THE ARTISTIC CULTURE OF BYZANTIUM: CONSTANTINOPLE TO THE BALKANS, ITALY TO RUSSIA
The fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453 marked the end of the longest-living empire that had ever existed in Europe - and the world. Its tremendous artistic culture, however, remained alive both through monumental structures and miniature, preciously crafted objects created during its existence, and those that continued to be made for centuries afterwards throughout its former realm.
1. Byzantium: from the birth of the New Rome to its metamorphosis into Istanbul
2. In pursuit of an artistic ideal: holy images and the controversies surrounding them – Constantinople and Greece
3. Art along the boundaries: the Balkan Peninsula
4. Byzantium beyond the empire: from Venice to Russia
BYZANTIUM AND ITALY
As the Eastern Roman Empire established itself as the single most powerful political and cultural entity in the Mediterranean, it expanded its influence both within territories under its rule and those along its boundaries. Its political and cultural presence in Italy was perhaps most strongly expressed in Ravenna, which served as the seat of the Eastern Exarchate of Byzantium until the middle of the 8th century. Yet even after subsequent political and military defeats, which resulted in a Byzantine retreat from the Apennine peninsula, they had a lasting influence on the visual arts throughout present-day Italy. In this four-part seminar, we explore the history of these cultural exchanges and their long afterlife.
1. Ravenna and Parenzo
2. Venice and Rome
3. Florence and Siena
4. Sicily
GIOTTO - THE ARENA CHAPEL
The Arena Chapel, also known as the chapel of the Scrovegi family in Padua, is widely consdered as one of the most important fresco cycles of the late middle ages. Painted between 1304 and 1306 by Giotto di Bondone, this amazingly complex ensemble of images from the Bible as well as various apocryphal sources details the lives of the Virgin Mary and her family, as well as that of Christ. In addition, this chapel decoration includes one of the most remarkable representations of the Last Judgment from the medieval era. Most importantly, Giotto's approach to the narrative and the symbolic language is often seen as an expression of a proto-Renaissance way of thinking - as well as painting. I this four-part series, we explore the Arena Chapel in detail, looking closely at individual works as well as their relationships to one another.
Giotto and the Arena Chapel - general introduction
Life of Mary and her Family
Life of Christ
The Last Judgment and stories within stories
SIENESE PAINTING OF THE 14TH CENTURY: THE ARTISTIC FLOURISHING BEFORE THE BLACK DEATH
One of the most important museum exhibitions in 2024 was arguably Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300–1350, which considered the crucial role of Sienese artists in the development of Western painting before the onset of the deadly plague epidemic in 1350. Drawing on works of art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery in London, and loans from several other institutions, this exhibition was a rare opportunity for museum audiences to see some of the most beautiful panel paintings created in this important city state in the first half of the 14th century. This three-part series of lectures, intended to complement the exhibition, examines more closely the contributions of some of the greatest artists associated with this school.
1. Duccio di Buoninsegna: from Personal Icons to Grand Altarpieces
2. Ambrogio and Pietro Lorenzetti: Birth of Realism
3. Simone Martini: Between Nature and the Grace of the International Gothic Style
FRA ANGELICO: HUMANIZING THE DIVINE
Fra Angelico (ca. 1395-1455), also known as the Beato Angelico or the “Angelic painter” is one of the most significant artists of the Early Renaissance. A friar in the mendicant Dominican order, Angelico fused piety and artistic innovation to create some of the most deeply moving frescoes and altarpieces of that era. Despite his religious affiliation, he was steeped in the spirit of Humanism, which led him to a style characterized by a rational approach to drawing, pronounced interest in illusionistic space, and emphasis on the solidity of the human body. His transformation of Florentine painting – from a more rigid view of the place of man in the universe towards a deeper feeling for humanity – left a lasting mark on many later artists.
