Podcast - 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"

- Treskovich

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

- Historywrocky

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Episodes

Episode 132 – Florence: Strozzi Palace

Posted: July 28th, 2021

This podcast explores the architecture and history of one of the largest family palaces in Florence, built for the illustrious Strozzi family. After nearly a half-century of exile for their failed attempt at exiling the Medici, the fabulously wealthy banker Filippo Strozzi was the first of his famil...

Episode 131 – Florence: Rucellai Palace

Posted: July 21st, 2021

This podcast examines the architecture, authorship, and history of one of Florence's most important early Renaissance family palaces. Perhaps the most classically inspired of the 15th-century palaces in the city, the Rucellai Palace is a true Renaissance architectural gem. ...

Episode 130 – Florence (Santa Maria Novella): The Tornabuoni Chapel Frescoes by Domenico Ghirlandaio

Posted: July 14th, 2021

This podcast examines the extraordinary early Renaissance fresco cycle in the family chapel of Giovanni Tornabuoni, who was the uncle of Lorenzo the Magnificent de' Medici. It was while Ghirlandaio was working on these frescoes in Santa Maria Novella in the 1480s that a 13-year-old apprentice named ...

Episode 129 – Leonardo da Vinci’s 2 “Virgin of the Rocks” (Paris and London)

Posted: July 7th, 2021

In 1483, the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception commissioned Leonardo da Vinci and Ambrogio and Evangelista de Predis to paint an altarpiece for their chapel in the church of San Francesco Grande in Milan. Due to controversy regarding payment to the artists, it appears that the painting was ...

Episode 128 – Answers to Open Questions – Part VIII

Posted: June 30th, 2021

From the characters in Duccio's and Leonardo's Last Suppers, to Vasari's "Lives of the Artists", to why it took so long for the Renaissance to begin, to Raphael's overactive sex life, this episode answers the very questions that you ask me about the great art, artists, and history of the Italian Ren...

Episode 127 – Leonardo da Vinci’s Resume

Posted: June 23rd, 2021

In 1482, Leonardo da Vinci sent a letter to the then regent of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, in hopes of landing the position of court artist of the duchy of Milan. This episode will examine this letter, which is essentially the resume of the great artist, and how someone like Leonardo would qualify himse...

Episode 126 – An Interview with Maurizio Seracini -“Leonardo’s Adoration of the Magi: The Rediscovery of a Masterpiece”

Posted: June 16th, 2021

For over 500 years it was believed that the brownish monochrome look of the "Adoration" was the work of Leonardo. That is, until Maurizio Seracini’s in-depth scientific analysis of 2001 proved beyond a doubt that this was not true. This podcast includes an exclusive interview with Seracini that wi...

Episode 125 – Florence: Uffizi Gallery – Leonardo da Vinci’s “Adoration of the Magi”

Posted: June 9th, 2021

In 1481, Leonardo began work on a major altarpiece for the church of San Donato a Scopeto. At the same time, he sent his resume to the ruler of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, in hopes of landing the position of court artist for that duchy. This episode examines Leonardo’s painting of the Adoration of the...

Episode 124 – Leonardo da Vinci’s “Portrait of Ginevra de’ Benci” (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC)

Posted: June 2nd, 2021

This episode will examine Leonardo's groundbreaking portrait of a young Florentine woman named Ginevra de’ Benci, which is the only painting by the great Renaissance genius in the Americas. Exquisitely conserved, despite it being cut down, it is one of the earliest examples of a 3/4 frontal pose i...