EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR | “Genuine to Genteel: Antonello, Raphael and the Sixteenth Century Refashion of Mien” 
Presented by Dr. Peter Weller
with Additional Commentary by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero

Instrumental to early modern portraiture, the depiction of an authentic physical countenance in Italy notably initiates in Padua, with Altichiero and Menabuoi — decades before Florence or Venice. However, the painted face from life, framed, and free-standing — that is to say, the visage exempted from confines of donorship or heraldry, neither displayed nor embossed upon walls, floors, tombs of church or house — is a breakthrough event of the 1400s. Within that era, realism’s conditio sine qua non is Antonello da Messina, and his paintings of the quotidian Italian in both provincial as well as Christological visage. Raphael’s 1500s, however — be it from politics, money, and the rebirth of Rome as world art center — delivered the face and physique of opulence and lux that would toss the Antonello picture of the commoner into the back seat of cultural obsession. This webinar will track these major shifts of patron, subject, style, and geography from the workaday folk of Antonello’s fifteenth to the well-heeled persona of Raphael’s early sixteenth century portraits.

The webinar will include a 45-minute lecture followed by 15-minutes of Q&A.

Please note:

• Your participation is confirmed once you have purchased your ticket. You will receive the Zoom Link to join the presentation circa 30 minutes before the start time.
• VIDEO RECORDING of the webinar will be available for unlimited streaming at your convenience for 7 days after the event.

Weller has appeared in more than 70 films and television series, including RoboCop (1987) and its sequel RoboCop 2 (1990) (in which he played the title character), The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984), and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013). He has also appeared in such films as Woody Allen’s Mighty Aphrodite (1995), the Oliver Stone-produced The New Age (1994), and David Cronenberg’s adaptation of William Burroughs’s novel Naked Lunch (1991).

While enrolled at North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas), he played trumpet in one of the campus bands. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and began his acting career after attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (class of 1972). In 2004, Weller completed a Master of Arts degree in Roman and Renaissance Art at Syracuse University, and occasionally taught courses in ancient history at the university.

• IMBD
• Wikipedia