Shows
Rebuilding The RenaissanceSiena - The Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Cathedral Museum) The Museo dell'Opera del Duomo houses some of medieval Siena's most important masterpieces. Works such as Duccio's "Maestà" and stained-glass window, Giovanni Pisano's 13th-century facade sculptures, and Donatello's "Madonna del Perdono" are but a few of those masterpieces.
2025-09-2424 minRebuilding The RenaissanceFlorence - The Accademia Gallery While most people visit the Accademia Gallery in Florence, Italy, to see Michelangelo's great statue of "David," there is much more to this museum. The Accademia is also home to masterpieces by Botticelli, Lippi, Giambologna, Perugino, Andrea del Sarto and Pontormo, as well as Michelangelo's unfinished "Slaves."
2025-09-1724 minRebuilding The RenaissanceFlorence - Museum of Orsanmichele Built in the 14th century, the Museum of Orsanmichele was originally a grain market, but later turned into a church. The museum is housed inside of this church and includes a beautiful "Madonna and Child by Bernardo Daddi and a magnificent Gothic "Tabernacle" by Orcagna on the ground floor, as well as many sculptural masterpieces by Donatello, Ghiberti, Verrocchio, and Giambologna on the first floor. The upper-most floor of the museum offers breathtaking 360° views of the surrounding city of Florence.
2025-09-1022 minRebuilding The RenaissanceFlorence - The Casa Buonarroti Museum Once a property owned and lived in by Michelangelo, the Casa Buonarroti Museum was created by the famous artist's nephew to celebrate the legacy of his famous uncle. The museum contains Michelangelo's two earliest known sculptures - "The Madonna of the Stairs" and "The Battle of the Centaurs," his spectacular wooden model for the facade of San Lorenzo and the world's largest collection of Michelangelo drawings. There is also a group of paintings celebrating Michelangelo by important 17th-century artists including Artemisia Gentileschi.
2025-09-0323 minRebuilding The RenaissanceFlorence – The Bargello Museum Part III The collection of sculptures on the ground floor of the Bargello Museum in Florence, Italy, contains one of the world's most important collections of 16th-century sculptures, including Michelangelo's "Bacchus" and "Pitti Tondo," Giambologna's "Mercury" and "Florence Triumphing over Pisa," and Cellini's wax bozzetto (or small model) for his "Perseus with the Head of Medusa."
2025-08-2724 minRebuilding The RenaissanceFlorence – The Bargello Museum Part IIThe collection of sculptures in the great hall of the Bargello Museum in Florence, Italy, located on the second floor, contains one of the world's most important collections of sculptures, including Ghiberti's and Brunelleschi's "Competition Panels," Donatello's marble and bronze "Davids" and "St. George," and Verrocchio's bronze "David."
2025-08-2029 minRebuilding The RenaissanceFlorence: The Bargello Museum - Part IThe building that houses the Bargello Museum in Florence, Italy, is the earliest example of civic architecture in Florence, built in 1255. Today it houses one of the world's greatest collections of Renaissance sculpture, including works by Donatello, Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, Verrocchio, Michelangelo, Giambologna, and Bernini.
2025-08-1324 minRebuilding The RenaissanceFlorence: Museo dell"Opera del Duomo (Cathedral Museum) Part 4This podcast explores the extraordinary artwork found on the second floor (Primo Piano) of the Cathedral Museum of Florence, including the beautiful belltower sculptures by Donatello, the "Cantorie" by Donatello and Luca della Robbia, and the Neo-Gothic façade proposals.
2025-08-0620 minRebuilding The RenaissanceFlorence – Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Cathedral Museum) Part IIIThis podcast examines two of the greatest sculptures of all time – Donatello's "Penitent Magdalene" and Michelangelo's "Florence Pietà" – which are part of amazing collection of the Museo dell"Opera del Duomo in Florence, Italy.
2025-07-3025 minRebuilding The RenaissanceEpisode 340 - Florence: Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Cathedral Museum) Part 2The Cathedral Museum of Florence, Italy, contains the three original bronze doors from Florence Baptistry by Andrea Pisano and Lorenzo Ghiberti. This podcast analyzes history, style, and influence of all three masterpieces.
2025-07-2323 minRebuilding The RenaissanceFlorence – Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Cathedral Museum) Part 1The Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Florence is one of the world's premier sculpture museums with works by Donatello, Ghiberti, and Michelangelo. This podcast examines the history of the museum and its spectacular reconstruction of the original early 14th-century façade of Florence Cathedral.
2025-07-1625 minRebuilding The RenaissanceAnswers to Open Questions XXV From Leonardo making marzipan sculptures and his "Madonna of the Yarnwinder," to whether Jesus died of cardiogenic shock or asphyxiation, to the recently discovered "Judith and Holofernes" and "Ecce Homo" attributed to Caravaggio, to how to transfer panel paintings to canvas, to how to recognize a Michelangelo, to whether being familiar with historical context increases your appreciation of a work of art, this episode answers the very questions that you ask me about the great art, artists and history of the Italian Renaissance.
