Podcasts-2 - Rocky Ruggiero

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Rebuilding The Renaissance podcast will explore the development of the art, architecture, culture and history in Italy, from ancient Roman times through the Renaissance. Listeners will develop an understanding of Italy’s role in the development of Western civilization and an ability to appreciate and understand works of art in their historical context.

"No one brings the Renaissance to life better than Rocky"

- Treskovich

"No one brings the Renaissance to life better than Rocky"

- Historywrocky

"No one brings the Renaissance to life better than Rocky"

- Valoreev

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Episodes

Cities Artists Theory Answers to Open Questions Interviews

Episode 264 – Caravaggio’s “Amor Vincit Omnia” (“Love Conquers All”)

Posted: February 7th, 2024

In the summer of 1602, Caravaggio painted what one art historian described as “the most nakedly libidinous of the painter’s secular mythological works.” Employing the same model that he previously used for his “St. John the Baptist,” Caravaggio creates a disturbingly realistic sexual metap...

Podcast 263 – Caravaggio’s “Incredulity of St. Thomas”

Posted: January 31st, 2024

It was for one of his most important patrons, the fabulously wealthy banker, Vincenzo Giustiniani, that Caravaggio painted one of his most moving works – the “Incredulity of St. Thomas.” The skeptical apostle Thomas probes Christ’s wound with his finger in a disturbingly graphic way that onl...

Episode 262 – Answers to Open Questions XIX

Posted: January 24th, 2024

From the source of the canvases used for large Venetian paintings in the Renaissance, to the death and burial of Masaccio, to the tradition of Madonarri in the Renaissance, to the difference between chiaroscuro and tenebrism, and much, much more - this episode answers the very questions that you a...

Episode 261 – Caravaggio’s “St. John the Baptist” and the “Taking of Christ”

Posted: January 17th, 2024

After the “Supper at Emmaus,” Caravaggio produced two more paintings for the Mattei brothers. The first was the unorthodox “St. John the Baptist” that today is in the Capitoline Museums in Rome and is a rather unabashed representation of a naked youth embracing a ram and lacking any conventi...

Episode 260 – Caravaggio’s “Supper at Emmaus”

Posted: January 10th, 2024

Located in the National Gallery in London, Caravaggio’s “Supper at Emmaus” was painted in 1601 for the influential Cardinal Girolamo Mattei. The painting depicts the episode from the Gospel of Luke where two apostles dine with a traveler and realize to their astonishment that their companion i...

Episode 259 – Caravaggio’s “Conversion of St. Paul”

Posted: January 3rd, 2024

The second painting that Caravaggio produced for the Cerasi Chapel in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome, Italy, depicts the dramatic conversion of St. Paul on the road to Damascus. While certainly inspired by Raphael’s and Michelangelo’s earlier interpretations of the same subject, Ca...

Episode 258 – Caravaggio’s “Crucifixion of St. Peter”

Posted: December 27th, 2023

Caravaggio’s interpretation of St. Peter’s particular martyrdom – crucifixion in an upside-down position – for the Cerasi Chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome, Italy, is a moving example of realism and physicality. Three executioners struggle to lift the burly fisherman who seems to embr...

Episode 257 – Caravaggio’s Cerasi Chapel

Posted: December 20th, 2023

Located in the Augustinian church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome, Italy, the Cerasi Chapel contains two paintings by Caravaggio – the “Crucifixion of St. Peter” and the “Conversion of St. Paul.” The paintings were commissioned by Monsignor Tiberio Cerasi, who was the treasurer general o...

Episode 256 – Caravaggio’s “St. Matthew and the Angel”

Posted: December 13th, 2023

In 1602, Caravaggio signed his final contract with the Contarelli family to paint an altarpiece for their family chapel in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome, Italy. The first painting (now lost) that Caravaggio produced was rejected because it depicted St. Matthew as a rustic and rather s...

Episode 255 – Caravaggio’s “Calling of St. Matthew”

Posted: December 6th, 2023

The “Calling of St. Matthew” was the second of three paintings that Caravaggio executed for the Contarelli Chapel in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome, Italy. It depicts the dramatic moment when Christ called Matthew, the tax collector, to follow him in his mission. Caravaggio transfo...

