Strictly Platonic: Marsilio Ficino and Florence's Golden Age of Philosophy
Guest Lectures
•
1h 6m
Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) was a true ‘Renaissance Man’: a philosopher, astrologer, theologian, physician, translator, advisor to princes, inspiration to artists, founder of the Platonic Academy in Florence—and originator of the concept of ‘Platonic love’. He was also the bestselling author of books on diet, meditation, and how to live a healthy life in old age. This lecture will introduce Ficino’s spectacular career, looking at both his massive importance in his own time and his continuing relevance today
Ross King is the award-winning author of numerous books on Italian and French art and history, including Brunelleschi’s Dome and Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling. His biography Machiavelli: Philosopher of Power has been called a “convincing portrait of one of the most misunderstood thinkers of all time.” His most recent book, published in April 2021, is The Bookseller of Florence: The Story of the Manuscripts That Illuminated the Renaissance.
Up Next in Guest Lectures
-
Getting Lost in the Renaissance: The ...
A merchant in fourteenth-century Naples has to relieve himself at night in an alley, a woodcarver in fifteenth-century Florence decides to ignore a dinner invitation, the poet Petrarch finally arrives in Rome for the first time, and a Roman servant returning to his native city can’t remember wher...
-
Donatello: From Artisan to Artist
The fifteenth-century Florentine sculptor, Donatello, is well known for the volume and beauty of his work. Less well known is the role he played in changing the conception of artistic production from craft to what we now call art. This video lecture will consider these factors lying behind one of...
-
Sculptor-Rivals: The Neptune Fountain...
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 in...
