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Michelangelo Buonarroti and Leonardo da Vinci are two prominent masters of the 16th century that worked at the same epoch of the Renaissance. It is difficult to imagine that these artists were born at the same time and in the same city of Florence. But many biographers, historians and admirers of their works noticed that Michelangelo and Leonardo were competitors and even enemies.
Michelangelo Buonarroti and Leonardo da Vinci were two great men of art. Both of them were innovators of art. They used very bright and vivid images that will never be forgotten and will always be used by artists many centuries after. Both of them are distinguished from other artists by unconventional and unusual ways of transferring their ideas on canvas, stone or other material. Their works are praised during many centuries because of the vivid and bright colors, volume and depth in their works.
Of course their works were very different. Both artists used different techniques, but their works are distinguished by common ideas and some similarities. Thus, for example, they used very popular and well-known images from the Bible that gave inspiration for many artists before and after da Vinci and Michelangelo.
The observations of the common features of Leonardo and Michelangelo are the most vivid if to compare a work of each artist. Two distinct pieces of art will show the common features of the art style of both artists and the differences in their techniques.
One of the most Michelangelo’s works is the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The location of this piece of art is in Rome in the Church of St. Pietro. The images of the Chapel represent the most prominent stories from the Book of Genesis. That is the story of the creation of the Earth, Creation of Adam, the exile from the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve. These images are very symbolic. They mean rather much for people who belong to the Christianity. The most expressive technique used for those scenes is the combination of light and shade. This technique is called chiaroscuro. Light and shade are contrasted in many different ways and in various scenes on the ceiling. That was one of the facts that contributed to the extreme popularity of the Sistine Chapel. Every image is bright and very clear and can be easily viewed from the floor of the chapel. All the figures on the paintings are very true to life. Michelangelo proved himself to be the real expert of human’s anatomy as every body is very proportionally built and therefore all the people on the ceiling are like Greece athletes. Harmony is the most distinct feature of these images.
Not only the art of movement was the distinctive feature of Michelangelo’s work. He also preferred to use bright colors and lines that were also the important factor that grasped viewers’ attention. That can be proven by the fact that you want to look at the ceiling the very moment you enter the Chapel. It is impossible to draw the sight away from the paintings. And that is the most justified verification of the artist’s talent and professional skills.
Let’s dwell upon Leonardo’s The Virgin of the Rocks in order to discuss the differences and the common features of two great artists. The painting depicts two women that are surrounded by children. They seem to sit in a cave or in a stone cavern. The most prominent feature of da Vinci’s works is sfumato. That helps to achieve the depth of the color and therefore of the images on the painting. That also contributes much to the distance of different objects and people. Sfumato also deals with the darkness – light and shadows. The darkness and the dampness of the objects and people are achieved with the help of dark and light colors and the combination of light and shadow. The picture does not seem dark but it becomes mysterious, enigmatic. That produces a sense of mystery that is essential feature of all Leonardo’s paintings. That mysterious atmospheres makes a viewer ask why such bright images as young women and small children are placed in a dark cavern. They may have found a quiet and chilly place to rest or they may be hiding from someone. It is not the only mystery of Leonardo da Vinci. He is actually well-known for numerous mysteries and secrets that are not yet solved. The Virgin of the Rocks is one of the most prominent works of Leonardo da Vinci. The secret of this popularity of this and many other works is explained by Leonardo’s professional knowledge of human’s anatomy, as he dedicated a great part of his life studying this sphere.
Still there were a lot of differences between them. Though they both reached the highest position in the world of painting, they had different preferences in life. Michelangelo paid more of his attention to sculpture as he thought that he could emphasize the harmonious and the ideal body in sculpture in a more successful and prominent way. Michelangelo began his career as a painter but his most famous works are sculptures. But Leonardo first paid his attention to various aspects though his most famous works are paintings. The question of their impact on the art world is also discussed very often. During five centuries many great scientists and the connoisseurs of art argue who of the two great men reached more in their lives. It also argued whose influence on the world of art was greater. It is next to impossible to decide as both of them made an immense amount of work. The value (both material and cultural)of their works cannot be estimated adequately, as their pictures, sculptures, paintings, investigations, sketches and drafts are used even today and some of them are not surpassed. Michelangelo did his every work as an artist. That was his approach: to watch everything from the artistic point of view. He considered sculptures to be the best way to realize all his ideas, thoughts, projects, plans and intentions. The material used for sculptures did not seem rough for him. On the contrary it was the only possible way to emphasize the gentleness of human’s soul. Leonardo had quite a different approach. Paintings were mainly the way he could illustrate his ideas with. It was important to transfer his ideas somewhere, and paper was mainly a means for him. Paper was not the object of his work, but something he could use in order not to lose the important thought.
These two great painters were not only great artists, but also led a trace in sculpture, anatomy, engineering, architecture and many other spheres, some of them are not even related to each other.

 
Works cited:
La’Sarah-evette Patrice Motley . Michelangelo and Da Vinci: A Short Review of Two of Their Greatest Works.