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Episode 306 - Rome: Piazza Navona

Rebuilding The Renaissance

Release Date: 11/27/2024

Episode 358 - Rome: The Borghese Gallery (Part II) show art Episode 358 - Rome: The Borghese Gallery (Part II)

Rebuilding The Renaissance

This podcast takes you into the extraordinary building and collection of the Borghese Gallery in Rome, Italy. From the great hall with its beautiful ceiling fresco, ancient Roman floor mosaics depicting gladiators and beast hunters, and ancient/Baroque statue of “Marcus Curtius,” to the adjoining Caravaggio room which houses six paintings by the great master, a visitor to the Borghese Gallery is immediately struck by the magnificence of the collection.   

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Episode 357 - Rome: The Borghese Gallery I show art Episode 357 - Rome: The Borghese Gallery I

Rebuilding The Renaissance

Shortly after his election, Pope Paul V Borghese decided to transform his land outside the Porta Pinciana in Rome, Italy, into the city’s greatest villa complex. The result was one of the most beautiful and majestic examples of traditional and landscape architecture. The building, today known as the Borghese Gallery, as well as the surrounding gardens evolved over three centuries. This first episode dedicated to the Borghese Gallery explores the history of the Borghese family,  the gallery, and the park. 

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Episode 356 - Answers to Open Questions XXVI show art Episode 356 - Answers to Open Questions XXVI

Rebuilding The Renaissance

From my opinion on the recently discovered paintings attributed to Caravaggio, to the influence of Hadrian’s Villa on Borromini’s architecture, to a possible connection between Caravaggio’s “Burial of St. Lucy” and the movie "Schindler’s List,” to why Michelangelo’s “David” is more famous than Bernini’s, 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.

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Episode 355 - Rome - The Doria Pamphilj Gallery show art Episode 355 - Rome - The Doria Pamphilj Gallery

Rebuilding The Renaissance

Located in the Doria Pamphilj Palace (where the Doria Pamphilj family still resides) on the Via del Corso in the heart of Rome, Italy, the gallery houses one of Italy’s most important art collections. It includes portraits of Pope Innocent X by Velasquez and Bernini, as well as two of Caravaggio’s earliest paintings – the “Penitent Magdalene” and the “Rest on the Flight into Egypt.”

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Episode 354 - Rome - The Capitoline Museums show art Episode 354 - Rome - The Capitoline Museums

Rebuilding The Renaissance

The Capitoline Museums are a group of art and archaeological museums located on top of the Capitoline Hill, which was the political and religious center of ancient Rome. Their collections focus on the history of Rome and include masterpieces such as the “Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius," the “Capitoline Wolf, ” the “Dying Gaul, ” but also later masterpieces such as Caravaggio’s “Fortune Teller” and Bernini’s “Head of Medusa."

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Episode 353 - Milan: The Ambrosian Art Gallery show art Episode 353 - Milan: The Ambrosian Art Gallery

Rebuilding The Renaissance

Part of the Ambrosian Library in Milan, Italy, the Ambrosian Art Gallery was founded along with the library by the celebrated Cardinal Federico Borromini in 1609 to house his extensive collection of manuscripts, books, and paintings. The collection today includes “The Portrait of a Musician” attributed by many to Leonardo da Vinci, the “Cartoon for the School of Athens” by Raphael, and “The Basket of Fruit” by Caravaggio. In addition to these great masterpieces, the Ambrosian Art Gallery is also home to the world largest collection of drawings and writings by Leonardo da Vinci,...

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Episode 352 - Milan - The Brera Gallery Part II show art Episode 352 - Milan - The Brera Gallery Part II

Rebuilding The Renaissance

Located in Milan, Italy, and inaugurated on Napoleon’s birthday on August 15, 1812, the Pinacoteca di Brera (Brera Art Gallery) contains one of the world’s most important collections of Italian Renaissance painting. This second episode explores masterpieces by Piero della Francesca, Raphael, and Caravaggio. 

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Episode 351 - Milan - The Brera Art Gallery (Part I) show art Episode 351 - Milan - The Brera Art Gallery (Part I)

Rebuilding The Renaissance

Located in Milan, Italy, and inaugurated on Napoleon’s birthday on August 15, 1812, the Pinacoteca di Brera (Brera Art Gallery) contains one of the world’s most important collections of Italian Renaissance painting. This first episode explores masterpieces by Giovanni Bellini, Andrea Mantegna, Tintoretto. Paolo Veronese, and Vittore Carpaccio. 

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Episode 350 - Siena: The National Painting Gallery show art Episode 350 - Siena: The National Painting Gallery

Rebuilding The Renaissance

The National Painting Gallery in Siena, Italy, known locally as the “Pinacoteca Nazionale,” houses one of the world’s most important collections of medieval and Renaissance Sienese paintings. It includes two rare paintings by Duccio di Buoninsegna, as well as masterpieces by Simone Martini, Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Il Sodoma and Domenico Beccafumi. 

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Episode 349 - Siena - The Museo dell’Opera del Duomo (Cathedral Museum) show art Episode 349 - Siena - The Museo dell’Opera del Duomo (Cathedral Museum)

Rebuilding The Renaissance

The Museo dell’Opera del Duomo houses some of medieval Siena’s most important masterpieces. Works such as Duccio’s “Maestà” and stained-glass window,  Giovanni Pisano's 13th-century facade sculptures, and Donatello’s “Madonna del Perdono” are but a few of those masterpieces.

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More Episodes

Once the site of an ancient stadium used for athletics (“agones”), the Piazza Navona is arguably Rome’s most famous piazza. It was renovated during the reign of Pope Innocent X in the middle of the 17th century and contains some of Rome’s most spectacular monuments such as Bernini’s “Fountain of the Four Rivers.”