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"

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

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

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Episodes

Episode 284 – Caravaggio’s “Martyrdom of St. Ursula”

Posted: June 26th, 2024

Located in the Palazzo Zevallos Stigliano in Naples, Caravaggio’s “Martyrdom of St. Ursula” is considered the great artist’s last painting. Depicting the moment when St. Ursula is shot at close range by an arrow and including a self-portrait of the artist in the background, the painting mark...

Episode 283 – Caravaggio’s “Denial of St. Peter”

Posted: June 19th, 2024

In the fall of 1609, shortly after returning to Naples in hopes of receiving a papal pardon, Caravaggio was ambushed by four men who severely disfigured his face. It was a few months later that Caravaggio painted the “Denial of St. Peter,” which was one of his last two paintings and that perhaps...

Episode 282 – Caravaggio’s “Adoration of the Shepherds”

Posted: June 12th, 2024

Painted for the Capuchin fathers at the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Messina, Sicily, in 1609, Caravaggio’s “Adoration of the Shepherds” is a moving spiritual scene within an impoverished and dilapidated setting....

Episode 281 – Caravaggio’s “The Raising of Lazarus”

Posted: June 5th, 2024

After spending some time in Siracusa, Sicily, Caravaggio – still on the run from the Knights of Malta - headed north to the town of Messina. There he painted another of his hauntingly beautiful late works, which, in this case, depicts Christ bringing Lazarus back from the dead. The disturbingly re...

Episode 280 – Caravaggio’s “Burial of St. Lucy”

Posted: May 29th, 2024

After his daring escape from the island of Malta, Caravaggio went to Siracusa, Siscily. There he painted one of his most haunting works – the “Burial of St. Lucy.” An oppressive yellowish light illuminates the macabre burial of the early Christian martyr whose head almost looks detached from i...

Episode 279 – Caravaggio: Back to Black

Posted: May 22nd, 2024

After having been invested into the Knights of Malta and producing two of his most beautiful paintings while he was on the island, Caravaggio finally seemed to have cleaned up his act. But, on the night of August 28, 1608, Caravaggio was involved in a near fatal assault on a superior officer and imp...

Episode 278 – Caravaggio’s “The Beheading of St. John the Baptist”

Posted: May 15th, 2024

While in Malta in 1608, Caravaggio painted one of his most sensational paintings – “The Beheading of St. John the Baptist.” Measuring 12ft. (3.7n) x 17ft. (5.2m), the massive oil on canvas work depicts the moment after the executioner had used his sword to decapitate the Baptist. We now see hi...

Episode 277 – Caravaggio’s “Sleeping Cupid”

Posted: May 8th, 2024

Caravaggio, still a fugitive from justice, left Naples for Malta in the second half of 1607 most likely because the sensational paintings he produced in Naples were drawing too much attention to him. When he arrived in Malta, he was inducted into the brotherhood and apparently changed his ways. One ...

Episode 276 – Caravaggio’s “Madonna of the Rosary”

Posted: May 2nd, 2024

Painted in 1607 while Caravaggio was in Naples, Italy, trying to elude the long arm of papal law for the murder he committed in Rome, the “Madonna of the Rosary” is Caravaggio’s most standard Baroque painting. While the patron is unknown, curiously, the painting went up for sale a few months a...