REBUILDING THE RENAISSANCE PODCAST
Available on your favorite platform
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.
Episodes
Episode 181 – Raphael’s “Transfiguration” (Vatican Museums)
Commissioned in 1516, four years before Raphael's premature death at the age of 37, by Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, the "Transfiguration" was Raphael's last great altarpiece. The painting is a sort of summation of Raphael's artistic evolution, and not only synthesizes the artistic styles of Leonardo ...
Episode 179 – Rome: The Villa Farnesina – Renaissance Pleasure Palace Part I
The Villa Farnesina was the first Renaissance pleasure palace and belonged to the fabulously wealthy banker Agostino Chigi. The decorations of the palace delighted many a pope and international ruler. On one occasion, dinner was served on golden tableware that guests were invited to throw into the T...
Episode 178 – Rome – Raphael’s Room of the Fire in the Borgo
The last of the apartments decorated by Raphael for Popes Julius II and Leo X was the Room of the Fire in the Borgo, painted between 1514-1517. Although largely executed by Raphael's student and friend Giulio Romano, the frescoes represent Raphael's mature period and were completed only 3 years befo...
Episode 177 – Rome – Raphael’s Room of Heliodorus
In 1511, after completing the decoration of the Stanza della Segnatura, Raphael began painting the walls of Pope Julius' private audience room. Named after its principal scene - The Expulsion of Heliodorus - the room contains four of Raphael's most beautiful paintings. This episode will explore the ...
Episode 176 – Rome – Raphael’s School of Athens Part III
This is the final episode of a three-part series dedicated to Raphael's great fresco in the Vatican Museums. It addresses the extraordinary Classically-inspired architectural setting of the painting, as well as identifying the celebrated philosophical and scientific personages depicted. Lastly, this...
Episode 175 – Rome – Raphael’s “School of Athens” Part II
This episode explores the decorative context of Raphael's famous fresco. From Apollo on Mt. Parnassus, to the allegorical figures of the cardinal virtues, the extraordinary "Disputa", the paintings around the "School of Athens" are fundamental to its meaning....
Episode 174 – Rome – Raphael’s “School of Athens” Part I
Although Raphael's fresco known as the "School of Athens" is the most celebrated painting of the Stanza della Segnatura, it is actually a part of a much larger program. This episode addresses the original function of the room, which was Pope Julius II's library, and how all of Raphael's paintings ar...
Episode 173 – Raphael – The Prince of Painters
This episode examines the extraordinary career of one of the most important painters in history – Raphael Sanzio da Urbino – better known simply as “Raphael.” Along with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, Raphael heralded in the period known as the High Renaissance. Combining grace, eleganc...
