How to Ensure the DJ You Hire for Your Event Is the One the Shows Up to Your Event

So you've met with your DJ company for your event, and you are thrilled with the personality and presentation of the owner of the company. He promises to be there and deliver all of your requests as promised. But why do you hear of so many party planners complaining of having a different DJ than promised at their party?

There are many couples and party planners that experience this nightmare all over the country. Right here in Connecticut alone, there a lots of multi operator DJ companies that sub-contract their serves out to other DJ's.

There are thousands of couples tying the knot each year. Thats not to mention Mitzvahs, Company Events, Birthdays, School Functions and more. This a lot of events to be distributed among DJ companies. This leaves room for large firms to double, triple and over-book themselves. When a company grows into a large operation, sometimes quality is sacrificed in the form of outsourcing work. When a company gets offered higher paying, more convenient gigs in the time before your event, it becomes a tempting and irresistible option to send someone else, sometimes a random subcontractor to your event.

The following 3 tips can help you avoid this disaster:

1. Get a signed contract from you DJ service. Many clients tend to overlook the importance of this legal document. Many of my clients trust me so much that I have to remind them to sign the contract long after I have received an on-line payment. Getting the DJ's name on the contract ensures they are legally obligated to send that person.

2. Make sure your DJ company offers a money back guarantee. This along with the DJ's name on the contract will ensure the company will do everything in its power to make sure you are satisfied and delivered what you are promised. With this in mind, despite receiving your money back, once your event is ruined, no money can fix whats already been done. This leads me to the most important tip.

3. Build trust with your DJ company. By meeting them in person and determining their commitment to your satisfaction you can build a relationship based on mutual trust.

Use these 3 tips to help determine if your DJ company has a commitment to your total satisfaction, which will help make your special day stress-free and enjoyable. Over time you will be able to distinguish a professional from an amateur by how the remain committed to helping you along the way.

Hugo van der Goes and the Portinari Altarpiece

During the Renaissance there was a significant amount of trade between Italy and Flanders which impacted both areas culturally.  Florence was well known for its wool and Flanders for its cloth and tapestries.  During the 15th century Flanders was comprised of modern day Belgium, the Southern Netherlands and the Burgundian region of France and ruled by the Duke of Burgundy.  

The influence between Italy and Flanders can be seen in many paintings during the 15th and 16th centuries.  There were several wealthy Italian merchants and bankers who commissioned paintings from the highly sought after Flemish artists. 

 Annunciation, Closed Frontispiece to the Portinari Triptych, Hugo van der Goes, c-1473-78

One such example is the famous Portinari Altarpiece, so named because it was commissioned by the Portinari family, which was painted by the Flemish painter Hugo van der Goes.  Tommaso Portinari was a Florentine who worked for the Medici bank in the Flemish city of Bruges.  Over a century earlier the famous author Dante Alighieri wrote The Divine Comedy and in it Beatrice Portinari was his guide through Heaven.  Dante had loved Beatrice from afar since childhood and she became his muse after she had died young.  Tommaso Portinari was a descendant from the same family.

The Portinari Altarpiece was created for the church of San Egidio in the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence and it is now in the Uffizi Gallery.  This particular work is what is known as a triptych; an altarpiece having three panels, a central panel and two smaller side panels that fold together with hinges.  When closed there is another image known as the frontispiece.  A 15th century Flemish frontispiece was frequently painted using only shades of gray (known as grisaille).  The image on the front corresponds to what is going on inside, here we have an Annunciation where the Angel Gabriel tells the Virgin Mary she is to be the mother of Christ.  This grisaille frontispiece has the look of a marble sculptural relief.

 Portinari Altarpiece Triptych, Hugo van der Goes, c-1473-78, Uffizi Gallery

The Portinari Altarpiece is extremely large, 8’3” x 9’8” (253 x 301 cm).  The theme in the central panel is the Adoration of Christ.  The Holy Family is shown in the manger at Bethlehem surrounded by animals and angels and joined by shepherds.  Each side panel shows members of the Portinari family with their own patron saints.  This is an absolutely beautiful work, startling in its realistic details and jewel-like colors.  We will examine each of the three panels more closely.

