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Florence's Accademia Gallery with Kate Bolton-Porciatti
Our interactive conversation will present a selection of highlights from the varied collections of one of Italy’s most popular museums: the Accademia Gallery in Florence. Together we’ll explore paintings by Botticelli and Perugino, sculptures by Michelangelo and Giambologna, and precious musical instruments, including a unique tenor viola by Stradivarius. This seminar has been designed to complement Context's Introduction to Florence: with Accademia and Michelangelo's David Tour.
The Accademia Gallery in Florence is most famous for Michelangelo’s David and his unfinished ‘Prisoners’, but it also showcases paintings by some of the great Italian masters – Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Andrea del Sarto, and Pontormo. In addition, this ‘temple of the arts’ boasts a precious collection of musical instruments and paintings that shed light on the Medici’s patronage of music – one of their final artistic flourishes before the dynasty died out in 1743.
During our time together, we will learn how the great Florentine tradition of sculpture continued after Michelangelo - with Giambologna’s monumental ‘Rape of the Sabine Woman’, with marble musical instruments, and with the captivating works of Lorenzo Bartolini. We will also pay a virtual visit to the atmospheric ‘Gipsoteca’ – a trove of plaster casts of famous Florentine statues as well as tender and realistic portraits of 19th-century Grand Tourists in Italy, all of which help us understand the process of making a sculpture.
Led by an expert on Italian culture, Kate Bolton-Porciatti, this interactive seminar will give an in-depth introduction to the Accademia’s diverse collections of painting, sculpture, and music. Designed to inspire curiosity as well as future travels, participants will come away with an increased appreciation of the range and quality of this exceptional ‘temple of the arts’.
Eager to learn more? Get inspired with our other Florence virtual content:
Kate Bolton-Porciatti is a professor of Italian cultural history and music at the Istituto Lorenzo de'Medici in Florence, where she teaches BA and MA courses in the humanities. She also lectures at the British Institute, Florence, and at the Chigiana Music Academy in Siena. Kate has published extensively as an academic and a journalist; she is a music critic for BBC Music and a travel writer for The Daily Telegraph, UK. Before moving to Italy permanently in 2005, she was a senior producer and broadcaster for BBC Arts & Classical Music in London and has won prestigious Jerusalem and Sony Awards for her programs. She did her M.Phil. thesis in Italy, exploring the musical culture of early Renaissance Florence.
This conversation is suitable for all ages.
90 minutes, including a 30 minute Q&A.
As with many of Kate Bolton-Porciatti's seminars, this was a wonderful walk through a famous landmark. Her descriptive comments about the contents of the galleries, the paintings, sculptures, and musical instruments was informative. I liked the insertion of brief videos that depicted methods of creating some of the art: how gold leaf was made, how tempera was created. Since my visit to the Accademia Gallery had been solely to see "David" and the Hall of Prisoners, I learned that there was a lot more to see!!
A wonderful mix of paintings, sculptures and music. Kate has new facts and insights on the works in the Accademia. I enjoyed seeing many things I have seen before.
Enjoyed the multifaceted aspect of this presentation.
Kate is an excellent presenter. Her visuals were amazing. the whole lecture was so informative. I learned so much!
Thank you, I will look forward to more of your talks!
This was a wonderful way to be up close and personal at the Academia Gallery tour. Such informative art history and close up details of the works, the periods in which they were produced, and explanations of the techniques used to create these masterpieces. Great for life long learners like me!