The Renaissance was a cultural revitalization that spread across Europe, and had repercussions across the globe, but one smallish city-state in Italy was in many ways the epicenter of the thing. Florence, or as Italians might say,...

Raphael was a master painter and architect of the Italian Renaissance, known for his graceful figures and perfectly balanced compositions. His works, including The School of Athens and numerous portraits of the Madonna, captured both...

Humanism Renaissance (Part 4)

Learn about Leonardo da Vinci, the artist and engineering genius of the Italian Renaissance who painted the Mona Lisa and sketched inventions ahead of his time.

You've seen Caravaggio's stunning paintings, but do you know the story behind the images? Caravaggio was a violent and tragic figure who likely died because of his commitment to his art. He became "the most famous painter in Rome" in...

A free exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 7 Nov 2017 to 15 Apr 2018 Contemporary Chinese artist Qu Leilei (b. 1951), now based in London, was a founding member of the avant-garde ‘Stars Group’ in the late 1970s, and immigrated to...

What do we mean when we call an artwork a MASTERPIECE? Who decides which art becomes one? And what artists make them?

Mona Lisa's stature and expression seem normal today, but were rather groundbreaking at the time. Portraits of Italian women usually depicted them in profile or looking down. Never looking at the audience as da Vinci does with Mona Lisa....

In 1550, art historian Giorgio Vasari noted in his book on Renaissance artwork that, "Leonardo undertook to execute, for Francesco del Giocondo, the portrait of Mona Lisa, his wife." But there was dispute about Mona Lisa's true identity...

Why do Mona Lisa's eyes seem to be looking at us, no matter where we stand? The answer has to do with a set of meticulous artistic choices that da Vinci used for this portrait. Learn how Leonardo da Vinci used the verdaccio, chiaroscuro,...

Leonardo da Vinci was a prolific artist and scientist. His intricate anatomical illustrations informed the structure of his most famous painting - the Mona Lisa. It is a painting of an ordinary woman that has inspired extraordinary...

MOT 1940: VATICAN CITY MUSEUMS (Musei Vaticani): VS The Simonetti Staircase. People walking into Loggia di Raffaello (Raphael Sanzio). People standing before 'The Transfiguration' painting. Italian High Renaissance, art, artist,...

Learn more about this exhibition: The Drawings of Bronzino on view at the Met January 20, 2010 - April 18, 2010: http://tinyurl.com/metbronzino A lecture by Deborah Parker, Professor, Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese,...

Some extra information from "Bellini" (https://youtu.be/WVRP2EDTyCM) about Mannerism, art & the Counter-Reformation, and the etymology of Propaganda. Show notes: http://www.alliterative.net/bellini Image Credits:...

Learn more about this exhibition: The Drawings of Bronzino on view at the Met January 20, 2010 - April 18, 2010: http://tinyurl.com/metbronzino An introduction by Carmen Bambach, curator, Department of Drawings and Prints, The...

Learn more about this exhibition: The Drawings of Bronzino on view at the Met January 20, 2010 - April 18, 2010: http://tinyurl.com/metbronzino A lecture by Lucia Meoni, Independent Scholar This exhibition is the first ever dedicated to...

Learn more about this exhibition: The Drawings of Bronzino on view at the Met January 20, 2010 - April 18, 2010: http://tinyurl.com/metbronzino A lecture by James Fenton, Poet, Journalist, Critic This exhibition is the first ever...

Learn more about this exhibition: The Drawings of Bronzino on view at the Met January 20, 2010 - April 18, 2010: http://tinyurl.com/metbronzino A lecture by Elizabeth Cropper, Dean, Center for Advanced Study in Visual Arts, National...

Infinite Jest: Caricature and Satire from Leonardo to Levine September 13, 2011--March 4, 2012 The Metropolitan Museum of Art The exhibition explores caricature and satire in its many forms from the Italian Renaissance to the present,...

Step into the Sistine Chapel and look up—there’s history painted on the ceiling! In this episode, we’ll learn how the famous artist Michelangelo created one of the greatest masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance and all time. You’ll...

In this episode we look at three less well known works by Michelangelo, including a Pieta he made for his own tomb, a controversial naked Jesus Christ created when he was just a teenager, and a Bacchus rejected by the man who...

Women were excluded from almost all cultural and social resources in the centuries from 1400 to 1900 when so much of the world's great art was created. And visual art was almost entirely a male industry before modern times. Having an...

There are more than 250 churches in Venice, both consecrated and desecrated. Obviously, the sacred ones are first of all places of worship, but all together they make up a cultural, artistic and human heritage of inestimable value.

The clip looks at the beauty, culture and art locations of the city, Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of that era. It is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has...