Masterpieces of the Uffizi Gallery – Part I

Posted: December 5th, 2023

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Masterpieces of the Uffizi Gallery – Part II

Posted: December 5th, 2023

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The Duomo of Florence

Posted: December 5th, 2023

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Ten Beautiful Italian Cities

Posted: December 5th, 2023

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Episode 254 – Caravaggio’s “Martyrdom of St. Matthew”

Posted: November 29th, 2023

The first of three paintings that Caravaggio painted for the Contarelli Chapel in the official French church of Rome, San Luigi dei Francesi, the “Martyrdom of St. Matthew" was the artist’s first large scale painting. It depicts the assassination of the saint and evangelist at high mass in a d...

Episode 253 – Caravaggio and the Contarelli Chapel

Posted: November 22nd, 2023

Only July 23, 1599, Caravaggio signed the contract with the heirs of Cardinal Matthieu Cointerel (“Contarelli” in Italian) to produce three paintings for their family chapel in the official French church of Rome called San Luigi dei Francesi. This episode examines the history of the church, chap...

Episode 252 – Caravaggio’s “Rest on the Flight into Egypt,” “Penitent Magdalene,” and “Judith and Holofernes”

Posted: November 15th, 2023

This episode addresses three more of Caravaggio’s innovative early paintings in Rome, Italy. Each of the paintings treats conventional subjects in unconventional ways, including using well-known prostitutes as models for the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene, and introducing unprecedented violence in...

Episode 251 – Caravaggio’s Paintings in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Posted: November 8th, 2023

The Uffizi Gallery in Florence contains three paintings by Caravaggio. Two of them, the “Bacchus” and “The Medusa Shield” were sent by Cardinal Del Monte to Grand Duke Ferdinand de’ Medici, while the third, the “Sacrifice of Isaac,” was acquired later. All three paintings reflect Carav...

Episode 250 – Caravaggio’s Early Works (Sick Bacchus, Boy with Basket of Fruit, Fortune Teller, Cardsharps, Musicians)

Posted: November 1st, 2023

After an inauspicious beginning to his artistic career in Rome, Caravaggio’s photorealistic style and “street” iconography began to draw the attention of some important patrons. The most important of the patrons was Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte, whose patronage launched Caravaggio’s ca...

Episode 249 – The Life of Caravaggio – The Cursed Painter

Posted: October 25th, 2023

Known as the “pittore maledetto” – or the “cursed painter”, Caravaggio not only revolutionized painting at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries with his “hyper-realistic” style, but he also literally turned Rome on its head with his often-criminal behavior. Spending much of his time...

Episode 248 – Answers to Open Questions XVIII

Posted: October 18th, 2023

From the water source of the Neptune Fountain in Florence, to the animal symbolism of the Nativity subject, to the restorations of Masacccio’s Brancacci Chapel and “Holy Trinity,” to how Leonardo’s notebook ended up in the Windsor collection, to the accuracy of historical fiction movie and t...

Episode 247 – Titian’s “Pietà” (Accademia Gallery, Venice)

Posted: October 11th, 2023

Left unfinished at this death in 1576, Titian’s “Pietà” was intended to serve as his funerary monument. Its extreme use of loose brushstroke and unconventional color combinations led one art historian to describe the painting as an example of “chromatic alchemy.” ...

Episode 246 – Titian’s “Crowning with Thorns” (Alte Pinakothek, Munich)

Posted: October 4th, 2023

Painted in the last year’s of Titian’s life, the “Crowning with Thorns” in Munich revisited a theme that he painted 30 years earlier in a painting today located in the Louvre in Paris. Examined side by side, there is perhaps no better way to demonstrate the dramatic evolution of Titian’s s...

Episode 245 – Titian’s “Venus Blindfolding Cupid” (Borghese Gallery, Rome)

Posted: September 27th, 2023

Painted around 1565, this exquisite painting exemplifies Titian’s later style with its loose brushstroke, sophisticated use of color, and delicate tonal transitions. The meaning of the painting is somewhat controversial as it does not fall into any traditional iconographical schemes and has conseq...

Episode 244 – Paolo Veronese’s “Feast in the House of Levi” (Accademia Gallery, Venice)

Posted: September 20th, 2023

In 1573, Paolo Veronese was commissioned by the Dominicans at the church of Saints Giovanni and Paolo in Venice to paint a “Last Supper” to replace an earlier version by Titian that had been destroyed by fire. The result was a massive image full of numerous figures engaged in a hedonistic celebr...

Episode 243 – Paolo Veronese’s “Wedding Feast at Cana” (Louvre, Paris)

Posted: September 13th, 2023

In 1562, Veronese was commissioned to paint a massive painting of the “Wedding Feast at Cana” to adorn the end wall of the refectory of the Benedictine monastery of San Giorgio in Venice, Italy. What he produced was an extraordinary impression of typical Venetian revelry in the late 16th century...