2025-07-0931 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCanova's "Three Graces"Antonio's Canova's statue of the "Three Graces" is considered a benchmark of beauty. It's elegantly erotic representation of the Three Graces huddled in an intimate composition is a fitting final representation of the subject born in the ancient Greco-Roman world and later revived in the Renaissance.
2025-07-0221 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCanova's "Paolina Bonaparte as Venus Victrix"Napoleon's younger sister, Paolina Bonaparte, married Prince Camillo Borghese in 1803. One year later the prince commissioned Antonio Canova to carve his new wife as the mythological goddess of chastity, Diana. The licentious Paolina laughed off the suggestion claiming that no one would be believe her a virgin and chose to be represented scandalously as the semi-nude Venus instead.
2025-06-2520 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCanova's "Perseus Triumphant"Carved in only a few months between 1800-1801, Canova's "Perseus Triumphant" is one of history's great sculptures. It exists in several versions, the most important of which are in the Vatican and Metropolitan Museums. Clearly inspired by Cellini's earlier version, Canova also depicts the Greek hero as he contemplates his victory over the Gorgon as he stares at her severed head.
2025-06-1821 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCanova's "Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker"In 1802, Napoleon courted Antonio Canova to go to Paris to make a bust of him. Four years later, Canova instead completed an 11ft. (3.5m) free-standing idealized nude statue depicting Napoleon as the Roman god of war, Mars. Surprisingly, Napoleon was not pleased with the sculpture, describing it as "too athletic."
2025-06-1119 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCanova's "Cupid and Psyche"Carved by Antonio Canova in 1787 and today located in the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Neoclassical sculpture of "Cupid and Psyche" is one of history's most beautiful and popular sculptures. The romantic sculpture depicts Cupid cradling the head of his lover after reviving her from a supernatural slumber, while she reaches up to him preparing to receive a kiss.
2025-06-0423 minRebuilding The RenaissanceThe Life of Antonio CanovaAntonio Canova was Europe's most famous artist round the year 1800. His sublime Neoclassical style sculptures – such as "Cupid and Psyche," ""Perseus with the Head of Medusa," and the "The Venus Victrix (Paolina Bonaparte)" - are some of the most beautiful in the history of art. This podcast will explore the life and career of the great Italian sculptor.
2025-05-2822 minRebuilding The RenaissanceThe Ceiling Fresco of Sant'Ignazio in RomeOne of Rome's most spectacular works of art is the illusionistic fresco that covers the ceiling of the church Sant'Ignazio. It was painted in 1685, covers nearly 40m of ceiling surface and depicts the "Glorification of St. Ignatius of Loyola" in an extraordinary example of trompe-l'oeil perspectival painting.
2025-05-2118 minRebuilding The RenaissanceRome: The Capuchin CryptLocated on the famous Via Veneto in Rome, Italy, the 17th-century Capuchin Crypt is one of the world's most unique examples of funerary decoration. It consists of a series of rooms decorated with human bones! Each room has a different theme based on the type of bone used – skulls, pelvises, leg bones, etc., resulting in an absolutely fascinating – some might say macabre – display of human creativity!
2025-05-1419 minRebuilding The RenaissanceThe Spanish StepsBuilt between 1723 and 1725, the Spanish Steps in Rome, Italy, are one of the most famous staircases in the world. Consisting of 135 stairs spread over different levels, the steps were immortalized in the famous movie "Roman Holiday" and today are one of the most popular destinations of the "eternal City."
2025-05-0716 minRebuilding The RenaissanceEpisode 328 - The Trevi Fountain (Rome)The Trevi Fountain is arguably the world's most famous fountain! It was designed in 1732 by the Roman architect Nicola Salvi for a competition staged by Pope Clement XII. Rushing water passes through massive allegorical sculptures and blocks of stones into a massive stone basin in a uniquely dramatic fashion.
2025-04-3020 minRebuilding The RenaissanceEpisode 327 - Answers to Open Questions XXIV From how many paintings Caravaggio produced, to visiting Florence at Easter time, to how form and color were applied in Renaissance painting, to an overlooked equestrian monument, to finding the wooden beams in Brunelleschi's dome, to the model used by Leonardo da Vinci in three of his most famous paintings, and much, much more - this episode answers the very questions that you ask me about the great art, artists and history of the Italian Renaissance.
2025-04-2333 minRebuilding The RenaissanceEpisode 326 - Borromini's Sant'Agnese in Agone (Piazza Navona)In 1653, Borromini was asked by Pope Innocent X to take over the building of his family church of Sant'Agnese in Agone in Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy. The result was a revolutionary façade design that tragically was not realized according to Borromini's plans.
2025-04-1623 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBorromini's Church of Sant'Ivo alla SapienzaBorromini began construction on another of his architectural masterpieces, the church of Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza in Rome, Italy, in 1642 for Pope Urban VIII. His curvilinear façade, bulging drum, and spiraling lantern are all eye-popping aspects of his design. But it is the extraordinary floor plan of the church which makes it unique – an equilateral triangle with semi-circular niches along its sides and corners cut off by inward swinging arcs.
