Giovanni Bellini: Poetry and Nature
Online Seminar, Wednesday Evening, May 4, 4:00-5:30 PM EST (NYC)/10:00-11:30 (Rome)
This online lecture, the third from my Birth of the Baroque series, explores the genius of Giovanni Bellini-- the father of the Venetian Renaissance, and a pioneer in the subtle poetry of visual impression.
The hour and a half class traces Bellini's origins, from the quattrocento influences of his artistic family and brother-in-law, Andrea Mantegna to his early religious tempera works, so full of fervor and reverence; his encounter with the observationally astute Northern Flemish tradition of oil painting, and the evolution of his work into a marriage of Northern naturalism and Italian grace.
The master of Giorgione and Titian, Giovanni Bellini was the first to truly achieve the subtle truth of light and color in paint that so characterized the Venetian school. Bellini's visual insights combined reality and mystery, and brought a sense of religiosity to nature, and a sensuality to the sacred.
This lecture will pay particular attention to the painterly qualities Bellini developed and championed, and will go in depth discussing his masterworks, as well as lesser known treasures, from throughout his career.
** It is possible to sign up for the recording only-- you do not need to attend the live event. Both the lecture recording and slideshow (of around 100 images and notes) will be made available for all participants following the event. **
Giorgione and the Young Titian
Online Seminar, Wednesday Evening, May 11, 4:00-5:30 PM EST (NYC)/10:00-11:30 (Rome)
More details soon
The Twilight of Titian
Online Seminar, Wednesday Evening, May 18, 4:00-5:30 PM EST (NYC)/10:00-11:30 (Rome)
More details soon
The Birth of the Baroque
"All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music." So wrote Walter Pater in his seminal essay on the School of Giorgione— explaining in a short, succinct sentence the spellbinding power of the Venetian Renaissance.
Long lauded as a break from stylization into naturalism, the real distinction of the Venetians, and the artists that followed their footsteps, is the poetic synthesis of abstraction and observation they achieved— music, as it were, of subordinated notes of color and tone, intonations of visual reality expressed in oil.
In this second class, "The Birth of the Baroque," we will show how the Florentine Renaissance of Line, Symmetry, and Reason migrated to Venice, with forays into Bologna and Rome-- to become a Renaissance of visual and emotive truth, conveyed through tonal drama. A marriage of imagination and observation, an orchestration of sight and insight, we see the Renaissance neoplatonic ideals converted into a living encounter-- a discovery of beauty in shadows, and the revelation of truth in light.
Great and quiet dramas, depositions and portraits, martyrs and mortals: follow me out of Florence, and into the landscape of Renaissance Venice and Baroque Rome -- to discover the mode, methodology, and meaning of painting that would rule over Europe for the next several hundred years.
Course Outline:
Week 1: Michelangelo and the Mannerists
Week 2: The Venice of the Bellini: Birthplace of a Vision
Week 3: Giorgione and the Young Titian
Week 4: The Twilight of Titian
Week 5: Apollonian/Dionysian: Tintoretto and Veronese
Week 6: Guido Reni and the Bolognese School
Week 7: Desire and Fury: Rome's Caravaggio and Bernini
Week 8: the Exportation of Venice: Rubens, Van Dyck, and Velasquez
This class is ideal for artists, art students, art lovers, high school students, and anyone who desires to cultivate wonder and encounter beauty. Beyond the dates and name tags, my art history classes aspire to understand the poetic underpinnings of these artistic ventures; these classes focus more on the aesthetic reasonings of each age and artist, versus the intellectual jargon that often pollutes art history learning.
*** Sign up before April 20 to get $50 off with code "buonapasqua" at check-out! ***
