Jonathan Jones is a British art critic and journalist. He has written three books: The Lost Battles: Leonardo, Michelangelo and the Artistic Duel That Defined the Renaissance; The Loves of the...

Jonathan Jones is a British art critic and journalist. He has written three books: The Lost Battles: Leonardo, Michelangelo and the Artistic Duel That Defined the Renaissance; The Loves of the Artists; and Tracey Emin: 2007–2017. He served as a judge for both the 2009 Turner Prize, a highly competitive annual prize that is awarded to a British visual artist, and the 2011 BP Portrait Award, a prestigious worldwide portrait competition. Since 1999 he has written for the Guardian, which is where this essay was published in 2018.

► Genres: Evaluation, Observation, Arguing for a Position Before you read, consider what you already know about Leonardo daVinci and Rembrandt. Where does your knowledge come from? As you read, notice how Jones presents the comparison between the two artists. How do his rhetorical choices affect your response to his piece?