2025-04-0919 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBorromini's Oratory of the FilippiniIn 1637, Francesco Borromini designed and began building an oratory – a place for public worship and musical performances – for the followers of St. Phillip Neri, known as the "Filippini." The façade of this oratory is another of Borromini's visionary architectural projects with its curved plan and unorthodox sculptural elements.
2025-04-0220 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBorromini's Church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (Part II)The cloister and façade of the church complex San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (better known in Rome as "San Carlino") are two of the most beautiful and revolutionary aspects of Borromini's design for this project.
2025-03-2619 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBorromini's Church of San Carlo alle Quattro FontaneThe church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (1634) - better known to the Romans as San Carlino ("little St. Charles") due to its small size - is one of the most revolutionary in the history of art and introduces the new architectural vision of a Baroque genius named Francesco Borromini.
2025-03-1925 minRebuilding The RenaissanceThe Life of Francesco BorrominiFrancesco Borromini is celebrated as the greatest architectural genius of the Baroque age. This podcast shall examine his life, career, and rivalry with the great Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
2025-03-1221 minRebuilding The RenaissanceThe Death and Legacy of Gian Lorenzo BerniniOn November 28, 1680, the 82-year-old Bernini passed away. His spectacular career was nearly 70 years long, during which he worked for 8 different popes. Only Michelangelo surpassed him in terms of lifespan and papal patrons! This podcast looks back on Bernini's career, his rather surprisingly modest tomb, and the great legacy that he left behind.
2025-03-0521 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBernini's "Tomb of Pope Alexander VII"In 1672, Gian Lorenzo began the creation of the most spectacular papal tomb monument in St. Peter's Basilica – the "Tomb of Pope Alexander VII." Located in the southern transept arm of the church, the monument depicts a pious figure of the pope kneeling in prayer, surrounded by four massive marble statues representing the virtues of Charity, Truth, Prudence, and Justice. But the most amazing aspect of the tomb is the stone drapery that wraps around the figures and from which a winged figure of death emerges!
2025-02-2621 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBernini's "Blessed Ludovica Albertoni"Carved in the last decade of Bernini's life, the monument to Blessed Ludovica Albertoni shows that Bernini had not lost his touch in his later years. As sensual and beautiful as his more celebrated earlier works such as "Apollo and Daphne" or "Ecstasy of St. Teresa," the "Blassed Ludovica Albertoni" depicts the mystic in an ecstatic state of union with God.
2025-02-1915 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBernini's Bridge of AngelsIn 1669, at the age of 71, Gian Lorenzo Bernini was commissioned by Pope Clemet IX to renovate the most important pilgrimage bridge in Rome, the Ponte Sant'Angelo. Bernini planned on installing 10 spectacular statues of angels holding the instruments of the passion, only two of which were ultimately carved by Bernini.
2025-02-1216 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBernini's "Elephant"Completed in 1667 and located in front of the church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome, Italy, Bernini's "Elephant" is a powerful symbol combining Egyptian lore and Roman power. The elephant was designed as an imaginative base for the ancient Egyptian obelisk from the 6th century BCE.
2025-02-0518 minRebuilding The RenaissanceAnswers to Open Questions XXIII From why the façade of San Lorenzo was never completed, to the use of the "golden ratio" in the Medici Palace, to the speed of Caravaggio's painting technique and his use of the camera obscura, to future podcasts on Sofonisba Anguissola and Artemisia Gentileschi, to why Bramante is considered the first High Renaissance architect, and much, much more - this episode answers the very questions that you ask me about the great art, artists and history of the Italian Renaissance!
2025-01-2935 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBernini's "Equestrian Monument of King Louis XIV"Although commissioned while Bernini was in Paris in 1665, Bernini did not work on the statue until he returned to Rome. When it was finally delivered to Paris 20 years later, it was immediately rejected by the king, who vowed to destroy it!
2025-01-2217 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBernini and King Louis XIVIn April of 1665, Gian Lorenzo Bernini was sent by Pope Alexander VII to the court of King Louis XIV in Paris as a gesture of goodwill between monarchs. Although Bernini's main project was the design of the east façade of the Palace of the Louvre (which was eventually rejected, perhaps out of jealousy), the only work of art he created while in Paris was a spectacular marble bust of the "Sun King."
2025-01-1518 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBernini's "Vision of Constantine"Originally commissioned in 1654 by Pope Innocent X to be a free-standing statue in the Basilica of St. Peter, Bernini's "Vision of Constantine" was later incorporated into Bernini's Scala Regia. The marble statue represents – in typical Bernini dramatic fashion – the miraculous vision of Constantine who was shown a cross by an angel and told "In hoc signo vinces" ("In this sign, you will conquer") on the eve of the momentous Battle of the Milvian Bridge.
2025-01-0820 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBernini's Scala RegiaIn 1663, Pope Alexander VII commissioned Gian Lorenzo Bernini to restore and reinvent the official royal staircase – "Scala Regia" in Italian - leading up to the Apostolic Palace. The result was one of the world's most majestic and breathtaking staircases.
2025-01-0117 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBernini's Sant'Andrea al Quirinale in RomeGian Lorenzo Bernini was commissioned in 1658 by the nephew of the late Pope Innocent X to build the third Jesuit church in Rome. Sant' Andrea al Quirinale was Bernini's first church project, and he did not disappoint. The combination of convex and concave forms dressed in polychromed marbles, gilded stucco, plaster statues and dramatic paintings result in a stunning example of theatrical architecture.
2024-12-2519 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBernini and St. Peter's SquareIn 1656, Gian Lorenzo Bernini was commissioned by Pope Alexander VII to design and build an appropriate forecourt to the Basilica of St. Peter, known as Piazza San Pietro ("St. Peter's Square"). The resulting space is one of the greatest triumphs of Baroque architecture, combining a trapezoidal space joining the façade of the basilica to Bernini's massive Doric order colonnades. St. Peter's Square is still one of the world's most famous piazzas.
2024-12-1817 minRebuilding The RenaissanceGian Lorenzo Bernini's "Chair of St. Peter"In 1647, Gian Lorenzo began work on a monumental reliquary for an ancient wooden chair ("Cathedra Petri") thought to have belonged to St. Peter himself. The result was a spectacular ensemble of sculpture, gilded architecture, stained-glass and stucco that dominates the western apse of the great basilica.
2024-12-1117 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBernini's "Fountain of the Four Rivers"In 1651, with the help of the niece of Pope Innocent X, Bernini was able to sneak his design for the "Fountain of the Four Rivers" into the Pamphilj Palace. When Innocent saw it, he realized that despite being excluded from the competition, Bernini was clearly Rome's greatest artist and deserved the commission for the fountain.
2024-12-0424 min
Joe Ruggiero InspiredCarol Connors: Elvis, Rocky & MeAmerican singer-songwriter Carol Connors makes her debut on Joe Ruggiero Inspired!Check out her book, Elvis, "Rocky" & Me.Support the showwww.joeruggiero.com
2024-11-2930 minRebuilding The RenaissanceRome: Piazza NavonaOnce the site of an ancient stadium used for athletics ("agones"), the Piazza Navona is arguably Rome's most famous piazza. It was renovated during the reign of Pope Innocent X in the middle of the 17th century and contains some of Rome's most spectacular monuments such as Bernini's "Fountain of the Four Rivers."
2024-11-2721 minRebuilding The RenaissanceEpisode 305 - Bernini's "Ecstasy of St. Teresa" (Part II)The central sculpture of the Coronaro Chapel in Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome, Italy, is one of history's greatest statues. Bernini depicts the ecstatic heavenly experience of the Spanish nun, which is described in vivid detail in St. Teresa's autobiography.
2024-11-2019 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBernini's "Ecstasy of St. Teresa" (Part I)In 1647, Gian Lorenzo Bernini was commissioned by Cardinal Federigo Coronaro to design a funerary chapel in the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome, Italy. While the actual sculpture of the saint's ecstatic experience is simply breathtaking, its architectural context is also magnificent. For the first time in his career, Bernini combines painting, sculpture, architecture, and stained glass to produce a milestone "composto" work that became a common theme in Baroque art.
2024-11-1323 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBernini's "Truth Unveiled by Time"Begun in 1645, one year after the death of his great patron Pope Urban VIII, the unfinished "Truth Unveiled by Time" is perhaps Bernini's most personal statue. He was carving it for himself as a visual expression of vindication against the slander against him by his rivals for his earlier mishap on the facade of St. Peter's.
2024-11-0620 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBernini's Tomb of Pope Urban VIIIAlthough commissioned in 1627, at the height of Bernini's involvement at St. Peter's, Bernini did not complete the tomb of Pope Urban VIII until 3 years after the pope's death. Inspired by Michelangelo's tombs in the New Sacristy in Florence, Italy, the tomb of Urban VIII was also the first sculptural work into which Bernini added color.
2024-10-3018 minRebuilding The RenaissanceRome: Bernini's "Triton Fountain"The spectacular "Triton Fountain" was carved by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1642 for Pope Urban VIII for the piazza named after him – the Piazza Barberini – in the heart of Rome. Made of travertine stone, the fountain depicts the sea god kneeling upon a shell blowing into a conch out of which water projects. The base of the statue consists of four rather scary-looking dolphins whose tails entwine the papal keys and Barberini coat of arms, which is a shield with three bumble bees on it.
2024-10-2313 minRebuilding The RenaissanceAnswers to Open Questions XXIICelebrating my 300th episode by answering your questions! From why we call him Titian in English instead of Tiziano to the influence of Donatello on Masaccio to why I dedicated so many podcasts to Caravaggio to the "Venus of the Beautiful Buttocks" to St. Peter's feet, and much, much more – this episode answers the very questions that you ask me about the great art, artists, and history of the Italian Renaissance!