 Adoration of Christ, Central Panel of the Portinari Triptych, Hugo van der Goes, c-1473-78

In the central panel there are several objects with symbolic significance in addition to the principle figures at Christ’s birth.  There are lilies in a vase that symbolize Mary’s virginity and purity, and the sheaf of wheat symbolizes the Last Supper.  In a smaller vase there are seven flowers, seven was a common number in Medieval and Renaissance art.  The Virgin had seven sorrows, there were seven sacraments, seven sins and seven virtues.  Three was the number of the holy trinity and four was the number of man (man had four limbs, seasons, elements, stages of life, etc.) and the number seven also symbolized a joining of man and God. One removed their shoes typically as a symbol of respect and the shoe we see would show that this is now holy ground.

The colors in paintings from this era are also symbolic, Mary wears the traditional deep blue which was associated with her.  Joseph wears a red robe, in Christian paintings red symbolizes the Blood and Passion of Christ.  The lilies in the vase are red, white and blue which also tie into the symbolism of Holy Blood, purity and the color of the Virgin.  If you look closely at the background of the central panel you can see that earlier the angels have announced the news to the same shepherds who are now worshiping Christ.  This repeating of figures within a frame is known as continuous narrative and is seen throughout art history from Ancient times through the Renaissance.

Tommaso Portinari and sons with Sts. Thomas and Anthony, Left Panel, 

Hugo van der Goes, c-1473-38

The Portinari’s had seven children and three of them are seen in the side panels along with their parents and their patron saints.  It was very common in Flemish art for the patrons who commissioned the work to include themselves in it.  Just as today when programs or events say “this was brought to you by” and list the individual or organization who paid for it, families or groups who paid for art were included in the artwork.  Though they would be included in a very reverential way, praying to the saints or holy family.  The family is split in two with the men on one side and the women on the other.  Each saint also holds a symbol which would make them easily recognizable to the viewer.  In the background we can see a very pregnant Mary with Joseph on the Flight into Egypt with a donkey, another example of continuous narrative.

Maria di Francesco Baroncelli and daughter with Sts. Mary Magdelene and Margaret, 

Right Panel, Hugo van der Goes, c-1473-78
 

On the right side we see Tommaso’s wife and daughter with St. Margaret (trampling a dragon) and St. Mary Magdalene (with a jar of ointment) and in the background we can see the three Magi on their way.  Notice the hairline of all the women in the painting, it looks like an error but in fact it was the style at the time in Flanders for a woman to pluck back her hairline and have a very high forehead.

Besides the fact that this painting is over life-size, we can tell it was a very valuable painting by the colors that were used.  Pigments that were earth tones were easy to find in rocks, clay and wood.  But the bright reds, blues and greens came from more expensive precious and semi-precious stones which were ground up.  The Portinari Altarpiece has nearly every color imaginable used in it and its size and level of detail took the artist several years to paint.  This work is truly one of the highlights of the Flemish Renaissance.

History as Seen through the Dutch Still-Life

Still-life painting rose to new popularity in the 17^th century, as the Protestant Netherlands broke away from the Catholic Church the use of religious subject matter was coming to an end in Dutch art.  At that time minor categories of painting such as still-life were explored more fully. 

Still-lives tell us a lot about history without the standard elements of a narrative painting.  They provide a context for seeing the influence that specific historical events had on culture.  For the contemporary Dutch artist “Still-Life” was too broad a term, instead each sub-genre had its own name, let’s look at four of these.

Floral Still-Life, Rachel Ruysch, 1704

Floral Still-Lives

The Dutch East India Company was founded in 1602 and Amsterdam  had a 21 year monopoly on trade with Asia.  New flowers were brought to Holland and these were a symbol of Dutch pride as they were obtained through the power of trade.  Every flower had its own symbolic meaning, flowers in painting were chosen for their symbols and not their appearance.  Look carefully, no two flowers are the same as they would be in a bouquet, in fact such arrangements would be impossible as the flowers were in bloom at different times of the year.

Floral still-lives were still popular a century after the Dutch East India Company was founded as can be seen in this work by Rachel Ruysch.  Ruysch worked in a dramatic and dynamic way and painted with startling realism.  Bees and butterflies had a significance which tied into a theme symbolizing Christianity.  The bee represented the Passion, its stinger referencing Christ’s crown of thorns.  The butterfly represented the resurrection and also the soul.  Flowers themselves embodied the fleeting nature of life, from buds and blooms to those that drooped and withered.