1. Fra Angelico and the changing perspectives on devotional images
2. Fra Angelico and the Convent of San Marco
3. From frescoes to manuscript illuminations
EXQUISITE WORLDS: ITALIAN ART BETWEEN THE GOTHIC AND THE RENAISSANCE
The International Gothic style is a term used to describe a type of courtly painting created across Europe from the late14th to the mid15th centuries. Practices primarily in court settings in France, Italy and Bohemia, it is characterized by decorative stylization combined with a rich use of colors and gold ornamentation. These formal tendencies result in works that seem both self-consciously artificial and rich with beautifully observed naturalistic details. Their exquisiteness can only be appreciated if one takes the time to look carefully – as we propose to do in this series of lectures on some of the key Italian artists associated with this movement.
1. Lorenzo Monaco
2. Gentile da Fabriano and Pisanello
3. Giovanni da Paolo
FRA FILIPPO LIPPI: A SINNER FULL OF GRACE
He was “…gracious and ornate and exceedingly skilful; he was very good at compositions and at variety, at coloring, relief, and in ornaments of every kind.”
These are the words used by one of the great Florentine poets and humanist of the 15th century, Cristoforo Landino, to describe the artistic accomplishment of his somewhat older contemporary, Fra Filippo Lippi (1406-1469). All of these qualities continue to be synonymous with the style of this painter, who would be both widely admired and reproached for his unorthodox lifestyle.
While Lippi’s early works show the influence of Masaccio’s naturalism, he later moved towards a more richly decorative manner characterized by lyrical tendencies. He was also influential on other artists, most notably, his son Filippino and Botticelli.
1. Fra Filippo in Context
2. Reimagining the Virgin Mary
3. Fra Filippo as a narrative artist
PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA
Piero della Francesca (ca. 1420-1492) is widely considered as one of the most important artists of 15th century Italy. His paintings, characterized by a sense of formal clarity and serenity, reflect his deep interest in geometry and mathematics. By 1439 Piero was working on frescoes for the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence. Though his painting commissions took him to a number of different places – including Arezzo, Urbino, and Rome – he always maintained ties with his native Sansepolcro. Towards the end of his life, he apparently stopped painting in order to pursue other interests, including theoretical writing. In this series of lectures we look more closely at some of his most important works and the ways in which they reflect the broader artistic currents in 15th century Italy.
Formative years and first major commissions
The Frescoes in Arezzo
Piero and the Court of Federico da Montefeltro in Urbino
ANDREA MANTEGNA: ART, FAITH, AND HUMANISM
Born around 1431 near Padua, Mantegna stands out among his contemporaries for his emphasis on strong lines, his attention to detail, his perspectival skills and – above all else, his dedication to classical antiquity. Though he studied with the painter Francesco Squarcione, his strongest influence came from Donatello and Giovanni Bellini, who would also become his brother-in-law. In 1459, Mantegna moved to Mantua to the court of one of the greatest art patrons of the period, Lodovico Gonzaga. He died there in 1506 as one of the most highly respected artists of the Renaissance.
Art and devotion
Mantegna and the humanist culture
The play of pictorial illusion
SANDRO BOTTICELLI AND THE FLORENTINE RENAISSANCE
Born in Florence around 1444–45, Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, also known as Sandro Botticelli, was a son of an ordinary tanner. Despite his humble background, he would be trained in the studios of some of the finest artists of his city, including Fra Filippo Lippi and Andrea del Verrocchio. More importantly still, he would become the favorite painter within the Medici circle of Lorenzo the Magnificent.
In addition to numerous paintings on religious subjects, he would go on to create the most ground-breaking works inspired by classical mythology, such as The Birth of Venus and Primavera. Yet in his later years, he would “repent” and retreat to deep spirituality under the influence of the reformist preacher Girolamo Savonarola. In this four-part series, we will dwell more closely on his masterworks – from altarpieces to portraits and learned humanist allegories – in order to gain a finer understanding of his complex artistic personality and his tremendous contribution to the Florentine Renaissance.
