Podcasts By Artist - Rocky Ruggiero

REBUILDING THE RENAISSANCE PODCAST

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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"

- Valoreev

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

- Historywrocky

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

- Treskovich

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All Episodes

Episode 337 – Canova’s “Three Graces”

Posted: July 2nd, 2025

Antonio’s Canova’s statue of the “Three Graces” is considered a benchmark of beauty. It’s elegantly erotic representation of the Three Graces huddled in an intimate composition is a fitting final representation of the subject born in the ancient Greco-Roman world and later revived in the R...

Episode 336 – Canova’s “Paolina Bonaparte as Venus Victrix”

Posted: June 25th, 2025

Napoleon’s younger sister, Paolina Bonaparte, married Prince Camillo Borghese in 1803. One year later the prince commissioned Antonio Canova to carve his new wife as the mythological goddess of chastity, Diana. The licentious Paolina laughed off the suggestion claiming that no one would be believe...

Episode 335 – Canova’s “Perseus Triumphant”

Posted: June 18th, 2025

Carved in only a few months between 1800-1801, Canova’s “Perseus Triumphant” is one of history’s great sculptures. It exists in several versions, the most important of which are in the Vatican and Metropolitan Museums. Clearly inspired by Cellini’s earlier version, Canova also depicts the ...

Episode 334 – Canova’s “Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker”

Posted: June 11th, 2025

In 1802, Napoleon courted Antonio Canova to go to Paris to make a bust of him. Four years later, Canova instead completed an 11ft. (3.5m) free-standing idealized nude statue depicting Napoleon as the Roman god of war, Mars. Surprisingly, Napoleon was not pleased with the sculpture, describing it as ...

Episode 333 – Canova’s “Cupid and Psyche”

Posted: June 4th, 2025

Carved by Antonio Canova in 1787 and today located in the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Neoclassical sculpture of “Cupid and Psyche” is one of history’s most beautiful and popular sculptures. The romantic sculpture depicts Cupid cradling the head of his lover after reviving her from a supernatur...

Episode 332 – The Life of Antonio Canova

Posted: May 28th, 2025

Antonio Canova was Europe’s most famous artist round the year 1800. His sublime Neoclassical style sculptures – such as “Cupid and Psyche,” ”Perseus with the Head of Medusa,” and the “The Venus Victrix (Paolina Bonaparte)” - are some of the most beautiful in the history of art. This ...