was that Michelangelo felt as though the human body was “a reflection of the beauty of the soul.” Thus it provides not only an explanation for Michelangelo’s obsession with the human body but also links it directly to Neo-Platonism.
Dr. Vess concluded her article with the following, “only divine inspiration could have created the David and the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and it was to the divine that Michelangelo wished to appeal.” There is no doubt that the divine mentioned are the ideas, beliefs, and values that were instilled in neoplationism during that time period.

To that end there is no doubt as to which author provided the better article. Clearly it was Dr. Vess, because unlike Onians, she actually took the time to do some detailed research on Michelangelo whereas Onians only had two or three short paragraphs on one of the greatest artists of all time.