Dr. Paolo Alei

This lecture will virtually take you on a pilgrimage to the Basilica of Saint Peter in Rome as envisioned by Bernini in the 17th century. We will ideally walk on the Bridge of Castel Sant’Angelo and through Piazza San Pietro to reach the glorious Baldacchino, and finally the Cathe...

Ross King

For centuries, the tale of Romulus and Remus — twins abandoned at birth, nursed by a she-wolf, and fated to found the city of Rome in 753 BCE — has captured the imagination of historians and storytellers alike. But how much of this legend is true? And what does archaeology reveal about...

With Wayne Kalayjian

Join structural engineer and the author of Saving Michelangelo’s Dome, Wayne Kalayjian, for a fascinating discussion of two defining and titanic landmarks of the Italian Renaissance: the domes at Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence (by Filippo Brunelleschi) and St. Peter’s Bas...

Dr. Balbina Y. Hwang

The explosive popularity of K-Pop (music and dance by Korean performers) has become a global phenomenon in recent years, riding along an enormous surge of interest in the “Korean Wave” or Hallyu, which encompasses other forms of popular culture including K-Dramas, Korean cui...

Leon Battista Alberti in Exile: Tracing the path to the First Modern Book on Painting
Dr. Peter Weller

The prodigy poet, playwright, architect, painter, and humanist savant Leon Battista Alberti emerged in 1435 with “De pictura” ['On Painting'], the modern era's earliest discourse on Western art...

Dr. Niall Atkinson

In 1427 the fiscal crisis of the Florentine economy caused by its disastrous wars against the duchy of Milan prompted it to make a massive overhaul of is taxation policies. The resulting Florentine Census (Catasto) would become the first modern taxation policy in the Western w...

Esteban Nigro

Discover the fascinating journey of Carrara marble, from its geological origins to its role in shaping art and architecture throughout history. This webinar will explore the formation of Carrara marble and the unique geological processes that created this prized metamorphic rock. W...

Dr. Joe Luzzi

In this presentation, Professor Luzzi will explore the centuries-old unresolved question: who was Dante’s muse, Beatrice? Looking beyond Dante’s mythmaking, Luzzi considers the historical reality of the young Florentine woman Beatrice Portinari who first inspired Dante to write poe...

Dr. Jeremy Wasser

a little silhouetto of a man
Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the fandango?
Thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening me
(Galileo) Galileo, (Galileo) Galileo, Galileo Figaro, magnifico
But I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
He's just a poor boy from a poor famil...

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...

With Esteban Nigro

Join geologist, Esteban Nigro, for this exclusive webinar where he will explain how our planet is shaped and how the city of Florence was built thanks to its materials. What rocks were used to create Florence Cathedral? What are the origins of Carrara marble? What relationship...

The Metaverse. Virtual Reality. The Blockchain, Crypto, and NFTs. You've probably heard of these techno wonders, and how they will change everything. What they don't tell you is how much of this has happened before, or how Renaissance is filled with pageants, performances, pilgrimages and pecunia...

Susan Jaques

Desperate for cash during the Great Depression, Joseph Stalin secretly sold part of his country’s cultural patrimony -- paintings, jewelry, and Faberge eggs -- to the highest bidders. Ignoring a trade embargo with the Soviet Union, U.S. treasury secretary Andrew Mellon struck a cla...

Dr. Meghan Callahan

Renaissance women were immortalized in poetry and painting as “belle donne” or “beautiful women.” The 14th century poet Petrarch’s Laura inspired not just written poetry, but painted works by 16th century artists such as Giorgione and Titian. “Belle donne” appeared on canvas...

Dr. Fabrizio Ricciardelli

The Medici dynasty is one of the most famous in history. The story of the family was inextricably bound up with Florence, the city of the Renaissance, and influenced its destiny from the time of Cosimo the Elder (1389-1464) up to the reign of Gian Gastone (1671-1737). I...

Dr. Laurinda Dixon

Throughout art history, the Virgin Mary always appears as a paragon of womanhood - virtuous, beautiful, devout, humble, and of course, chaste. In the Renaissance, her traditional roles as the Virgin Annunciate, Madonna lactans (suckling her child), and queen of Heaven expand...

Dr. John Paoletti

Fra Angelico (born Guido di Pietro, c.1400) has been burdened with the alias of "Angelic" since his own time, a descriptor that has skewed our reading of his quite prolific output in paintings, frescoes and illuminations. His vocation as a Dominican monk has also obscured the ...

Dr. Paolo Alei

This webinar offers an exploration of Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona, commissioned by Pope Innocent X Pamphilj on the occasion of the Holy Year 1650, a sculptural and hydraulic masterpiece that transforms the square into a theatre of early mode...

Dr. Gary Radke

Situated in the center of the Mediterranean, Sicily has seen human habitation and impressive artistic expression since prehistoric times. From painting to mosaic to sculpture to architecture, Sicily offers an extraordinary range of masterpieces that both surprise and delight. Ren...

with Anthony Amore

As we've seen recently at the Louvre, art theft is an ongoing worldwide problem. Using the theft of Rembrandts as an example, Anthony Amore will tell the true story behind major art heists. You will learn who really steals masterpieces, why they do it, and what becomes of the ...

Dr. Eric Nicholson

This special webinar aims to show that if one reads not only between but behind and even within the lines penned by Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare, one will often encounter the writings of their precursors Dante Alighieri and Giovanni Boccaccio. Chaucer, in fact, wr...

Dr. Paolo Alei

Portraits of Women in Renaissance Venice are evasive to interpretation. Most of them are women with no specific identities. This hermeneutic indeterminacy has led art historians to speculate whether they are courtesans, brides, or demonstration pieces of “la bella pittura” (beauti...

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 b...

In Refutation of Machiavelli's "The Prince"- Giovanni Botero's "Della Ragion di Stato (Reason of State) with Dr. Balbina Y. Hwan

with Dr. Balbina Y. Hwan

In his iconic work “The Prince,” Niccolò Machiavelli argued that a ruler could not govern morally and also be successful. In fervent respons...