Lecture One – Michelangelo:
Our course will begin by reviewing the early career of Michelangelo. His first public commission was the pietà for Cardinal Jean de Bilhères-Lagraulas, which came to be regarded as one of the world’s finest sculptures and led to Michelangelo’s commission to build the tomb of Pope Julius II. Although Michelangelo worked on the tomb for 40 years, it was never finished to his satisfaction. And at the same time, he was hard at work on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and together we will review the finer details of this majestic masterpiece. Our discussion will also explore the artist’s additional works within the Vatican Museums – The Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel and the frescoes of the adjacent Pauline Chapel.
Lecture Two – Raphael:
The “Prince of the Painters” as Giorgio Vasari, a sixteenth-century biographer of artists, called him an “enfant prodige,” more flexible than Michelangelo and more productive than Leonardo da Vinci. The young master arrived in Rome (summoned by Pope Julius II) in 1508, to paint the papal apartment. Building a career in Rome, Raphael began working for the most important patrons of his time. At the peak of his career, he died at 37 y.o. and was buried in the Pantheon, the building that embodied the ideal of perfection that Raphael pursued throughout his brief life.
Lecture Three – Caravaggio:
Caravaggio has often been depicted by historians as a troublemaker, keen to use a sword more than his words. From an artistic point of view, he was a talented painter who worked directly on the canvas, moving by instinct without much of a game plan. Caravaggio's many mentors included important cardinals, who expected him to follow the true orthodoxy of the Roman Catholic Church. He took inspiration from the revered masters of the Renaissance – Michelangelo and Raphael – but he also studied in depth the exquisite Roman statues of the papal collections. His artworks were famous for the realistic accuracy of the human figures he painted. He also used extreme contrasts of light and dark to accentuate the emotional and physical dramas.
Lecture Four – Bernini:
Thanks to his talent, but also to his charm and his interpersonal skills, Bernini managed to outshine his competitors to capture the most important commissions of his day and worked tirelessly for five popes. Bernini was among the greatest exponent, together with Francesco Borromini and Pietro da Cortona, in the transformation of the image of the papal city. Throughout his life, Bernini never left the city of Rome, where most of his masterpieces are kept, except when, in 1665, he reached Paris invited by King Louis XIV. Bernini died in Rome on November 28, 1680.
Lecture Five – Borromini:
Where Bernini was charming, joyful, successful, Borromini was spiky and difficult, known for his melancholy moods and exquisite architecture designs. Born in Bissone (today Switzerland) he was trained as a stonecutter and marble carver. Once in Rome, he worked tirelessly on the construction of Saint Peter’s Basilica with the architect Carlo Maderno, (his distant relative) who recognized the extraordinary talent of the young artist and took him under his wing. After Maderno’s death, Borromini became the assistant of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, with whom he often clashed in the following years. Borromini eventually gained his own fame and introduced new foundations of Roman architecture – such as concave and convex lines, elliptical shapes, and forced perspectives. In the last chapter of his life, overcome with depression, he stabbed himself in the chest and claimed a burial space next to his master Maderno, in the Church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini.