Rebuilding The Renaissance

Rocky Ruggiero
  • 4.8 (217)
  • ARTS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY
Rebuilding The Renaissance

This podcast will explore the development of the art, architecture, culture and history in Italy, from ancient Roman times through the Renaissance. Listeners will develop an understanding of Italy’s role in the development of Western civilization and an ability to appreciate and understand works of art in their historical context.

  1. 1 DAY AGO

    Episode 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.

    20 min

  2. NOV 13

    Bernini’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.

    24 min

  3. NOV 6

    Bernini’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.

    20 min

  4. OCT 30

    Bernini’s Tomb of Pope Urban VIII

    Although 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.

    19 min

  5. OCT 23

    Rome: 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.

    14 min

  6. OCT 16

    Answers to Open Questions XXII

    Celebrating 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!

    31 min

  7. OCT 9

    Bernini’s Towers for St. Peter’s

    In 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.

    20 min

  8. OCT 2

    The Barberini Palace in Rome – Maderno, Bernini, and Borromini

    In 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.

    19 min
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4.8
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About

This podcast will explore the development of the art, architecture, culture and history in Italy, from ancient Roman times through the Renaissance. Listeners will develop an understanding of Italy’s role in the development of Western civilization and an ability to appreciate and understand works of art in their historical context.

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