Painting

                This week we read Alberti's book "On Painting". In this book he tells us everything that goes into painting and his opinion of it. He thought that all paintings should have three things: a noble subject, few figures with graceful poses, and a small palette of colors. He felt that there were only four true genre of colors: fire which is red, earth which is ash, air which is blue-gray, and water which is green. Which if you didn't notice are the four basic elements. He also said that "the aim of the painter is to obtain praise, favor, and good-will for his work much more than riches". To do all of these things he says that a painter has to be a good man well versed in the liberal arts. We find out later in the book exactly how highly he thinks of painting when he says that painters are creators, which is comparing them to God.  I liked this reading a lot better than last weeks since I could actually read the book without getting to the next page and being completely lost.
          We also looked at a bunch of paintings this week during class. I liked how the painters would paint in a countryside or style of architecture to make the picture seem like it took place in that country. It was also interesting to learn about all the different characteristics of the painters themselves, like how Da Vinci had a short attention span and Michelangelo was the opposite and would spend all his time on the project until it was finished. I enjoyed hearing these because I have always seen and heard a lot about the paintings, but have never really learned anything about the people that painted them.