All tagged Renaissance

CURIOUS CALLBACK: Episode #20: Sofonisba Anguissola: Great (Woman) Artist

Hi listeners! I’ve been traveling over last month, and am preparing to hit the road again, and to begin sharing new episodes to your feed next week. So, things have been a bit busy over here. So while we put the finishing touches on next week’s episode, I’m re-airing one of my old favorites from the first season of the podcast. And guess what? It’ll prepare you nicely for the next season. Wink wink. Today, I’m returning to share the story of Sofonisba Anguissola, one of the most prominent female artists of the Italian Renaissance.

Author Interview: Eden Collinsworth's "What the Ermine Saw: The Extraordinary Journey of Leonardo da Vinci's Most Mysterious Portrait"

I’ve got a great interview for you today— this time, I’m featuring a conversation with Eden Collinsworth on her fascinating book, What the Ermine Saw: The Extraordinary Journey of Leonardo da Vinci's Most Mysterious Portrait. This extraordinary work of narrative non-fiction traces the remarkable history of Leonardo da Vinci’s enigmatic portrait: The Woman with an Ermine, from its original creation, including the fascinating story of its subject, Cecilia Gallerani, and on to its mysterious disappearance for 250 years after which it emerged in the hands of an aristocratic Polish family. Now on display in Krakow, the painting was exiled in Paris, and kept hidden from the Nazis by a brave housekeeper. These defining moments in history comprise a portrait of Europe’s past as vivid and complex as the painting itself.

The magic of Collinsworth’s book is the powerful combination of research-based non-fiction— reminiscent of Walter Isaacson (Leonardo da Vinci) and Mary Gabriel (Ninth Street Women)— with a character-driven narrative that will keep readers glued to the page until the very end. Perfect for fans of Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch or Céline Sciamma’s film Portrait of a Lady on Fire, What the Ermine Saw pulls back the curtain on the fascinating history behind the astonishing portrait.

Episode #91: Art Fact and Fiction: Are There Hidden Messages in Leonardo's The Last Supper (S10E08)

In 2003, there were a few things that were totally inescapable: trucker hats and studded belts were everywhere, people were nuts for Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix became the best-selling book of the year. But also huge, and equally inescapable, was the second-highest grossing book of that year: Dan Brown’s smash hit, The Da Vinci Code. I remember that I, a graduate student in art history, grabbed a copy at my local bookstore—sorry not sorry, and spent the entire weekend devouring it—really only taking a break here and there to make myself some snacks before diving back headlong into its narrative. By now, you probably know the story: Brown’s “symbologist,” Robert Langdon and his cryptologist colleague Sophie Neveu struggle to solve a murder couched in symbols that translate to spell out incredible consequences—for world religion, and thus for the world at large. And the bombshell claims that this fictional book—and I stress, fictional-- made were many, and two-decade-long spoiler alert, by the by: Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, and after his death she fled to what would become France and bore him a daughter, whose descendants founded the Merovingian line of French kings. This secret has been kept throughout the centuries, first by the Knights Templar, then after their destruction by the Priory of Sion, a secretive group led over the years by many great men, including, as the title so clearly states, Leonardo da Vinci. Most fascinatingly, Dan Brown wrote that Leonardo had revealed these—and many more—secrets in his paintings: the “Da Vinci Code.” It’s an irresistible premise, and it was catnip even for an art historian like me who should have known better… and hopefully did know better. But ever since its publication, many have wondered: is there really a “Da Vinci Code?” And if so, what painting might truly contain allusions to these secrets?

Episode #89: Art Fact and Fiction: The Problem of Michelangelo's Women (S10E06)

In our tenth season, we’re going at art history with a skeptical eye and a myth-busting attitude to uncover the fictions and facts about some of our favorite artists. We’re circling back to one of our earliest episodes, which we’ve updated and re-recorded, to discuss this controversial subject: was Michelangelo a bad artist, unable to properly depict the female body?

CURIOUS CALLBACK: Episode #17: The Casino of the Spirits

Venice-- it's the most serene and beautiful city in Italy, and possibly the whole world. But Venice at night-- all darkened and quiet-- takes up the most space in my imagination. I seriously love the depictions of Venice as enigmatic, shadowy, and even dangerous. Without cars or streetlights or other modern comforts, you might feel like you’ve stepped back in time and that around any given corner, you could find… anything. All of this lends Venice this air of inscrutability and mystery. And over time, locals and visitors alike have reveled in this sensation as fodder for myth-making and storytelling. Some stories really stick, lasting for centuries and becoming embedded into the city itself, through its buildings, monuments, and specific locations. And there’s one building that has had plenty of legends built around it. This particular elegant structure had an illustrious past, having once been a meeting place where Italian Renaissance artists discussed their craft, caroused, and gambled. But it’s also the location where relationships soured, crimes were committed, and death inevitably followed. Today, some people won’t even enter this particular building because it is feared to be haunted, cursed… or both.

Today we're calling back to an episode of the first season of ArtCurious to talk about another potentially cursed locale in Venice, Italy: the so-called Casino of the Spirits.

A Little Curious #10: Are You A Little Curious... about "Breaking Barriers?"

Are you a little curious about my audio course, “Breaking Barriers: Women Artists of Renaissance Europe”? You’re in luck! Here’s a little update and sneak-peek for those of you who want to know more— and a big thank you to those already registered!

About Breaking Barriers: This is a 21-day course, broken up into daily episodes that are no longer than 10-15 minutes. And naturally, there are no pesky term papers or final exams to worry about-- just cool art history content that you won’t find anywhere else.