The young painter
Sacred Histories
Portraits of an Age
Botticelli and the Recovery of Antiquity
REVISITING THE RENAISSANCE: THE KEY INGREDIENTS OF A CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION
What were some of the crucial factors that shaped the visual arts of the Renaissance? Though we may think that the answers to this old question are well known, they are neither simple, nor as clear as one might anticipate. The growth of wealth among merchants and other commoners was certainly one important social development that had consequences for the culture. Another was the rediscovery of the classical world – both in a literary and a visual sense. Yet another was the gradual introduction of secular subjects and themes… or was this a consequence of the other two trends? In this series of five lectures, we look at these and other aspects of social and cultural changes that led to an unprecedented flourishing in the visual arts of the Renaissance. While we will focus on Italy, we will also compare the visual culture of its artistic centers to developments in other parts of Europe.
1. Lost and Recovered: Ancient texts, from Plato and Aristotle, to Seneca and Lucretius
2. A Noble Art: How Painting gradually won its Place among the Liberal Arts
3. Painting as a Form of Knowledge: Science and Philosophy
4. From the Sacred to the Secular: The Role of Patrons
5. The Creation of an Ideal and its Aftermath: Classicism and Counter-Classicism
ISABELLA D'ESTE AND HER IMPACT ON THE ARTISTIC CULTURE OF THE RENAISSANCE
Isabella d’Este (1474-1539), Marchesa of Mantua, is widely recognized as one of the most important female patrons of the arts during the Renaissance. Renowned for her intellect, political acumen, and keen appreciation for visual arts and literature, she cultivated relationships with leading painters and intellectuals. Her patronage not only supported a flourishing artistic community but contributed to the integration of classical themes and humanist ideals into art. This special program looks more closely at her contribution to the cultural landscape of the Renaissance.
ANTONELLO DA MESSINA, DOMENICO GHIRLANDAIO, FILIPPINO LIPPI
In many respects, Antonello da Messina (ca. 1430-1479) is the first truly European painter. No other Italian artist of the fifteenth century responded in such a direct fashion to the leading masters of Bruges and Brussels. Did Antonello personally encounter any of these artists, or did he only come into contact with their work in Italy? Whatever the case, Antonello’s achievement is inconceivable without these great masters, and it is one of the intriguing mysteries of Italian art that the person who best understood the work of his northern contemporaries was born, trained, and apparently worked for most of his career in Sicily, on the periphery of Europe.
Born in 1449, Domenico Ghirlandaio was probably trained by his father, who was a goldsmith, and may may also have assisted Andrea del Verrocchio. Primarily active in the fresco medium, he created extensive cycles in Rome, including at the Sistine Chapel, 1481-1482. His most notable Florentine cycles are in the Sassetti chapel in Santa Trinità (1483-1485) and in the choir of Santa Maria Novella (1486-1490). Taken together, Ghirlandaio's frescoes, with their numerous portraits of members of the leading aristocratic families, provide a unique panorama of contemporary Florentine life. The artist died in 1494, leaving a son, Ridolfo, also a painter.
Filippino Lippi was among the most gifted and accomplished Florentine painters and draftsmen of the second half of the fifteenth century. He was born around 1457, the product of a famous and illicit relationship between the painter Fra Filippo Lippi and the young nun Lucrezia Buti. Trained first by his father, he entered the workshop of Sandro Botticelli in 1472, three years after his father’s death. He went out on his own a few years later, having developed a manner that was deeply imbued with the influence of his two great masters. His style is characterized by a reflective and poetic interpretation of his subjects, a new subtlety of chiaroscuro, and a Netherlandish interest in genre detail and landscape.