Episode 242 – Paolo Veronese’s Church of San Sebastiano in Venice

Posted: September 6th, 2023

Paolo Veronese is the third member of the great Venetian late Renaissance trio that also includes Titian and Tintoretto. The church of San Sebastiano in Venice was decorated over 15 years with paintings exclusively by Veronese and is a veritable shrine to the genius of this great painter. ...

Episode 241 – Tintoretto’s Scuola di San Rocco 5 (Chapter Hall Paintings Continued)

Posted: August 30th, 2023

This episode addresses the paintings in the second half of the Chapter Hall of the Scuola, which focus specifically on the theme of food with scenes of “Manna Falling from Heaven” and the “Last Supper.” ...

Episode 240 – Tintoretto’s Scuola of San Rocco 4 (The Chapter Hall Paintings)

Posted: August 24th, 2023

Once he completed his paintings for the Albergo, Tintoretto continued the decoration of the Scuola with a series of paintings for the Chapter Hall. These paintings are some of Tintoretto’s best and demonstrate his revolutionary approach to painting. ...

Episode 239 – Tintoretto’s Scuola di San Rocco P. 3 (The Albergo Paintings)

Posted: August 16th, 2023

Tintoretto’s paintings in the Albergo (board room) of the Scuola of San Rocco are dramatic representations of the Passion of Jesus Christ. From his tragic “Ecce Homo” all the way to his Hollywood-style “Crucifixion,” Tintoretto produced some of the most innovative and theatrical paintings ...

Episode 238 – Tintoretto’s Scuola di San Rocco P. 2 (The Competition)

Posted: August 9th, 2023

In 1564, the Scuola of San Rocco announced a competition for the commission for the ceiling paintings of the Albergo (board room) of their meeting house. True to his nature, Tintoretto surprised and outwitted all his competitors. Find out how in this episode! ...

Episode 237 – Tintoretto’s Scuola of San Rocco (Venice)

Posted: August 3rd, 2023

The Scuola Grande of San Rocco in Venice, Italy, is the only active “scuola,” or confraternity, in the city. It has maintained its original appearance and magnificent decoration – nearly all of which was by Tintoretto - for the last five centuries. This podcast explores the history of the scuo...

Episode 236 – Answers to Open Questions XVII

Posted: July 27th, 2023

From the original location and patron of Donatello’s “Mary Magdalene,” to the influence of Giotto on Taddeo Gaddi, to the original meeting hall of the Florentine government, to the dome of St. Peter’s, to the authenticity of the recently discovered “Flaget Madonna” attributed by some t...

Episode 235 – Gallery of the Maps (Vatican Museums)

Posted: July 19th, 2023

Stretching 120m in length with its walls covered entirely in 16th century maps of various Italian city states, principalities, and islands, the Gallery of the Maps is one of the most spectacular spaces in the Vatican Museums. ...

Episode 234 – Giambologna’s “Rape of the Sabine” (Piazza della Signoria, Florence)

Posted: July 12th, 2023

Still located in the Loggia dei Lanzi where it was installed in 1583, the “Rape of the Sabine” was produced for Grand Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici. While the group of three figures may seem like a fitting representation of the mythological event where Roman men took Sabine women as their wives, th...

Episode 233 – Vasari’s “Last Judgment” (Florence Cathedral)

Posted: July 5th, 2023

The dome frescoes of Florence Cathedral cover nearly an acre of dome surface, making it the world’s largest fresco. Begun by Giorgio Vasari in 1572 and completed by Federico Zuccari in 1579, the main subject of the fresco is the Last Judgment and incudes some strikingly graphic imagery in the Hell...

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"Rocky is a favorite and one of the best art historians we’ve ever used. He has led our family on occasion where are high school and college kids praised how Rocky made art "interesting" and "relevant", while his interactive style held everyone’s attention"

Michael Chesser

President and Founder Chesser Group Inc., Los Angeles CA

"We recently traveled to Florence with our twin daughters and we wanted them to experience the rich art history of Florence in a more personalized basis. We were grateful that Rocky agreed to this assignment. His Knowledge, love and enthusiasm for the arts was contagious. It was the highlight of our trip!"

Alan L. Rivera

CFO and General Counsel, Millbrook Capital Management, Inc.

"I can say that Rocky Ruggiero is the best among the very best. I have yet to encounter a more precise, informative and commanding teacher or conductor through the beauty and magnificence of Florence and Italy"

Peter Weller

Actor, Director, Writer, Musician, Scholar