On-Line/Live Event
FREE WEBINAR | “The Top 10 Chapels of the Italian Renaissance” with Dr. Rocky Ruggiero
January 21, 2025
1 hour
EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR BUNDLE
“Exclusive Webinars in January”
Presented by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero and special guests Dr. Joe Luzzi, Dr. Jeremy Wasser, and Susan Jaques
Dates & Times:
Thursday, January 9, 16, 23 & 30, 2025
2:00 – 3:00pm ET | 11:00am – 12:00pm PT |
7:00 – 8:00pm London
EXCLUSIVE WEBINARS | “Exclusive Webinars in January”
Each webinar will include a 45-minute lecture followed by 15-minutes of Q&A.
Please note:
EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR | “Translator or Traitor? Personal Reflections on Translating Dante’s Vita Nuova“
Presented by Dr. Joe Luzzi
The Italians have a saying traduttore, traditore – that is, the “translator” of a book can often be a “traitor” to it if he fails to capture both its letter and its spirit! In this in-person event, Joseph Luzzi, the Asher B. Edelman Professor of Literature at Bard College, will join us to discuss his forthcoming translation of Dante’s Vita Nuova (New Life), which was Dante’s first book and a moving account of his youthful love for his muse, Beatrice, and his discovery of his passion for poetry. Professor Luzzi will share his experiences in trying to remain faithful to Dante’s original language, while at the same time bringing his own personal understanding and interpretation of Dante’s work into this early masterpiece by Italy’s so-called sommo poeta, supreme poet.
EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR | “Lions and Tigers and Bears: Medieval Bestiaries and Medieval Medicine”
Presented by Dr. Jeremy Wasser
In the North African city of Alexandria, sometime between the 2nd and 4th centuries CE, a Christian scholar put pen to parchment and produced a manuscript known as the Physiologus. The title of the work speaks directly to the identity of this unknown author and is often translated to mean “the naturalist” or “the natural historian.” But someone who was referred to as a physiologus in that ancient time was not a biologist or zoologist in the modern sense. Rather, in the words of translator and scholar Michael Curley, a physiologus was “…one who interpreted metaphysically, morally, and finally mystically the transcendent significance of the natural world.”
In the hands of its original Greek-speaking Christian author, the Physiologus was a book of natural history whose stories served as a moral exegesis of the Bible. The work is composed of approximately 48 chapters; each one describing an animal, plant or mineral, whether real or mythological. The sources for these tales go back to even earlier folk legends from Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Hebrew and Indian cultures. Though the original Greek Physiologus was lost in antiquity, numerous copies were produced, some with additional stories. The earliest known translation dates from the 5th century and is written in Ethiopian while the oldest surviving Latin manuscripts date from the 8th century. Versions of the Physiologus appeared in many languages including Anglo-Saxon, Icelandic, French, German and Arabic.
More than just moral fables, the Physiologus also refers to the medical and magico-medical properties of the flora and fauna described. A chapter, for example, is devoted to the (mythical) charadrius bird whose excrement can cure blindness. Even more extraordinary, if brought before a sick patient, the charadrius will predict if the patient will survive. If the bird faces towards the patient, he will live. If the bird faces away the patient will die. Beginning in the 12th century these stories served as the primary source material for the manuscripts that we now call bestiaries.
Bestiaries are books of natural and unnatural histories. These collections, many fantastically illuminated, show us what was thought to be true about the biology of the animals and plants and the geology of the minerals described including details on their use in medicine.
In this talk I will trace the connections between the Physiologus and medieval bestiaries as a way of illustrating the understanding of natural science and medicine in the Middle Ages. We will explore manuscripts from across Europe and examine the Islamic/Middle Eastern tradition of natural historical works. Come and take a walk on the wild side as we explore these medieval books of beasts and their important role in medieval medicine!
EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR | “‘A Great Moral Lesson’: the Restitution of Italy’s Stolen Art Treasures”
Presented by Susan Jaques
Throughout his military campaigns, Napoleon Bonaparte systematically plundered art, with a preference for Italian paintings and antiquities. After Napoleon’s defeat, the Duke of Wellington vowed to teach the French “a great moral lesson” by spearheading the restitution of stolen art at the Louvre. Pope Pius VII, back in Rome after house arrest in France, dispatched sculptor Antonio Canova to Paris to negotiate the return of Italy’s cultural patrimony. For months, Canova went head-to-head with the Louvre’s wily director, Dominique Vivant Denon. “A Great Moral Lesson”: the Restitution of Italy’s Stolen Art Treasures” will highlight the battle that took place in Paris and the incredibly high stakes — from the ancient bronze horses of St. Mark’s and “Venus de’ Medici” to Raphael’s “Transfiguration” and Caravaggio’s “Deposition.” In the end, only about half of Italy’s looted art was returned. Masterpieces that remain in France to this day include Titian’s “The Crowning with Thorns,” Veronese’s “Wedding at Cana” and Perugino’s “Marriage of the Virgin.”
EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR | “When Holy Wood beats Hollywood”
Presented by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero
Few legends are as remarkable as the legend of the “True Cross” – the alleged cross upon which Jesus Christ was crucified. Derived from wood from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden, worshipped by the Queen of Sheba, preserved by King Solomon, and refashioned into a cross in 33 CE by a group of Romans in Jerusalem looking to crucify a Nazarene, the True Cross would then go lost for centuries. It was the mother of Emperor Constantine, St. Helen, who went on quest and finally rediscovered it in the 4th century CE. This great story is immortalized in two spectacular fresco cycles by Agnolo Gaddi in Florence and Piero della Francesca in Arezzo, which tell the tale of one of Christianity’s greatest relics. Join Dr. Rocky as he explores this great legend and the magnificent art which celebrates it.
