Webinar 1

EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR | “The Genius of Michelangelo’s Sistine Ceiling”
Presented by Dr. William E. Wallace
with Additional Commentary by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero

If any work of art exemplifies artistic genius, it is this well-known masterpiece. No matter how familiar the work, no matter the trials of getting into that crowded space, few visitors have not felt awestruck standing under this titanic achievement. Like a handful of timeless monuments – the pyramids, the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China among them — the Sistine never fails to astonish us.

In many ways the ceiling is a compendium: of Michelangelo’s art, of the Renaissance, of Christian theology. Like Verdi’s Requiem or Milton’s Paradise Lost, the ceiling is a transcendent work of genius that is never exhausted through looking or describing. In the words of the great German writer, Johann Goethe: “Until you have seen the Sistine Chapel, you can have no adequate conception of what man is capable of accomplishing.” Professor Wallace, a world authority on Michelangelo, will illuminate this masterpiece and help you see it with fresh eyes.

William Wallace is the Barbara Murphy Bryant Distinguished Professor of Art History at Washington University in St. Louis. In addition to being an extremely popular classroom teacher, he is an internationally recognized authority on the Renaissance painter, sculptor and architect, Michelangelo Buonarroti. He was one of a select group of scholars, curators, and conservators from around the world invited to confer with the Vatican about the conservation of Michelangelo’s frescos in the Sistine Chapel.

Professor Wallace has published extensively on Renaissance art: in addition to more than 90 articles and essays (including two short works of fiction), he is the author and editor of eight different books on Michelangelo, including the award winning, Michelangelo: The Complete Sculpture, Painting and Architecture (1998), Discovering Michelangelo (2012), and a biography of the artist, Michelangelo: The Artist, the Man and his Times (2010/11), which is available in paperback. His most recent book, Michelangelo, God’s Architect (2019) focuses on the artist’s late life and his greatest creation: the building of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

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

Webinar 2

EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR | “Monsters and Marvels in Renaissance Italy”
Presented by Dr. Meghan Callahan
with Additional Commentary by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero

During the Renaissance, disabilities or genetic differences could be classified as monstrous, marvellous, or a combination of both. Dwarfs, such as the famous Morgante, worked at ducal courts as buffoons and servants. The “marvellous hairy girls” of the Gonzales family, whose father Petrus passed on hypertrichosis universalis, were recorded in a book of historic monsters by Ulisse Aldrovandi and their portraits painted by Lavinia Fontana.

In this talk, we’ll examine the implications on the lives of some of the people classified as marvellous monsters. We’ll also discuss how women were seen as carrying responsibility for the child’s appearance. When unusual births occurred, they were believed to have resulted from shocks to pregnant women or as punishment for irreligious behaviour. Some, such as the Monster of Ravenna, could also be seen of portents of upcoming danger, war, or religious strife.

Dr. Meghan Callahan has lived and worked in London since 2006. Like Rocky, she earned her Master’s degree in Art History from Syracuse University as a Florence Fellow. She has a Ph.D. in Art History from Rutgers University. Meghan is the Assistant Director for Teaching and Learning at Syracuse University London, where she has taught art history and history classes on Italian Art in London and the UK; Women and Art: London and UK; and Underground London.

She worked on the reinstallation of the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and then with the sculpture dealer Patricia Wengraf. Meghan has published various articles and essays on the architectural patronage of the 16th-century mystic nun Sister Domenica da Paradiso, miraculous paintings in Renaissance Florence, and Italian Renaissance and Baroque sculpture.

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

Webinar 3

EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR | “Confessions of a Female Terrorist: Anna Laura Braghetti and the Red Brigades”
Presented by Dr. Nicholas Albanese
with Additional Commentary by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero

The years of domestic terrorism in Italy (gli anni di piombo) from the late 1960s until the early 1980s are still today largely shrouded in mystery. A few of the protagonists of the violent episodes of the period have, however, captured our imagination. One of these protagonists is Anna Laura Braghetti, a member of the Red Brigades who played a major role in the most dramatic act of political violence of the time: the kidnapping and eventual murder of Aldo Moro, one of the most important political figures of the age. In this presentation, I will talk about Braghetti’s role and discuss her own confessions of the episode, which she recounted in her book, Il prigioniero (The Prisoner), published in 1998.

Dr. Nicholas Albanese is Associate Professor of Italian in the Department of Modern Language Studies at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. He received his PhD from Indiana University in Italian Language and Culture and has taught extensively on Italian history, literature, and film both in Italy and the US. Dr. Albanese does research mainly on contemporary Italian history and culture with particular focus on Southern Italy and Sicily. His most recent publication discusses the ethics of story-telling in the works of the Sicilian author, Leonardo Sciascia. He is currently completing a project on 21st-century Italian apocalyptic fiction.

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

Webinar 4

EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR | “Leonardo da Vinci and The Controversy of the Virgin of the Rocks”
Presented by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero

In 1483, the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception commissioned Leonardo to paint an altarpiece for their chapel at the church of San Francesco Grande in Milan. Due to a disagreement regarding payment to the artist, it appears that the altarpiece was never delivered. This exclusive webinar will examine the controversy surrounding the two versions of the same subject – one in the Louvre and the other in the National Gallery in London.

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