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.
All Episodes
Episode 247 – Titian’s “Pietà” (Accademia Gallery, Venice)
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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.”
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Episode 246 – Titian’s “Crowning with Thorns” (Alte Pinakothek, Munich)
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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)
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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 242 – Paolo Veronese’s Church of San Sebastiano in Venice
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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.
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Episode 227 – Titian’s “Venus and Adonis” (Prado Museum, Madrid)
Part of Titian’s six mythological paintings for King Philip II of Spain known as the “Poesie,” the innovative and sensual “Venus and Adonis” was the most popular. We know this because some 30 versions of the painting exist today, all of which can be traced back to 2 main prime types – th...
Episode 226 – Titian’s “Danaë” (Capodimonte Museum, Naples)
In 1544, Titian produced the first of at least six versions of the Danaë subject for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, nephew of Pope Paul III. Shortly thereafter, a second version was painted and sent to King Phillip II of Spain. The immense popularity of Titian’s sensual painting style combined with...
Episode 225 – Titian’s “Poesie” Paintings
Titian’s six “poesie” – or “painted poems” – depict subjects from classical mythology and were painted for King Philip II of Spain. The paintings represent a landmark in the history of western art and exemplify the Venetian master’s late style that was characterized by dramatic subj...
Episode 205 – Titian’s “Penitent Magdalene” (Pitti Palace)
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Posted: December 21st, 2022
In 1531, Titian painted the incredibly sensuous image of Mary Magdalene for Duke Federico II of Mantua who, in turn, gifted it to the celebrated poetess Vittoria Colonna. By combining the two best-known versions of Mary Magdalene – prostitute and penitent – Titian produced a profound image of sp...
Episode 204 – Titian’s “Venus of Urbino” (Uffizi Galleries)
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Posted: December 14th, 2022
Titian was the greatest Venetian painter of his age. His reputation and achievements in 16th-century Europe were rivaled only by Michelangelo. Venetian artists introduced their own particular style and vision into Renaissance art, as seen in the Venus of Urbino. Suddenly, female nudity and eroticis...
Episode 162 – Titian’s “Allegory of Sacred and Profane Love”
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Posted: February 23rd, 2022
This episode examines one of the milestone masterpieces of Renaissance painting. Baffling art historians for centuries as regards its iconography, the early work by Titian is one of the treasures of the Borghese Gallery.
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