Michelangelo & Leonardo Must-Sees
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| Michelangelo insisted he was a sculptor, not a painter. His only surviving easel painting (Holy Family, above) shows solid, statuesque people posed in a sculptural group — the work of a sculptor with a brush. |
No two artists embodied the spirit of the Renaissance more fully than Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) and Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). If you're a fan of these Renaissance men, you won't leave Europe until you've checked these masterpieces off your list.
Michelangelo
In Florence
- David and Prisoners, Accademia Gallery
- Pietà del Duomo, Duomo Museum
- Night, Day, and other statues done for the Medici tomb, Medici Chapels at the Church of San Lorenzo
- Bacchus, Bruto, and a minor David, Bargello Museum
- Holy Family easel painting, Uffizi Gallery
- "Michelangelo's House" (Casa Buonarroti) built on property Michelangelo once owned, containing some early works
- Michelangelo's tomb at Santa Croce Church
In Rome
- Sistine Chapel ceiling and The Last Judgment, Vatican Museum
- Dome of St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican
- Pietà (the famous one), inside St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican
- Capitol Hill Square (Campidoglio) atop Capitol Hill
- Moses and other statues from Pope Julius II tomb, St. Peter-in-Chains Church
- Christ Bearing Cross, Santa Maria sopra Minerva Church
Elsewhere
- Rondanini Pietà, Sforza Castle, Milan
- Madonna and Child sculpture, Church of Our Lady, Bruges, Belgium
- Slaves, Louvre Museum, Paris
- Entombment (unfinished painting), National Gallery, London
Leonardo
- Mona Lisa, Madonna of the Rocks, and John the Baptist, Louvre Museum, Paris
- His home and models of inventions, Amboise, Loire, France
- The Last Supper, Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan
- St. Jerome, Pinacoteca Gallery, Vatican Museum, Rome
- Annunciation and Adoration of the Magi, Uffizi Gallery, Florence
- Virgin and Child (cartoon) and Madonna of the Rocks, National Gallery, London
- Madonna and Child, Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany
- Lady with an Ermine, Czartoryski Museum, Kraków, Poland
Excerpted from the Renaissance chapter of Europe 101: History & Art for the Traveler by Rick Steves and Gene Openshaw.