Sign of the Times (AKA, "Madonna and Child")

"See, the Renaissance was an interesting period in Architecture history, because you had all these artistic disciplines running concurrently. They don't have the term "Renaissance Man" for nothing after all: All these guys we study as 'architects' are just as likely to be known for their sculpture or painting. "This is where something like the 'Madonna & Child'-effect, as I like to call it, comes in. What with it being such a popular motif, we have access to a bunch of different architects' interpretations of the same subject! And it's independent of their built works and architectural endeavors, so historians looking back now actually have a sort of litmus gauging the values & greater artistic climate of each generation in which we can understand how Architecture as a discipline engaged and evolved in response to these more fickle socio-political factors. "Which brings us, inevitably, to complete the circle: I give you, my 'Madonna and Child'!" *painting of lady and baby in capes and masks pulling superhero poses*

You gotta hand it to the Mannerists, though: It takes a kind of balls we've largely lost today to decorate your buildings with murals of buildings collapsing on horrified people... 


 CITATION FOR PANEL 2:
LEFT: The Small Cowper Madonna, Raphael, 1505.
RIGHT: Doni Tondo, Michelangelo, 1506.
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