Video Review

The first video that I choose to review was the Drawings of Michelangelo.  I choose this video because I am not at all familiar with his work.  I do know that he is famous and I would like to learn more about his work. I learned that is work is very sacred that it is only viewed by a few serious scholars.  Michelangelo was his biggest critic he drew many drawings and works but only a fraction of those exist today.  His works throughout his lifetime were based on the same elements and were consistent in that the form is the same in his work at a young adolescent age all the way till his elder years.  He used his works to look back on and learn about himself and his drawings and improve and take things from them.  Michelangelo taught himself to sculpt and his works have survived and some are still in churches and museums.  This video did not really relate to the text.  The text did not go near as in depth of the level that the video did.  The video focused on how his works were created and evolved.  The film for me was very interesting and I learned more from watching the video than I could have from reading the book.  The video actually shows how he incorporates elements and such in his works.

The second video that I choose to watch is Leonardo da Vinci: The Mind of the Renaissance.  I choose this video for many of the same reasons I choose to view the first video.  I know Leonardo de Vinci is very famous but I do not know much about him other than the few paragraphs in the book that I had read.  At a very young age Leonardo showed a passion for drawing and comprehension of understanding complex concepts.  This guy was brilliant he whore so many hats such as painter, sculptor, scientist, engineer, inventor, and many others.  He sketched many things that we still use or did not use until todays times.  Leonardo was very criticized in his times and his work was not really appreciated for many years.  He started out slow and I’m sure he did not realize his work would still be studied centuries later.  I found the video particular interesting when it showed how de Vinci created and designed tools for War.  Like the Michelangelo video this video really expanded what was in the book.  The book talked about how he was so good and renowned in so many fields but the video really puts more visuals on this.  I enjoyed watching the video and I feel that I have a decent understanding of how important De Vinci was and why his work is still affecting us today.

The third video that I choose to watch was   El Greco: Rediscovering a Master.  I choose to watch this video because I know nothing about the title and do not understand what it even means.  I learned that in fact El Greco was a painter, and a very famous one at that.  He was a master “self-taught” painter that came from a wealthy family.  At a very young age he had much artistic recognition and lived during the Spanish renaissance. He really lived all over Europe, primarily in Venice, and in Spain.  El Greco existed after Michelangelo’s and other famous artists and wanted his own mark in the art world and history.  He had high political ties and I wonder if this helped him to be more well-known and was easier for him to receive a claim to fame.  The video goes along with the text book.  I did not find this video as informative as the first two videos that I viewed.  It seemed that El Greco copied and really did not come up with any original ideas.  The video talked more about his background than work that he did. 

The last video that I choose to view was The Night Watch (Rembrandt).  I wanted to view this clip because like the other I do not know anything about Rembrandt and what he was famous for.  I am not familiar with the Night Watch and it sounds interesting and I would like to learn more about it.  I learned that the Night Watch is a painting that depicts Frans Banning Cocq’s militia company.  This picture has been stabbed, acid has been throw at it, and soaked with water and it still survived.  The detail and expression that is visible in this piece are what make it famous.  Over 1 million people go to the Museum a year to view this piece.  This video showed the picture that helped to preserve much of the history that was created by the civic militia.  I did see this piece in the book but the history that this video goes into about the piece is not explained in the textbook.  I enjoyed viewing this video because it went into great detail about the history and the thought behind this piece.  This piece just does not show a militia it depicts a major historical time period and famous people from centuries ago.  This video took a paragraph in the book and expanded it to a great understanding.