Breakfast Painting

Another sub-genre of still-life consisted of simple fare typical of a Dutch meal, known as breakfast paintings.  Food was shown on a table with a dark background and a monochromatic color scheme, such as this work by Clara Peeters. This particular type of painting became very popular in Haarlem.  Foods shown in breakfast paintings were Dutch staples and reminded viewers to follow moderation in all things. 

Breakfast Still-life with Bread, Cheese and Cherries, Clara Peeters

In the early 17^th century many foreign foods weren’t available, unlike the beer, bread, butter and cheeses that the Netherlands was famous for.  Herring and seafood were readily accessible and it was herring that the Dutch founded their trading companies on.  These local foods also signified patriotism and Dutch Pride.

Contemporary audiences would have seen countless symbolic messages . For example in this Still Life by Pieter Claesz there is a religious meaning, the fish was a symbol for Christ and the bread and wine for the Eucharist.  

Breakfast Still-Life, Pieter Claesz 

The Vanitas Painting

In Latin Vanitas means vanity and the Vanitas painting uses symbols to reflect on mortality.  The message for the viewer was a reminder that while earthly life is fleeting, your soul is eternal. 

While variations of the Vanitas had been used for centuries, its rise in Dutch art coincided after troubling times.  The Twelve Years Truce with Spain ended in 1621 and much of the next decade was spent under siege.  In 1624 a plague swept through Holland claiming nearly 10,000 lives, it returned in 1635 and struck most heavily in Leiden where 14,000 people died.  Possibly due to this Leiden become the center of this sub-genre.  

Vanitas, Pieter Claesz

The Vanitas became increasing popular in the 1620’s and went from metaphorical to an allegory of death.  Symbols of mortality included: skulls, bones, extinguished candles, timepieces, doused oil lamps and empty hourglasses. Pieter Claesz specialized in the Vanitas genre.

Independence of the Netherlands and the Banquet Still-Life

In the 2^nd half of the 17^th century there was a clear transformation in style as still-lives moved to elaborate banquet paintings.  1648 marked the year when the Peace of Westphalia treaty was enacted and peace was restored.  The Netherlands were finally recognized after eighty years of war with Spain as an independent country.  This time of prosperity was reflected through the still-life, and objects went from simple to exotic and luxurious.  The banquet painting replaced the Vanitas in popularity and demand, especially in Amsterdam. 

Still-Life with Lobster and Nautilus Shell, De Heem

The Dutch West India Company was founded and given a trade monopoly with the Americas in 1621.  In the 17^th century Amsterdam became the largest trading port in the world.  In general the Dutch enjoyed a higher standard of living and owning a still-life which represented the source of this wealth was desirable.  

In the 21st century we have such a wide array of goods at our fingertips that the scarcity of these objects in the 17th century Netherlands isn’t instantly recognizable.  The following is a list of where these goods came from-

From the Mediterranean: salt, wine, lemons, grapes and almonds.  From Asia: oranges, pepper, spices and tea.  From the Americas: tobacco, sugar, coffee and tropical fruit and birds.  In addition there was an incredible array of commodities: silver from France, glassware from Venice and from Asia porcelain, carpets and silk.

During each year more of these goods became available and thanks to the Dutch they were brought all over Europe.  This successful story of trade has been told in countless still-life paintings painted in the Dutch Golden Age.

Still life with fruit, roast, silver and glassware, porcelain and columbine cup, van Beyeren

Note: This blog is an excerpt from the paper I presented in October 2010 at the 7th Annual 

Northwest World History Association Conference, Objects and Their Meanings: 400 Years of 

History As Seen Through the Still-Life.

Another excerpt from this paper can be found in another blog post-
The Still-Lives of Meléndez and Goya

Suggested further reading on this subject:

Berger Hochstrasser, Julie. Still Life and Trade in the Dutch Golden Age. New Haven, CT and London, UK: Yale  University Press, 2007.

Ebert-Schifferer, Sybille. Still Life: A History. Translated by Russell Stockman. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1999.

Herzog, Hans-Michael. ed. The Art of the Flower: The Floral Still Life from the 17^th to the 20^thCentury. Bielefeld, Germany: Kunsthalle Bielefeld press, 1996.

Sander, Jochen. ed. The Magic of Things: Still Life Painting 1500-1800. Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Stadel Museum, 2008.