2024-10-1631 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBernini's Towers for St. Peter'sIn 1637, Pope Urban VIII decided to let his superstar artist, Gian Lorenzo Bernini realize a project that had been abandoned 25 years earlier – bell towers at either end of the façade of St. Peter's in Rome. The project would end up being the greatest failure of Bernini's long, illustrious career.
2024-10-0919 minRebuilding The RenaissanceThe Barberini Palace in Rome – Maderno, Bernini, and BorrominiIn 1627, Pope Urban VIII hired Carlo Maderno to design his new family palace in Rome. When Maderno died two years later, instead of assigning Maderno's nephew, the visionary architect Francesco Borromini, as architect, the pope gave the job to Gian Lorenzo Bernini. This may have been the beginning of the famous rivalry between the two architects.
2024-10-0218 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBernini's "St. Bibiana"In 1624, Pope Urban VIII commissioned Gian Lorenzo Bernini to carve a statue of the early Christian saint, virgin, and martyr St. Bibiana. The result is one of Bernini's most overlooked but by no means less beautiful statues.
2024-09-2515 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBernini's Crossing Piers in St. Peter'sUnder the direction of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, head architect of St. Peter's, a group of sculptors closely associated with him produced three spectacular statues for the crossing piers of the church. These statues represent the three other most important relics of the Vatican – the largest piece of the "True Cross," the Veil of Veronica (Sudarium), and the skull of St. Andrew.
2024-09-1820 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBernini's "St. Longinus"In 1627, Bernini became the head architect of St. Peter's Basilica. His first project was to oversee the decoration of the great crossing piers of the church. Four different sculptors – including Bernini – each produced a large-scale sculpture of a saint. But it was Bernini's 4m tall marble statue of "St. Longinus" that stole the show. Its dramatic gesture, expression and drapery theatrically portray the spiritual conversion of the Roman soldier at the foot of the cross after piercing Christ's side with his lance.
2024-09-1125 minRebuilding The RenaissanceMaderno's "Confessio" in St. Peter'sLocated directly in front of the high altar of St. Peter's and below Bernini's magnificent Baldacchino, Maderno's "Confessio" is an architectural stage that allows the faithful to revere the remains of St. Peter. It consists of a beautiful marble balustrade, nearly 100 perpetually burning oil lamps and a double staircase leading down to the chapel of St. Peter's remains.
2024-09-0418 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBernini's BaldacchinoCommissioned in 1623 by Pope Urban VIII – whose coat of arms are ubiquitous throughout the monument - Bernini's Baldacchino was his first large-scale project. Standing over 100ft. tall, the bronze structure marks the central point of the great Basilica of St. Peter over the tomb of the first pope in spectacular fashion.
2024-08-2823 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBernini's "David"Gian Lorenzo Bernini carved his statue of "David" in 1623 in only 7 months, interrupting his work working on the "Apollo and Daphne" to do so. His "David" shows the young shepherd boy in the act of casting the stone with an assortment of symbols surrounding him. Perhaps the most striking feature of the statue is the concentrated expression on its face which tradition maintains is a self-portrait of Bernini.
2024-08-2119 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBernini's "Apollo and Daphne"In 1622, at the age of 24, Gian Lorenzo Bernini began carving his most spectacular sculpture, the "Apollo and Daphne," for Cardinal Scipione Borghese. The marble statue magically demonstrates the transformation of the nymph Daphne into a laurel tree to escape the advances of the god Apollo.
2024-08-1418 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBernini's "Pluto and Persephone"Located in the Borghese Gallery in Rome, Italy, and carved when Bernini was only 23 years old, the spectacular "Pluto and Persephone" depicts the Greek myth which explains the cyclical seasons. Pluto, the god of the underworld, abducts Persephone. Eventually forced to release her, Pluto tricks Persephone in eating magical pomegranate seeds that will force her to spend part of the year with him in the underworld.
2024-08-0719 minRebuilding The RenaissanceBernini's "Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius"Carved when Bernini was only 20 years old for the powerful cardinal-nephew Scipione Borghese, the "Aeneas, Anchises and Ascanius" demonstrated the extraordinary talent of the sculptor to the world. Mesmerizing special effects transform stone into stretching, malleable flesh, and textures that you can almost feel with your eyes!
2024-07-3118 minRebuilding The RenaissanceThe Life of Gian Lorenzo BerniniBorn in Naples in 1598, the sculptor, painter and architect, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, showed signs of genius from a very early age. He produced some of history's greatest sculptures, such as the "Apollo and Daphne" and the "Pluto and Persephone." But he also blurred the lines between sculpture and architecture with massive works such as the "Baldacchino." This podcast will trace the life and career of the greatest sculptor of the 17th century.
