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.
Episodes
Episode 153 – Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa - Posted: December 22nd, 2021
When Leonardo began painting the portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of the wealthy cloth merchant Francesco del Giocondo, in 1503, little did he know just how much employment he would generate for future art historians. From theories concerning her enigmatic smile, to the painting being a self-portra...
Episode 152 – The Divine Michelangelo Part VII – The David (Part III) - Posted: December 15th, 2021
This episode is the third and final part of a three-part podcast on the world's most celebrated statue. From the lack of Goliath's head, to the sling and hard-to-see stone in David's hands, to the expressive body language of the statue, this podcast will examine the unique iconography and local civi...
Episode 151 – The Divine Michelangelo Part VI – The David (Part II) - Posted: December 8th, 2021
This episode is the second of a three-part podcast on the world's most celebrated statue. From the original contract drawn up in 1463 - 12 years before Michelangelo was even born! - to Michelangelo's sculptural inheritance and eventual triumphant completion of the statue, to the city-wide commission...
Episode 150 – The Divine Michelangelo Part V – The David (Part 1) - Posted: December 1st, 2021
This episode is the first of a three-part podcast on the world's most celebrated statue. From its original location in Piazza della Signoria, to its move in the 19th century to a newly built museum, to the centuries of erosion and damage that the sculpture has suffered, this podcast examines the pro...
Episode 149 – The Divine Michelangelo Part IV – The Pietà - Posted: November 24th, 2021
The Pietà was Michelangelo’s first “number one hit.” At the ripe old age of 23, he produced one of the greatest statues of all time. The innocence, sensitivity, and technical virtuosity of this particular early work would never be achieved again in Michelangelo’s entire 72-year career. ...
Episode 148 – The Divine Michelangelo Part III – The Bacchus - Posted: November 17th, 2021
Michelangelo arrived in Rome for the first time in 1496 at the age of 21. His first important patron was the fabulously wealthy Cardinal Riario who wanted the young sculptor to carve a statue of the Roman god of wine that he could pass off as an antique. Surprisingly, Riario did not accept the finis...
Episode 147 – Answers to Open Questions – Part X - Posted: November 10th, 2021
From contemporary theories about Brunelleschi's dome, to Ghirlandaio's frescoes in Santa Trinita, to the abandoned design of semi-circular chapels on the outside of Santo Spirito, to Bernini's extraordinary early sculpture of Aeneas, this episode answers the very questions that you ask me about the ...
Episode 145 – The Divine Michelangelo – Part I - Posted: October 27th, 2021
Michelangelo Buonarroti’s artistic career spanned more than seven decades, during which time he produced some of the most extraordinary works of art in human history. This episode will examine the early years of the artist from his birth through his apprenticeship to his earliest teachers and his ...
