Rebuilding The Renaissance

Painted for the Capuchin fathers at the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Messina, Sicily, in 1609, Caravaggio's "Adoration of the Shepherds" is a moving spiritual scene within an impoverished and dilapidated setting.

After spending some time in Siracusa, Sicily, Caravaggio – still on the run from the Knights of Malta - headed north to the town of Messina. There he painted another of his hauntingly beautiful late works, which, in this case, depicts Christ bringing Lazarus back from the dead. The disturbingly realistic figure of the dead Lazarus led to the popular belief that Caravaggio had exhumated a corpse to serve as his model.

After his daring escape from the island of Malta, Caravaggio went to Siracusa, Siscily. There he painted one of his most haunting works – the "Burial of St. Lucy." An oppressive yellowish light illuminates the macabre burial of the early Christian martyr whose head almost looks detached from its body.

After having been invested into the Knights of Malta and producing two of his most beautiful paintings while he was on the island, Caravaggio finally seemed to have cleaned up his act. But, on the night of August 28, 1608, Caravaggio was involved in a near fatal assault on a superior officer and imprisoned. After a daring escape from Malta, Caravaggio now found himself a fugitive from justice twice over. Discover what went wrong in this episode!

While in Malta in 1608, Caravaggio painted one of his most sensational paintings – "The Beheading of St. John the Baptist." Measuring 12ft. (3.7n) x 17ft. (5.2m), the massive oil on canvas work depicts the moment after the executioner had used his sword to decapitate the Baptist. We now see him reaching for his knife to complete the gruesome act, and perhaps even more gruesomely, Caravaggio has used the blood of the Baptist to add his own signature to the painting.

Caravaggio, still a fugitive from justice, left Naples for Malta in the second half of 1607 most likely because the sensational paintings he produced in Naples were drawing too much attention to him. When he arrived in Malta, he was inducted into the brotherhood and apparently changed his ways. One of the paintings that he produced while in Malta was his beautiful "Sleeping Cupid," (today in the Pitti Palace in Florence, Italy) which reminded its patron of his vow of chastity.

Painted in 1607 while Caravaggio was in Naples, Italy, trying to elude the long arm of papal law for the murder he committed in Rome, the "Madonna of the Rosary" is Caravaggio's most standard Baroque painting. While the patron is unknown, curiously, the painting went up for sale a few months after being completed perhaps indicating an unsatisfied client.

Located in the Capodimonte Museum in Naples, Italy, Caravaggio painted the "Flagellation" in 1607 while he was hiding out in Naples because he was wanted for murder in Rome. The "Flagellation" is dramatically sadistic scene of imminent torture set – like so many of Caravaggio's paintings - in a dark shallow theatrical space.

When Caravaggio arrived in Naples as a fugitive on the run from papal justice in 1606, he immediately began to receive commissions. One of his first was for a charitable organization called the "Pio Monte della Misericordia." This organization had just built a church with seven altars upon which seven separate paintings illustrating the "Seven Acts of Mercy" were to be placed. In true impetuous Caravaggio fashion, he produced a single beautiful painting that represented all seven acts!

From similar faces in the Scrovegni Chapel, to identifying Judas in Veronese's "Feast in the House of Levi," to the symbolic gestures of the apostles in Caravaggio's "Supper at Emmaus," to the "Isleworth Mona Lisa," to my advice to a young person about life 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 – and the meaning of life!

Painted shortly after Caravaggio killed a man in Rome and was a fugitive from justice, the "David with the Head of Goliath" is today located in the Borghese Gallery in Rome, Italy. The painting was given to Cardinal Scipione Borghese in hopes that he could convince his uncle, Pope Paul V, to pardon Caravaggio who was wanted dead or alive.

Located in the Brera Gallery in Milan, Italy, Caravaggio's 2nd "Supper at Emmaus" was painted in the immediate aftermath of Caravaggio's murder of Ranuccio Tommasoni on the streets of Rome. A wounded Caravaggio was a fugitive from justice and hiding out from the authorities in the hills surrounding Rome when he painted his 2nd "Supper". The painting clearly reflects the dramatically changed circumstances of Caravaggio's life and mark a turning point in his career.

O May 28, 1606, Caravaggio stabbed and killed a man named Ranuccio Tommasoni in Rome, allegedly over an unpaid wager. Discover the details of the homicide that changed Caravaggio's life forever and turned him into a fugitive from justice.

