Episode 324 - Borromini’s Oratory of the Filippini
Rebuilding The Renaissance
In 1637, Francesco Borromini designed and began building an oratory – a place for public worship and musical performances – for the followers of St. Phillip Neri, known as the “Filippini.” The façade of this oratory is another of Borromini’s visionary architectural projects with its curved plan and unorthodox sculptural elements.
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Episode 323 - Borromini’s Church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (Part II)
Rebuilding The Renaissance
The cloister and façade of the church complex San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (better known in Rome as “San Carlino”) are two of the most beautiful and revolutionary aspects of Borromini’s design for this project.
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Episode 322 - Borromini's Church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane
Rebuilding The Renaissance
The church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (1634) - better known to the Romans as San Carlino (“little St. Charles”) due to its small size - is one of the most revolutionary in the history of art and introduces the new architectural vision of a Baroque genius named Francesco Borromini.
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Episode 321 - The Life of Francesco Borromini
Rebuilding The Renaissance
Francesco Borromini is celebrated as the greatest architectural genius of the Baroque age. This podcast shall examine his life, career, and rivalry with the great Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
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Episode 320 - The Death and Legacy of Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Rebuilding The Renaissance
On November 28, 1680, the 82-year-old Bernini passed away. His spectacular career was nearly 70 years long, during which he worked for 8 different popes. Only Michelangelo surpassed him in terms of lifespan and papal patrons! This podcast looks back on Bernini’s career, his rather surprisingly modest tomb, and the great legacy that he left behind.
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Episode 319 - Bernini’s “Tomb of Pope Alexander VII”
Rebuilding The Renaissance
In 1672, Gian Lorenzo began the creation of the most spectacular papal tomb monument in St. Peter’s Basilica – the “Tomb of Pope Alexander VII.” Located in the southern transept arm of the church, the monument depicts a pious figure of the pope kneeling in prayer, surrounded by four massive marble statues representing the virtues of Charity, Truth, Prudence, and Justice. But the most amazing aspect of the tomb is the stone drapery that wraps around the figures and from which a winged figure of death emerges!
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Episode 318 - Bernini’s “Blessed Ludovica Albertoni”
Rebuilding The Renaissance
Carved in the last decade of Bernini’s life, the monument to Blessed Ludovica Albertoni shows that Bernini had not lost his touch in his later years. As sensual and beautiful as his more celebrated earlier works such as “Apollo and Daphne” or “Ecstasy of St. Teresa,” the “Blassed Ludovica Albertoni” depicts the mystic in an ecstatic state of union with God.
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Episode 317 – Bernini’s Bridge of Angels
Rebuilding The Renaissance
In 1669, at the age of 71, Gian Lorenzo Bernini was commissioned by Pope Clemet IX to renovate the most important pilgrimage bridge in Rome, the Ponte Sant’Angelo. Bernini planned on installing 10 spectacular statues of angels holding the instruments of the passion, only two of which were ultimately carved by Bernini.
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Episode 316 - Bernini's "Elephant"
Rebuilding The Renaissance
Completed in 1667 and located in front of the church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome, Italy, Bernini’s “Elephant” is a powerful symbol combining Egyptian lore and Roman power. The elephant was designed as an imaginative base for the ancient Egyptian obelisk from the 6th century BCE.
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Episode 315 - Answers to Open Questions XXIII
Rebuilding The Renaissance
From why the façade of San Lorenzo was never completed, to the use of the “golden ratio” in the Medici Palace, to the speed of Caravaggio’s painting technique and his use of the camera obscura, to future podcasts on Sofonisba Anguissola and Artemisia Gentileschi, to why Bramante is considered the first High Renaissance architect, and much, much more - this episode answers the very questions that you ask me about the great art, artists and history of the Italian Renaissance!
info_outlineAlthough commissioned in 1627, at the height of Bernini’s involvement at St. Peter’s, Bernini did not complete the tomb of Pope Urban VIII until 3 years after the pope’s death. Inspired by Michelangelo’s tombs in the New Sacristy in Florence, Italy, the tomb of Urban VIII was also the first sculptural work into which Bernini added color.