LEONARDO - AN UNENDING JOURNEY
An epitome of the humanist ideal of a universal man, Leonardo da Vinci showed tremendous curiosity for all facets of knowledge, from science and philosophy, to architecture, music, and painting. Even though he became famous as a painter of human beings, from Florentine patricians and mistresses, to holy figures such as the Virgin and St. Anne, his integrated approach to knowledge was key to his innovation in every discipline he delved into. His greatest gift, perhaps, was his ability to see connections between seemingly disparate phenomena. By visualizing these relationships, he also shed light on the nature of being - whether in studies of plants and the movement of water, or in his renderings of hidden aspects of the human body. In this series of five lectures, we will explore various facets of his creative endeavor, and the reasons why he can feel like our contemporary more than 500 years after his death.
The Making of the Artist
Leonardo and the Idea of the Divine
Mastering the Universe – from the Microcosm to the Macrocosm
Leonardo’s Mysteries
Leonardo and his Followers
MICHELANGELO - ART AND LIFE
When Giorgio Vasari wrote his account of Michelangelo in his Lives of the most eminent painters, sculptors, and architects of the Renaissance, he concluded by stating that he could think of no greater blessing than to have lived at the same time as this “divine” artist, and to have been worthy of his company as a master and a friend. What he said in 1550 would be reaffirmed for centuries by other artists, who looked at Michelangelo across time – both as a great artistic model, and a fascinating human being.
In this series of five lectures and discussions, we shall explore the art and life of this phenomenally talented man – the Michelangelo we may think we know, but who never fails to astonish with his complexity.
1 Michelangelo’s beginnings in Florence – art as philosophy
2 The making of the giant – David, Cascina, Doni Tondo, Vatican Pietà
3 The unwilling painter and his masterpiece – the Sistine Chapel
4 Florentine and Roman Memorials - The Medici Chapel and the Tomb of Julius II
5 Spiritual and artistic conflicts -The Last Judgment and the unfinished sculptures
RAPHAEL: EIGHT-SESSION COURSE ON ONE OF THE GREATEST "OLD MASTERS"
2020 marked the 500th anniversary of the death of one of the famous Italian Renaissance artists, Raffaello Sanzio. Born in Urbino on April 6, 1483, he was trained in the studio of his father and then with Pietro Perugino, before establishing himself in Florence. Within several years, he moved to Rome to become one of the most sought-after painters in that city – creating works of art that epitomize the idea of the High Renaissance. In addition to his mastery of painting, he was a very fine draughtsman and poet. In 1514, he was appointed as the chief architect of the Vatican – as well as the custodian of antiquities in the Papal collection. His sudden death in 1520, on his birthday, was widely lamented by fellow artists, humanists, and patrons, who valued his artistic accomplishments no less than those of Leonardo and Michelangelo. With this series of eight lectures, we explore the most important aspects of Raphael’s life, art, and influence on later artists.
1. Early Years: in Perugino’s Studio
2. The Painter of Madonnas
3. Vatican: Decoration of the Papal Apartments (Part I)
4. Vatican: Decoration of the Papal Apartments (Part II)
5. Raphael’s Portraits
6. Raphael on Paper
7. Frescoes and Tapestries
8. Late Works and Legacy
ANATOMY OF A MASTERPIECE: THE RENAISSANCE
Some works of art become famous because they seem to provide a memorable expression of the cultural ideals of a particular society. Some gain their place within the canon because of the ways in which they subvert those very ideals. Still others become important not merely on account of their “quality”, if one can even use that term, but also because of the many questions they continue to raise and leave frustratingly open-ended. We may know their authors and the circumstances of their creation, but are unable to reach conclusions regarding their “meanings” or how they would have been understood by contemporary viewers. In this series of lectures, we explore three works of art from the Renaissance – highlighting both what makes them exceptional, and how they fit within their broader social and cultural context.
1: Leonardo's Ginevra de Benci
2: Giorgione and The Tempest
3: Titian and The Flaying of Marsyas
FACES WORTHY OF REMEMBRANCE: THE PORTRAYAL OF MEN IN THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
One of the most significant facets of Italian renaissance art was the development of portrait as an autonomous genre. In many respects, this trend reflected a new appreciation for the individual self and its agency. Though portraits were always intended to express a sense of belonging to a group, painters and sculptors became ever more sensitive to the individual characters or the personhood of their sitters. In this special program, we look more closely at some of the most remarkable examples of portraits of "memorable men" of this period.