2024-07-2418 minRebuilding The RenaissanceEpisode 287 - The Façade St. Peter'sIn 1608, the architect Carlo Maderno was commissioned by Pope Paul V to complete the Basilica of St. Peter by building its façade. That façade has been criticized for centuries for looking more like a palace façade than a church façade because of its emphasis on horizontality. This podcast explores the history and design of the of the most important church front in the world!
2024-07-1720 minRebuilding The RenaissanceAnswers to Open Questions XXIFrom Caravaggio's courtesan models to the "Michelangelo" kitchen drawing going up for sale for €8M, to the restoration of Masaccio's "Holy Trinity" and Brancacci Chapel frescoes, to my recommendations for art historical journals, to moving massive canvas paintings and much, much more – this episode answers the very questions that you ask me about the great art, artists, and history of the Italian Renaissance!
2024-07-1029 minRebuilding The RenaissanceThe Death of CaravaggioIn the summer of 1610, allegedly after obtaining a papal pardon for his crime of murder, Caravaggio headed back to Rome. But he would never make it to Rome nor enjoy his reacquired freedom. Instead, he would die under rather mysterious circumstances in southern Tuscany. This podcast explores the murky evidence and various conspiracy theories surrounding the artist's death.
2024-07-0323 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's "Martyrdom of St. Ursula"Located in the Palazzo Zevallos Stigliano in Naples, Caravaggio's "Martyrdom of St. Ursula" is considered the great artist's last painting. Depicting the moment when St. Ursula is shot at close range by an arrow and including a self-portrait of the artist in the background, the painting marks a return to Caravaggio's earlier Roman style.
2024-06-2618 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's "Denial of St. Peter"In the fall of 1609, shortly after returning to Naples in hopes of receiving a papal pardon, Caravaggio was ambushed by four men who severely disfigured his face. It was a few months later that Caravaggio painted the "Denial of St. Peter," which was one of his last two paintings and that perhaps reflects the wounded condition of the artist.
2024-06-1917 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's "Adoration of the Shepherds"Painted for the Capuchin fathers at the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Messina, Sicily, in 1609, Caravaggio's "Adoration of the Shepherds" is a moving spiritual scene within an impoverished and dilapidated setting.
2024-06-1218 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's "The Raising of Lazarus"After spending some time in Siracusa, Sicily, Caravaggio – still on the run from the Knights of Malta - headed north to the town of Messina. There he painted another of his hauntingly beautiful late works, which, in this case, depicts Christ bringing Lazarus back from the dead. The disturbingly realistic figure of the dead Lazarus led to the popular belief that Caravaggio had exhumated a corpse to serve as his model.
2024-06-0517 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's "Burial of St. Lucy"After his daring escape from the island of Malta, Caravaggio went to Siracusa, Siscily. There he painted one of his most haunting works – the "Burial of St. Lucy." An oppressive yellowish light illuminates the macabre burial of the early Christian martyr whose head almost looks detached from its body.
2024-05-2921 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio: Back to BlackAfter having been invested into the Knights of Malta and producing two of his most beautiful paintings while he was on the island, Caravaggio finally seemed to have cleaned up his act. But, on the night of August 28, 1608, Caravaggio was involved in a near fatal assault on a superior officer and imprisoned. After a daring escape from Malta, Caravaggio now found himself a fugitive from justice twice over. Discover what went wrong in this episode!
2024-05-2221 minRebuilding The RenaissanceEpisode 278 - Caravaggio's "The Beheading of St. John the Baptist"While in Malta in 1608, Caravaggio painted one of his most sensational paintings – "The Beheading of St. John the Baptist." Measuring 12ft. (3.7n) x 17ft. (5.2m), the massive oil on canvas work depicts the moment after the executioner had used his sword to decapitate the Baptist. We now see him reaching for his knife to complete the gruesome act, and perhaps even more gruesomely, Caravaggio has used the blood of the Baptist to add his own signature to the painting.
2024-05-1519 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's "Sleeping Cupid"Caravaggio, still a fugitive from justice, left Naples for Malta in the second half of 1607 most likely because the sensational paintings he produced in Naples were drawing too much attention to him. When he arrived in Malta, he was inducted into the brotherhood and apparently changed his ways. One of the paintings that he produced while in Malta was his beautiful "Sleeping Cupid," (today in the Pitti Palace in Florence, Italy) which reminded its patron of his vow of chastity.
2024-05-0818 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's "Madonna of the Rosary"Painted in 1607 while Caravaggio was in Naples, Italy, trying to elude the long arm of papal law for the murder he committed in Rome, the "Madonna of the Rosary" is Caravaggio's most standard Baroque painting. While the patron is unknown, curiously, the painting went up for sale a few months after being completed perhaps indicating an unsatisfied client.
2024-05-0119 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's "Flagellation"Located in the Capodimonte Museum in Naples, Italy, Caravaggio painted the "Flagellation" in 1607 while he was hiding out in Naples because he was wanted for murder in Rome. The "Flagellation" is dramatically sadistic scene of imminent torture set – like so many of Caravaggio's paintings - in a dark shallow theatrical space.
