On-Line/Live Event
FREE WEBINAR | “Superstar Saints of the Italian Renaissance” with Dr. Rocky Ruggiero
March 11, 2025
1 hour
EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR BUNDLE
“Exclusive Webinars in October”
Presented by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero and special guests Dr. Anne Proctor, Dr. Meghan Callahan, and Dr. Paolo Alei
Dates & Times:
Thursday, October 6, 13, 20, 27
2:00 – 3:00pm ET | 11:00am – 12:00pm PT |
7:00 – 8:00pm London
EXCLUSIVE WEBINARS | “Exclusive Webinars in October”
Each webinar will include a 45-minute lecture followed by 15-minutes of Q&A.
Please note:
EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR | “Sculptor-Rivals: The Neptune Fountain Competition at the court of Cosimo I de’ Medici”
Presented by Dr. Anne Proctor
with Additional Commentary by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero
In 1558, an enormous block of marble intended for the central statue of a new public fountain arrived in Florence. Duke Cosimo de’ Medici had a sculptor in mind for the project, but other artists persuaded him that they should compete for the commission. This ‘competition’ transformed Florence into a city-wide demonstration of modeling skills as these rival sculptors, old and young, constructed full-sized plaster models in workshops and porticoes throughout the city. The agency of this group of artists distinguishes this tournament from the guild competitions of the previous century, even as the sculptors of Renaissance Florence would never again directly compete for a major commission.
Anne E. Proctor serves as Associate Dean for the School of Humanities, Arts, and Education and serves on the RWU Education Advisory Board. She holds an M.Ed. in Arts in Education from Harvard University (2001), an M.A. in Art History from Syracuse University (2007), and a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Texas at Austin (2013, dissertation: “Vincenzo Danti at the Medici Court: Constructing Professional Identity in Late Renaissance Florence”). Proctor’s research focuses on sculpture, collaborative commissions, court spaces, and the professional status of artists in late Renaissance Italy. Her scholarship addresses what it meant to be a local artist and a court artist during the sixteenth century, an era when many sculptors traveled between courts within Italy and across Europe and moved within dynamic professional networks. Recent work includes papers on the foundation of the Accademia del Disegno in Florence and the role of the architect, painter, and author Giorgio Vasari at the court of duke Cosimo I de’ Medici. She is currently working on a book project that examines the careers of sculptors who served the Medici court in Florence in the third quarter of the sixteenth century.
The webinar will include a 45-minute lecture followed by 15-minutes of Q&A.
EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR | “Recipes of Caterina Cibo & Caterina Sforza”
Presented by Dr. Meghan Callahan
with Additional Commentary by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero
Renaissance noblewomen were responsible for maintaining the health and beauty of their families and themselves. Armed with knowledge passed down among women and assisted by servants, the Duchesses Caterina Cibo and Caterina Sforza experimented with herbs, oils, food and minerals to concoct new remedies. In this talk we’ll discuss how they created potions and balms and passed down their knowledge to future generations.
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.
EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR | “Il Gigante: Michelangelo and ‘The David'”
Presented by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero
Michelangelo’s “David” has been described as the greatest sculpture of all time. Standing 17ft. 1in. in height, and weighing just over 5 tons, the sheer scale of the statue is breathtaking. Yet, there is much more to this sculpture than just its size. Join Dr. Rocky for this exclusive webinar where he will explore the history, iconography and importance of the sculpture that probably best defines the Renaissance and the great artist who produced it.
The webinar will include a 45-minute lecture followed by 15-minutes of Q&A.
EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR | “Bernini and Borromini: Rival Geniuses in Baroque Rome”
Presented by Dr. Paolo Alei
with Additional Commentary by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero
This lecture will take you through one of the most fascinating streets of Baroque Rome, the Strada Pia. From the Entrance Gate, designed by Michelangelo, to Piazza del Quirinale, with its monumental central obelisk, this monumental axial avenue boasts some of the greatest buildings designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) and Francesco Borromini (1599-1667). Initially, the two artists worked together at Saint Peter’s Basilica and Palazzo Barberini. Then, professional competitions and divergent approaches led to a certain rivalry and above all to the creation of different, astonishing achievements. On the Strada Pia, Bernini elaborated his emotional theatrum sacrum in the Cornaro Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria and in Sant’Andrea al Quirinale, while Borromini manifested his Neoplatonic thought in the complex design of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane. Borromini, introspective and irascible appreciated by a cultivated elite; Bernini, the superstar beloved by all patrons, changed the skyline of Rome but gave their best in the representation of spiritual elevation toward God in the buildings of the Strada Pia. This celebrated rivalry ended with the death of Borromini in 1667. The architect committed suicide like Seneca (by falling on his own sword). Bernini survived him by another decade, continuing working until the age of 81.
Paolo Alei is an art historian from Rome. He is Professor of art history at the University of California (the UCEAP academic program in Italy) and Curator of the Museum of the Castle of Bracciano near Rome. He has a Master from Columbia University where he specialized on Venetian Renaissance Painting and a PhD from Oxford University where he completed a dissertation on the influence of the Natural History by Pliny the Elder on Italian Renaissance art. He has published several essays on Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, and a book on the history of the Venice Carnival. Recently, he coedited a monumental book about the patronage of the Orsini family in Central Italy. He is co-organizer of EMR (Early Modern Rome), one of the greatest conferences about Renaissance and Baroque culture.
The webinar will include a 45-minute lecture followed by 15-minutes of Q&A.