MEDICI PORTRAITS AND RENAISSANCE SELF-FASHIONING
Among the greatest patrons in 15th-century Florence were members of the powerful Medici family, who ruled as princes, though the city was, in name, a republic. The lineage of this family goes back to the 13th century. However, it was through figures such as Cosimo de’ Medici (1389–1464), whose wide patronage earned him the sobriquet Pater Patria (“Father of the Country”). His descendants, including, most notably Lorenzo de Magnificent (1469-1492) solidified the place of this family as de facto rulers of the republic. Notwithstanding the political crisis following his death, the family came back into favor through the agency of Pope Clement VII, who installed Alessandro de Medici as the first hereditary Duke of Florence in 1530. In this series of three lectures, which coincide with the major exhibition of Medici portraits at the MET, we look at some of the most characteristic ways of self-fashioning and self-presentation by the members of this family in the 15th and the 16th centuries.
1. Medici Self-Fashioning in 15th century Florence
2. Virility and Virtue: Portraying the Ideal Male
3. The Decorum of Female Beauty
RENAISSANCE LOVES
One of the hallmarks of the Renaissance is a veritable cultural obsession with the idea of love. This was probably due to a variety of causes – including, most importantly, the stronger emphasis on individual lives, emotions, and choices. Another important factor was the revival of classical literature, from the myths retold by Ovid to the poetry of Propertius and Catullus. As men of letters debated on the nature of ‘sacred’ versus ‘profane’ love, or the relationship between the ‘body’ and the ‘soul,’ artists tried to render these ideas visible through their work. With this series of lectures, we explore some of the most fascinating aspects of this theme in Renaissance paintings, sculptures, and prints.
1. In the Realm of Venus and Cupid
2. The Ideal Beloved
3. Marriage and its Rituals
4. The Mistress
5. Envisioning Sacred Love
THE MANNERIST REVOLUTION
The term mannerism, from the Italian maniera (style) typically describes the artistic developments in Italy - and other parts of Europe - which ocurred after the "High Renaissance." The artists associated with this movement strove not so much towards naturalism and life-like figures, but a sense of refinement, richness of invention, and virtuoso technique. Their main goal was to prove, once and for all, that as practitioners of painting, they were no less intellectual than scholars, poets, and humanists.
Rather than a sense of balance and calm, their works often project a sense of something restless and unsettling - but also profoundly modern. In this three-part series, we look at some of the most fascinating of these artists in the "first generation" of Mannerism in Italy, from Andrea del Sarto to Corregio.
1. Andrea del Sarto and Fra Bartolommeo
2. Pontormo and Bronzino
3. Parmigianino and Correggio
RUDOLFINE PRAGUE: THE PARNASSUS OF THE ARTS
Described by his contemporaries as “the greatest art patron in the world,” Rudolf II Habsburg (1552–1612), king of Hungary and Bohemia, and Holy Roman Emperor, raised court patronage in post-Renaissance Europe to a new level of extravagance. The thriving city and era over which he reigned from 1583 until his death twenty-nine years later, is known as Rudolfine Prague. In this two-part program, we look more closely at some of the most curious and wonder-full creations associated with this court, which became known as the "Parnassus of the Arts."
During the Renaissance, advancements in scientific technology, trade, and colonial expansion allowed naturalists to study previously unknown and overlooked insects, animals, and other beestjes, or “little beasts.” Artists such as Joris Hoefnagel and Jan van Kessel helped deepen and spread knowledge of these creatures with highly detailed and playful works that inspired generations of printmakers, painters, decorative artists, and naturalists. This special program delves into this fascination with the natural world by focusing (but not limiting itself to) objects from the exhibition at the National Gallery of Art "Little Beasts: Art, Wonder, and the Natural World."