In 1605, Caravaggio painted an image of St. Jerome for Cardinal Scipione Borghese, and the painting is still located in the Borghese Gallery in Rome, Italy. Caravaggio's depiction of the Father of the Church is a very quiet and intimate one, where we see a scholar in a sparsely furnished room consumed with the enormous task of translating the Hebrew Bible into Latin.

Painted in 1605 for the chapel of the Papal grooms, known as "Palafrenieri," in the new Basilica of St. Peter, Caravaggio's painting was removed after only a few days because it was considered indecorous. The stark nudity of the Christ Child, the bulging breasts of the Virgin Mary (who was modeled from a well-known prostitute!) and the unflattering representation of St. Anne (patron saint of the grooms) were most likely the reasons the painting was thought to be inappropriate for the most important church in the Catholic world.

Located in the Pinacoteca of the Vatican Museums, Caravaggio's "Deposition" was thought by many of his contemporaries to be the painter's greatest work. The dramatic representation of very real-looking biblical characters handling the dead body of Christ in a shallow, tenebrously-lit foreground space makes for a very moving visual narrative.

Commissioned in 1601 for a chapel in the Roman church of Santa Maria della Scala, Caravaggio's "Death of the Virgin" was rejected by the Carmelite friars of the church. While some believe it was because of the stark and indecorous representation of the dead Virgin Mary, one of Caravaggio's biographers suggests instead it was because Caravaggio used a well-known courtesan as his model for Mary.

Located in the Augustinian church of Sant 'Agostino in Rome, Italy, the "Madonna of Loreto" is one of Caravaggio's most beautiful paintings. It was painted for the Cavalletti family in 1604 and depicts a barefoot Virgin Mary (who was modeled from a well-known prostitute) standing in a rundown contemporary Roman doorway carrying the Christ child who blesses two peasant pilgrims. The stark realism and lack of pretense made it very popular amongst the masses, who, according to one of Caravaggio's biographers, "made a great cackle over it."

In the summer of 1602, Caravaggio painted what one art historian described as "the most nakedly libidinous of the painter's secular mythological works." Employing the same model that he previously used for his "St. John the Baptist," Caravaggio creates a disturbingly realistic sexual metaphor of the power of love.

It was for one of his most important patrons, the fabulously wealthy banker, Vincenzo Giustiniani, that Caravaggio painted one of his most moving works – the "Incredulity of St. Thomas." The skeptical apostle Thomas probes Christ's wound with his finger in a disturbingly graphic way that only Caravaggio could represent.

From the source of the canvases used for large Venetian paintings in the Renaissance, to the death and burial of Masaccio, to the tradition of Madonarri in the Renaissance, to the difference between chiaroscuro and tenebrism, 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.

After the "Supper at Emmaus," Caravaggio produced two more paintings for the Mattei brothers. The first was the unorthodox "St. John the Baptist" that today is in the Capitoline Museums in Rome and is a rather unabashed representation of a naked youth embracing a ram and lacking any conventional imagery. The second painting is the dramatic "Taking of Christ," which was thought lost for centuries before being rediscovered in 1990 in the dining hall of the house of Jesuit fathers in Dublin, Ireland.

Located in the National Gallery in London, Caravaggio's "Supper at Emmaus" was painted in 1601 for the influential Cardinal Girolamo Mattei. The painting depicts the episode from the Gospel of Luke where two apostles dine with a traveler and realize to their astonishment that their companion is the resurrected Christ once he breaks bread.

The second painting that Caravaggio produced for the Cerasi Chapel in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome, Italy, depicts the dramatic conversion of St. Paul on the road to Damascus. While certainly inspired by Raphael's and Michelangelo's earlier interpretations of the same subject, Caravaggio has transformed St. Paul's conversion into a deeply theatrical, spiritual, and intimate event.

Caravaggio's interpretation of St. Peter's particular martyrdom – crucifixion in an upside-down position – for the Cerasi Chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome, Italy, is a moving example of realism and physicality. Three executioners struggle to lift the burly fisherman who seems to embrace his death.

Located in the Augustinian church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome, Italy, the Cerasi Chapel contains two paintings by Caravaggio – the "Crucifixion of St. Peter" and the "Conversion of St. Paul." The paintings were commissioned by Monsignor Tiberio Cerasi, who was the treasurer general of Pope Clement VIII, in 1600. Curiously, Cerasi had asked a different painter named Annibale Caracci to paint the altarpiece of the chapel, which is executed in stark contrast to Caravaggio's style.