2024-04-2418 minRebuilding The RenaissanceEpisode 274 - Caravaggio's "Seven Acts of Mercy"When Caravaggio arrived in Naples as a fugitive on the run from papal justice in 1606, he immediately began to receive commissions. One of his first was for a charitable organization called the "Pio Monte della Misericordia." This organization had just built a church with seven altars upon which seven separate paintings illustrating the "Seven Acts of Mercy" were to be placed. In true impetuous Caravaggio fashion, he produced a single beautiful painting that represented all seven acts!
2024-04-1720 minRebuilding The RenaissanceAnswers to Open Questions XX From similar faces in the Scrovegni Chapel, to identifying Judas in Veronese's "Feast in the House of Levi," to the symbolic gestures of the apostles in Caravaggio's "Supper at Emmaus," to the "Isleworth Mona Lisa," to my advice to a young person about life and much, much more - this episode answers the very questions that you ask me about the great art, artists and history of the Italian Renaissance – and the meaning of life!
2024-04-1032 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's "David with the Head of Goliath"Painted shortly after Caravaggio killed a man in Rome and was a fugitive from justice, the "David with the Head of Goliath" is today located in the Borghese Gallery in Rome, Italy. The painting was given to Cardinal Scipione Borghese in hopes that he could convince his uncle, Pope Paul V, to pardon Caravaggio who was wanted dead or alive.
2024-04-0320 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's "Supper at Emmaus" (2nd Version)Located in the Brera Gallery in Milan, Italy, Caravaggio's 2nd "Supper at Emmaus" was painted in the immediate aftermath of Caravaggio's murder of Ranuccio Tommasoni on the streets of Rome. A wounded Caravaggio was a fugitive from justice and hiding out from the authorities in the hills surrounding Rome when he painted his 2nd "Supper". The painting clearly reflects the dramatically changed circumstances of Caravaggio's life and mark a turning point in his career.
2024-03-2720 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio: Wanted Dead or AliveO May 28, 1606, Caravaggio stabbed and killed a man named Ranuccio Tommasoni in Rome, allegedly over an unpaid wager. Discover the details of the homicide that changed Caravaggio's life forever and turned him into a fugitive from justice.
2024-03-2017 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's St. Jerome (Borghese Gallery)In 1605, Caravaggio painted an image of St. Jerome for Cardinal Scipione Borghese, and the painting is still located in the Borghese Gallery in Rome, Italy. Caravaggio's depiction of the Father of the Church is a very quiet and intimate one, where we see a scholar in a sparsely furnished room consumed with the enormous task of translating the Hebrew Bible into Latin.
2024-03-1319 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's "Madonna of the Palafrenieri"Painted in 1605 for the chapel of the Papal grooms, known as "Palafrenieri," in the new Basilica of St. Peter, Caravaggio's painting was removed after only a few days because it was considered indecorous. The stark nudity of the Christ Child, the bulging breasts of the Virgin Mary (who was modeled from a well-known prostitute!) and the unflattering representation of St. Anne (patron saint of the grooms) were most likely the reasons the painting was thought to be inappropriate for the most important church in the Catholic world.
2024-03-0621 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's "Deposition"Located in the Pinacoteca of the Vatican Museums, Caravaggio's "Deposition" was thought by many of his contemporaries to be the painter's greatest work. The dramatic representation of very real-looking biblical characters handling the dead body of Christ in a shallow, tenebrously-lit foreground space makes for a very moving visual narrative.
2024-02-2822 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's "Death of the Virgin"Commissioned in 1601 for a chapel in the Roman church of Santa Maria della Scala, Caravaggio's "Death of the Virgin" was rejected by the Carmelite friars of the church. While some believe it was because of the stark and indecorous representation of the dead Virgin Mary, one of Caravaggio's biographers suggests instead it was because Caravaggio used a well-known courtesan as his model for Mary.
2024-02-2122 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's "Madonna of Loreto"Located in the Augustinian church of Sant 'Agostino in Rome, Italy, the "Madonna of Loreto" is one of Caravaggio's most beautiful paintings. It was painted for the Cavalletti family in 1604 and depicts a barefoot Virgin Mary (who was modeled from a well-known prostitute) standing in a rundown contemporary Roman doorway carrying the Christ child who blesses two peasant pilgrims. The stark realism and lack of pretense made it very popular amongst the masses, who, according to one of Caravaggio's biographers, "made a great cackle over it."
2024-02-1422 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's "Amor VIncit Omnia" ("Love Conquers All")In the summer of 1602, Caravaggio painted what one art historian described as "the most nakedly libidinous of the painter's secular mythological works." Employing the same model that he previously used for his "St. John the Baptist," Caravaggio creates a disturbingly realistic sexual metaphor of the power of love.
2024-02-0721 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's "Incredulity of St. Thomas"It was for one of his most important patrons, the fabulously wealthy banker, Vincenzo Giustiniani, that Caravaggio painted one of his most moving works – the "Incredulity of St. Thomas." The skeptical apostle Thomas probes Christ's wound with his finger in a disturbingly graphic way that only Caravaggio could represent.
