Renaissance

This work of art is called “Young Woman with Unicorn”, painted by Raphael Sanzio. This painting is important to the Renaissance era because it has amazing realism. Raphael's artwork was so amazing because he always added emotion and expression to the subject. This lets the viewers understand his paintings better as they have something/someone to relate to. Not only is this painting so realistic, but it compliments the subject in the artwork as well. The lighting and shadows on this lady’s face are very flattering. This lighting is also visibly seen, and thus gave me the ability to repeat it when photo shopping Laura’s face into the painting.

Raphael, the artist who painted this picture, was very influential in the Renaissance era; he was known as the "genius" of high Renaissance painters. Raphael was the greatest designer of the Renaissance, and he was thought to be one of the most detailed painters of all portraitists. By painting emotional themes, Raphael made people think of personality when they looked at his paintings because he put realistic emotions and expressions into his paintings. Raphael has inspired painters up until the 1900s because he used perfect use of color, balance of composition, and sweetness in the subjects of his paintings. Raphael was one of the greatest painters in the Renaissance!

In French, renaissance means "rebirth". This historical age spanned throughout the 14^th to the 17^th century. In this era, artists looked back on the times before them, improving the different styles from their past. Creating a sense of space was a major innovation of the time, as was perspective, because it was a clever device that causes your eye to see in three-dimension. Art during the Renaissance was mostly made for commissions or religious reasons. The rebirth of this period also included classical learning and a rediscovery of ancient Rome and Greece, as well as beginning of human spirit and creativity.

 In this photograph, I photo shopped Laura's face onto a famous painting by Raphael. I chose this picture because of the unicorn! I thought this portrait was very unique, because it wasn't your typical Renaissance portrait painting. I asked Laura to be my model because she has a lot of character, and I wanted to change the feeling of this painting by adding different emotion. The lady in the original painting was quite serious, and I wanted to change this picture to a humorous and light-hearted mood.  Laura definitely helped me achieve this!