Details

EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR | “Illuminating Caravaggio: Light and Dark in and around His Paintings” 
Presented by Dr. Gary Radke
with Additional Commentary by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) revolutionized European painting with his dramatically lit compositions.  Never before had an artist made darkness such an equal partner with light, inspiring an international vogue for scenes taking place at night and in minimally lit interiors. Join Gary Radke as he explains the origins and significance of Caravaggio’s tenebrist (shadowed) style and then introduces you to his new research on the actual settings in which Caravaggio’s religious paintings were seen. Many of Caravaggio’s works must have been very challenging to decipher before the invention of electric illumination. But by considering the dynamic effects of sunlight and candle light in these spaces and collaborating with experts in computer light simulation, Radke is beginning to reconstruct an historically accurate appreciation of the light around as well as in Caravaggio’s work.

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.

Lecturer

Dr. Gary M. Radke is Professor Emeritus of Art History at Syracuse University, where he directed the Florence Graduate Program in Renaissance Art and was named Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence. His publications on Italian medieval and Renaissance art range from a book on the thirteenth-century papal palace in Viterbo to essays on the patronage of nuns in Renaissance Venice. He curated major loan exhibitions throughout the United States on Italian Renaissance sculptors Lorenzo Ghiberti, Luca della Robbia, Andrea del Verrocchio, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci. His widely distributed college textbook on Italian Renaissance art, co-authored with John Paoletti, appeared in four editions and in Spanish and Chinese translations. Gary is past president of the Italian Art Society and a fellow of the American Academy in Rome.

In retirement Professor Radke and his wife Nancy have settled into an historic home in Savannah, Georgia, where Gary is now a trustee of the Historic Savannah Foundation and chair of its Architectural Review Committee. He continues to write scholarly articles and enjoys lecturing in Italy for various cultural groups.