2024-01-3119 minRebuilding The RenaissanceEpisode 262 - Answers to Open Questions XIX From the source of the canvases used for large Venetian paintings in the Renaissance, to the death and burial of Masaccio, to the tradition of Madonarri in the Renaissance, to the difference between chiaroscuro and tenebrism, and much, much more - this episode answers the very questions that you ask me about the great art, artists and history of the Italian Renaissance.
2024-01-2430 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's "St. John the Baptist" and the "Taking of Christ"After the "Supper at Emmaus," Caravaggio produced two more paintings for the Mattei brothers. The first was the unorthodox "St. John the Baptist" that today is in the Capitoline Museums in Rome and is a rather unabashed representation of a naked youth embracing a ram and lacking any conventional imagery. The second painting is the dramatic "Taking of Christ," which was thought lost for centuries before being rediscovered in 1990 in the dining hall of the house of Jesuit fathers in Dublin, Ireland.
2024-01-1725 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's "Supper at Emmaus"Located in the National Gallery in London, Caravaggio's "Supper at Emmaus" was painted in 1601 for the influential Cardinal Girolamo Mattei. The painting depicts the episode from the Gospel of Luke where two apostles dine with a traveler and realize to their astonishment that their companion is the resurrected Christ once he breaks bread.
2024-01-1020 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's "Conversion of St. Paul"The second painting that Caravaggio produced for the Cerasi Chapel in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome, Italy, depicts the dramatic conversion of St. Paul on the road to Damascus. While certainly inspired by Raphael's and Michelangelo's earlier interpretations of the same subject, Caravaggio has transformed St. Paul's conversion into a deeply theatrical, spiritual, and intimate event.
2024-01-0318 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's "Crucifixion of St. Peter"Caravaggio's interpretation of St. Peter's particular martyrdom – crucifixion in an upside-down position – for the Cerasi Chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome, Italy, is a moving example of realism and physicality. Three executioners struggle to lift the burly fisherman who seems to embrace his death.
2023-12-2717 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's Cerasi ChapelLocated in the Augustinian church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome, Italy, the Cerasi Chapel contains two paintings by Caravaggio – the "Crucifixion of St. Peter" and the "Conversion of St. Paul." The paintings were commissioned by Monsignor Tiberio Cerasi, who was the treasurer general of Pope Clement VIII, in 1600. Curiously, Cerasi had asked a different painter named Annibale Caracci to paint the altarpiece of the chapel, which is executed in stark contrast to Caravaggio's style.
2023-12-2015 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's "St. Matthew and the Angel"In 1602, Caravaggio signed his final contract with the Contarelli family to paint an altarpiece for their family chapel in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome, Italy. The first painting (now lost) that Caravaggio produced was rejected because it depicted St. Matthew as a rustic and rather simple looking figure. But the second version – which we say in the chapel today – is a triumph of Caravaggio's realistic theatrical style.
2023-12-1316 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's "Calling of St. Matthew"The "Calling of St. Matthew" was the second of three paintings that Caravaggio executed for the Contarelli Chapel in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome, Italy. It depicts the dramatic moment when Christ called Matthew, the tax collector, to follow him in his mission. Caravaggio transforms a simple moment into a theatrical event set within a contemporary early 17th-century Roman setting.
2023-12-0620 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's "Martyrdom of St. Matthew"The first of three paintings that Caravaggio painted for the Contarelli Chapel in the official French church of Rome, San Luigi dei Francesi, the "Martyrdom of St. Matthew" was the artist's first large scale painting. It depicts the assassination of the saint and evangelist at high mass in a dramatic fashion that only Caravaggio could invent.
2023-11-2919 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio and the Contarelli ChapelOnly July 23, 1599, Caravaggio signed the contract with the heirs of Cardinal Matthieu Cointerel ("Contarelli" in Italian) to produce three paintings for their family chapel in the official French church of Rome called San Luigi dei Francesi. This episode examines the history of the church, chapel and commission surrounding Caravaggio's great paintings.
2023-11-2219 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's "Rest on the Flight into Egypt," "Penitent Magdalene," and "Judith and Holofernes"This episode addresses three more of Caravaggio's innovative early paintings in Rome, Italy. Each of the paintings treats conventional subjects in unconventional ways, including using well-known prostitutes as models for the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene, and introducing unprecedented violence into the Judith subject.
2023-11-1527 minRebuilding The RenaissanceCaravaggio's Paintings in the Uffizi Gallery, FlorenceThe Uffizi Gallery in Florence contains three paintings by Caravaggio. Two of them, the "Bacchus" and "The Medusa Shield" were sent by Cardinal Del Monte to Grand Duke Ferdinand de' Medici, while the third, the "Sacrifice of Isaac," was acquired later. All three paintings reflect Caravaggio's unique and revolutionary painting style which incorporates shocking realism, violence, and the dramatic use of light and shadow.
2023-11-0827 min