Itinerary
DAY 1: THURSDAY APRIL 18, 2024
3.00pm – Check into the luxurious Claridge’s Hotel (elegant Mayfair district of London)
6:00pm – In-hotel lecture by Dr. Rocky “Italian Renaissance Masterpieces in London”
7:30pm – Welcome Dinner ate the famous Sartoria Restaurant
DAY 2: FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2024
10:30 am – Visit #1 to the National Gallery: Italian Renaissance Art
During our 1st visit to the National Gallery, we will examine the remarkable collection of medieval and early Renaissance Italian art, including four 14th-century paintings by Duccio, the “Madonna and Child” by Masaccio, the “Baptism of Christ” by Piero della Francesca, the “Venus and Mars” and “Mystical Nativity” by Botticelli, the “Agony in the Garden” and “Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan” by Bellini, as well as the celebrated “Arnolfini Wedding Portrait” by the Flemish painter Jan van Eyck.
12:30 pm – Free for lunch
4:00 pm – Visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum is home to some of the world’s greatest Italian Renaissance masterpieces. The collection includes Donatello’s mesmerizing “Ascension/Giving of the Keys” marble relief sculpture and his powerful bronze “Lamentation,” Botticelli’s “Portrait of a Lady,” Bellini’s “Portrait of Mehmed II,” and seven spectacular full-scale tapestry cartoons by Raphael.
6:00 pm – Free evening
DAY 3: SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024
10:30 am – Visit #2 to the National Gallery: Italian Renaissance Art
During our 2nd visit to the National Gallery, we will examine the remarkable collection of High/late Renaissance and Baroque Italian art, including Leonardo da Vinci’s “Virgin of the Rocks, Michelangelo’s two early unfinished easel paintings “The Manchester Madonna” and the “Lamentation,” Raphael’s “Madonna of the Pinks” and “Portrait of Pope Julius II,” Titian’s “Bacchus and Ariadne” and two “Poesie,” Artemisia Gentileschi’s self-portrait as “St. Catherine of Alexandria,” and Caravaggio’s spectacular “Supper at Emmaeus.”
12:30 pm – Free for lunch
3:00 pm – Visit to the Collection Gallery of the Royal Academy of Arts
Our visit to the Collection Gallery of the Royal Academy of the Arts will allow us to enjoy one of Michelangelo’s rare relief sculptures, the “Taddei Tondo,” which he probably carved while also working on the statue of “David.” We shall also examine the 8m/26ft. long copy of Leonardo’s “Last Supper,” which is attributed to one of his closest followers, as well as the many casts of celebrated classical statues.
4:00 pm – Free afternoon
7:30pm – Farewell Dinner at the celebrated Il Borro Restaurant
DAY 4: SUNDAY APRIL 21, 2024
11:00am – Check out of hotel / Arrivederci Amici!