The Madonna of Humility

The Renaissance consisted of many things, one of them being the rebirth of art and culture. Leonardo da Vinci was in love with nature as were many of the artists in this era (Zophy 1). In his time as an artist, Leonardo used a new technique, sfumato, which made the painting darker looking with a sort of hazy look to it. This oil painting is known as "The Virgin of the Rocks." As you can see, Mary is seated on the ground with John the Baptist too her right, the baby Christ and an arch-angel to her left. It seems as if Mary is guiding John the Baptist to Christ, by the way her hand is around his body and placed on the shoulder.

This piece of artwork was started in 1491, in the midst of the Italian Renaissance. I think this painting is interesting because of the Burckhardt readings we talked about in class, he wrote that the Renaissance was a secular time period where there was hardly any belief in God. When looking at this painting, majority of the idea is religion. Mary, John the Baptist, Christ, and an angel; all four figures are religious. This oil painting is sort of evidence for when we are trying to argue against Burckhardt's secularism concept of the Renaissance.