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Female Painters of the Italian Renaissance

Due to a variety of factors there were far fewer female artists than male in Italy during the Renaissance, but there were definitely several important women painters.  As most artists in the Renaissance were trained as part of an apprenticeship living with the master, it wouldn't have been a suitable atmosphere for a very young woman to live and train in.  Most young artist began an apprenticeship between the ages of 12-14 and typically female artists were trained by their fathers, husbands or other family members.

Unfortunately today their names aren’t often well known and I would like to briefly introduce the work and lives of three such important Italian female painters to my blog readers, we will look at them in chronological order.

The Chess Game, Sofonisba Anguissola, 1555, Museum Navrodwe, Poznan, Poland

Sofonisba Anguissola (1532–1625) was born and raised in the Lombardy region and was predominantly a portrait painter, during her life she lived at the court in Spain.  Anguissola was unusual in that she wasn't trained by a family member.  Instead her wealthy and well educated father wanted each of his seven children to be fully educated.  They were trained in painting, music, foreign language and literature and Anguissola was recognized right away to have a natural talent for painting.  Her father even had some correspondence with Michelangelo regarding her art.

She traveled to Sicily (both Lombardy and Sicily were under Spanish rule at the time) before being appointed to the Spanish Royal Court.  Anguissola appears to be the first artist who created a group portrait (such as the one above) where the sitters were shown immersed in daily activity.  Observe her clever take on the self-portrait (below) called Bernardino Campi Painting Sofonisba Anguissola from the late 1550's.  This both showed her own self-portrait and showed the fact that a well known artist had painted her.

Sofonisba Anguissola lived to the age of 97.

Bernardino Campi Painting Sofonisba Anguissola, Anguissola, late 1550's, 

Portrait of a Noblewoman, Lavinia Fontana, 1580, National Museum of Women in the Arts,

Lavinia Fontana (1552–1614) was a Bolognese painter, and the city of Bologna provided unique opportunities for women.  The University of Bologna was one of the first in Europe and women were able to study a variety of subjects there.  Lavinia Fontana trained with her father, Prospero Fontana, among his other students was the famous Ludovico Caracci.  Later the Caracci family opened the Accademia degli Incamminati in 1580, which was one of the first art schools and helped secure a new fame for Bolognese artists.  Fontana married and had many children, however in a reversal of typical roles her husband became her studio assistant and was the main caretaker for their children.  

Fontana was a successful and highly sought after painter in Bologna and her art supported the family with numerous commissions.  After a prominent Cardinal from Bologna was made Pope, she and her family moved to Rome and she continued a successful painting practice there.

As a painter Fontana was known for her use of  Venetian coloring, and dramatic and naturalistic subjects, she painted both portraits and large-scale religious scenes. 

Still-Life with Apples and Peaches, Fede Galizia, 1607, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Fede Galizia (1578–1630) was a Milanese still-life painter.  After the Reformation of the church, many painters in Northern, Protestant countries turned away from religious painting and some of the less important subcategories of painting such as still-live and landscape became more popular.  This then had an effect on all painting as Catholic countries such as Italy and Spain also developed a tradition of still-life painting.  Moving away from narrative and figurative work gave women more of a chance to practice art.  As it was, women would not be permitted to practice drawing from a male nude model in a life drawing class, thus making it much harder to paint accurate looking figures.


 Galizia's father was a well known miniaturist painter, and from him Galizia learned to paint a variety of subjects and genres, including also painting miniatures and portraits.  However Galizia was best known for her extremely realistic still-lives which are composed using a very strong light source and vibrant coloring such as the two examples seen here.

White Ceramic Bowl with Peaches and Red and Blue Plums, Fede Galizia, 1610

Silvano Lodi Collection, Campione, Italy

John Everett Millais and the Pre-Raphaelite Ophelia

Ophelia was the tragic heroine in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet and a popular subject 19^th in century painting.  Typically Ophelia is shown sitting by the brook where she drowned wearing a long white dress.  Ophelia had gone mad after her potential husband, King Hamlet of Denmark, killed her beloved father Polonius.  In the play it is unknown whether she accidentally fell in the brook or purposely drowned herself.

Ophelia, John Everett Millais, 1852, Tate Britain

In the 1852 version by John Everett Millais she has already died. Millais was one of the founding members of the short lived but influential group of 19th century painters known as the “Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood” which also included Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Holman Hunt.  The group was revolutionary in its time (it was founded in 1848) as they always painted each exact detail from life and nature, unlike many painters they did not seek to idealize their subjects.  The group sought inspiration from Medieval and early Renaissance sources and emulated those artists up until the time of Raphael (around 1520). 

One reason that Ophelia was a popular theme is that it fit in with the aims of the group and-

"embodied the Brotherhood's initial aims in their keen observation of the natural world and depiction of subjects that lead the viewer to contemplate moral issues of justice, piety, familial relationships, and the struggle of purity against corruption."**

The Pre-Raphaelites have always intrigued me, I admire their work but their personal lives were even more interesting; the lives of the artists, their families, models and patrons are woven together and then unfold like an epic soap opera.  Part of this story can be told in one of the most impressive paintings, Ophelia.

Millais painstakingly made studies of all the components of the painting before pulling them together into one work.  He spent hours sketching and painting outdoors to capture each detail of the plants, trees and water.  Millais worked on this painting for nearly a year and for Ophelia he used a professional model named Elizabeth “Lizzie” Siddal who was a frequent muse of the Pre-Raphaelites. 

Ophelia, (detail) John Everett Millais, 1852, Tate Britain

Millais had Siddal pose in a tub of water to correctly capture how her hair and dress would have floated.  Each time she posed he kept the tub of water warm with many oil lamps, and on one instance failed to notice when they went out as he was so immersed in his painting.  She didn’t tell him when the water cooled so as not to break her pose but ended up getting pneumonia.  Her father was enraged to hear of this but Millais paid for a doctor.  Siddal continued to model for the group, eventually marrying Rossetti in 1860.

This painting was critically acclaimed but earlier Pre-Raphaelite paintings were ridiculed.  The prominent British art critic, art historian and author, John Ruskin was among those that praised the naturalism of the group from the start.  The same naturalism was used in a portrait of Ruskin also painted by Millais (below).  Millais was invited along on the family's vacation in Scotland so that he could paint Ruskin's full length portrait in the Pre-Raphaelite manner.  Millais spent hours outside sketching and painting the rocks and the water, and when they returned to London he had Ruskin continue his pose by placing him at the top of a staircase.

However one strange twist in the Pre-Raphaelite story took place on the very trip to Scotland where this portrait was painted.  The artist Millais noticed that the relationship between Ruskin and his wife seemed tense and strained.  At that time Ruskin’s young wife Euphemia “Effie” Ruskin, who had been married to him for over 5 years confided in Millais that her marriage had never been consummated.  She and Millais had become good friends over the years and she even modeled for him on occasion.  Her disclosure led to their eventual annulment in 1854 and in 1855 she married Millais.

John Ruskin, John Everett Millais, 1853-54, Private collection

Especially in Victorian England this caused a huge scandal and also a great deal of embarrassment to all parties.  Ruskin was looked on with pity, Effie was looked at as an unfaithful spouse and Millais was seen as breaking up a marriage.  However it does seem that they were both relieved to get an annulment, Effie and John Everett Millais went on to have a long happy marriage with eight children.  Ruskin did not remarry but after this incident he continued to have a successful and influential career as a writer and art critic.  

Ruskin's friendship with another of the Pre-Raphaelite painters, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, led to his great interest in the work of Rossetti’s fiancé, who was Lizzie Siddal (the model for Ophelia).  Siddal had been working in a millinery shop when a friend of the Pre-Raphaelites met her and asked her to model.  After working as an artist's model for a few years Siddal had started to become interested in pursuing art.  After she became engaged to Rossetti, he taught and encouraged her and she made dozens of paintings.  Ruskin was so impressed with her work that he bought all of it and paid for her expenses for the next few years.  Ruskin’s patronage allowed her to stop modeling and support herself so that she would be free to continue to paint full time.

Beata Beatrix, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1864-1870, Tate Britain

Ruskin also paid for her to travel to Paris and then to the south of France to benefit her health as she was often ill.  Her doctor had prescribed the very addictive and potentially fatal tonic of laudanum, which was a narcotic drug.  After Siddal and Rossetti married in 1860 she quickly became pregnant.  However she didn’t realize how dangerous it was to take laudanum throughout the pregnancy.  

This had extremely tragic results, she gave birth to a still born child and several months later she was found dead in their home due to a laudanum overdose in 1862.  In a heartbreaking case of life imitating art, (as the heroine Ophelia that she is so often associated with) it is unknown whether she accidentally overdosed on the drug or purposely killed herself due to her grief. Rossetti was beside himself with anguish and painted this memorial to his wife Lizzie, Beata Beatrix, a title which referenced Beatrice Portinari, the beloved of the Renaissance poet after whom he was named, Dante Alighieri. 

**Source of quote: The Pre-Raphaelites | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Further reading:

Hawksley, Lucinda. Lizzie Siddal: Face of the Pre-Raphaelites. New York: Walker & Co., 2004.

Marsh, Jan. Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood. London: The Cromwell Press, 1985.

Leonardo, Michelangelo and the Renaissance Cartoon

In Italian the word for paper is carta and the suffix "–one" means large, the “cartone” was a very large sheet of paper.  These cartone or cartoons as we have come to call them were specifically: large and very detailed drawings used to create paintings and frescoes.  These differed from sketches or studies in that they were the same size as the intended painting and were created to transfer the image.

The drawings were made to transfer the images to the painting surface in one of two ways.  In the first the cartoon acted as a type of stencil, thousands of small holes pricked the edges of each line and a bag of charcoal dust was “pounced” upon the cartoon.  In the second the cartoon acted as carbon paper, the back of the image was coated with charcoal dust and the image was carefully traced.  Since either process was messy and damaged the original paper, very few of these survive.  Those that remain were typically created for paintings that weren’t executed.

Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and John the Baptist, Leonardo da Vinci, 1499-1500,

The National Gallery (London) 

charcoal and white chalk on paper, perhaps with a brown wash, 4’6” x 3’4” (141.5 x 104.6 cm)

Leonardo did paint a version of his Virgin and Child with St Anne and John the Baptist, which today is in the Louvre, but it does differ from this drawing.  This particular cartoon has survived remarkably intact and is an astonishingly beautiful work of art.  Today this is at The National Gallery in London and it may be one of the most incredible works of art I have seen in person.  I have always felt that the few paintings that Leonardo made simply glow and outshine every other work which is in their presence in a museum setting, even if those works are masterpieces as well.  His cartoon may even outshine his paintings, using only charcoal and white chalk on paper (perhaps with a brown ink wash) he manages to create an illusion of depth and convey emotion.  Look at the image closely and you can see that he used very few lines and used the combination of charcoal and chalk to bring his method of chiaroscuro (modeling form with lights and darks) to the drawing.  When it was seen by other artists, they were amazed that he was able to fit several life-size figures in a cartoon which was only 4'5" x 3'4'.  This was due to the fact that the figures were all sitting, it provided inspiration for generations of artists.

The 16^th century artist and writer, Giorgio Vasari wrote a book, The Lives of the Artists (called originally The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects) which was published in 1550 and updated several years later.  This book included a biography and historical account for dozens of Renaissance artists.  His book is still used as an important source for art historical research today and in his chapter on Leonardo he writes of this cartoon when it was on public display in Florence in 1501:

“Once completed and set up in a room, brought men, women, young and old to see it for two days as if they were going to a solemn festival in order to gaze upon the marvels of Leonardo which stupefied the entire populace.”*

Epifania, Michelangelo Buonarroti,1550-53,

The British Museum, black chalk on twenty-six sheets of paper, 7’6” x 5’4”

Michelangelo sadly burned many of his preparatory drawings and sketches so that he wouldn’t share his techniques and process with others and also so that people would think he was divinely inspired and not see any work that didn’t measure up to his standards.  However Michelangelo had extremely high and probably unrealistic expectations for his work, even his small sketches show his artistic genius. There are only two surviving cartoons from him and the Epifania is one of them.  This work, done on a large scale is over seven feet high and was created on twenty six sheets of paper.  Cartoons were often done on separate sheets of paper or the originals were cut up to make the transfer process easier. The Epifania was drawn for a project that was never created and the actual subject of the cartoon is unknown.

Let’s compare and contrast the two cartoons: Michelangelo’s cartoon has a greater level of detail in the drawing but he doesn’t use the same level of chiaroscuro that Leonardo’s cartoon had.  Unlike Leonardo's cartoon he has focused less on the emotion between the figures and more on anatomy.

After the fresco lost its popularity in the 16^th century and painters frequently drew directly on their canvases this style of Renaissance cartoon fell out of use.  Over the next century the word cartoon took on its modern meaning of another type of drawing, frequently used in political satire and later as illustrations.

*Vasari, Giorgio. The Lives of the Artists. Translated from Italian by Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.