In 1602, Caravaggio signed his final contract with the Contarelli family to paint an altarpiece for their family chapel in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome, Italy. The first painting (now lost) that Caravaggio produced was rejected because it depicted St. Matthew as a rustic and rather simple looking figure. But the second version – which we say in the chapel today – is a triumph of Caravaggio's realistic theatrical style.

The "Calling of St. Matthew" was the second of three paintings that Caravaggio executed for the Contarelli Chapel in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome, Italy. It depicts the dramatic moment when Christ called Matthew, the tax collector, to follow him in his mission. Caravaggio transforms a simple moment into a theatrical event set within a contemporary early 17th-century Roman setting.

The first of three paintings that Caravaggio painted for the Contarelli Chapel in the official French church of Rome, San Luigi dei Francesi, the "Martyrdom of St. Matthew" was the artist's first large scale painting. It depicts the assassination of the saint and evangelist at high mass in a dramatic fashion that only Caravaggio could invent.

Only July 23, 1599, Caravaggio signed the contract with the heirs of Cardinal Matthieu Cointerel ("Contarelli" in Italian) to produce three paintings for their family chapel in the official French church of Rome called San Luigi dei Francesi. This episode examines the history of the church, chapel and commission surrounding Caravaggio's great paintings.

This episode addresses three more of Caravaggio's innovative early paintings in Rome, Italy. Each of the paintings treats conventional subjects in unconventional ways, including using well-known prostitutes as models for the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene, and introducing unprecedented violence into the Judith subject.

The Uffizi Gallery in Florence contains three paintings by Caravaggio. Two of them, the "Bacchus" and "The Medusa Shield" were sent by Cardinal Del Monte to Grand Duke Ferdinand de' Medici, while the third, the "Sacrifice of Isaac," was acquired later. All three paintings reflect Caravaggio's unique and revolutionary painting style which incorporates shocking realism, violence, and the dramatic use of light and shadow.

After an inauspicious beginning to his artistic career in Rome, Caravaggio's photorealistic style and "street" iconography began to draw the attention of some important patrons. The most important of the patrons was Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte, whose patronage launched Caravaggio's career. This episode will examine Caravaggio's paintings and his entirely new approach to painting, which involved a close observation and faithful reproduction of nature and the introduction of non-traditional subjects.

Known as the "pittore maledetto" – or the "cursed painter", Caravaggio not only revolutionized painting at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries with his "hyper-realistic" style, but he also literally turned Rome on its head with his often-criminal behavior. Spending much of his time between brothels and taverns, Caravaggio's love of the vulgar and violence became his primary artistic inspiration. His paintings would often reflect his sociopathic lifestyle, frequently depicting Christian subjects in completely inappropriate ways. This episode follows in the footsteps of the artist to recount his unique and entertaining biography.

From the water source of the Neptune Fountain in Florence, to the animal symbolism of the Nativity subject, to the restorations of Masacccio's Brancacci Chapel and "Holy Trinity," to how Leonardo's notebook ended up in the Windsor collection, to the accuracy of historical fiction movie and television series dealing with the Renaissance 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.

Left unfinished at this death in 1576, Titian's "Pietà" was intended to serve as his funerary monument. Its extreme use of loose brushstroke and unconventional color combinations led one art historian to describe the painting as an example of "chromatic alchemy."

Painted in the last year's of Titian's life, the "Crowning with Thorns" in Munich revisited a theme that he painted 30 years earlier in a painting today located in the Louvre in Paris. Examined side by side, there is perhaps no better way to demonstrate the dramatic evolution of Titian's style to very loose and suggestive brushwork in the final stage of his career.

Painted around 1565, this exquisite painting exemplifies Titian's later style with its loose brushstroke, sophisticated use of color, and delicate tonal transitions. The meaning of the painting is somewhat controversial as it does not fall into any traditional iconographical schemes and has consequently resulted in various scholarly theories being proposed.

In 1573, Paolo Veronese was commissioned by the Dominicans at the church of Saints Giovanni and Paolo in Venice to paint a "Last Supper" to replace an earlier version by Titian that had been destroyed by fire. The result was a massive image full of numerous figures engaged in a hedonistic celebration. Not surprisingly, a few months after completing the painting, the artist was called before the Holy Tribunal of Venice to answer to accusations of indecorous religious painting. Veronese was able to satisfy his inquisitors and save his painting by changing its subject to the "Feast in the House Levi."

In 1562, Veronese was commissioned to paint a massive painting of the "Wedding Feast at Cana" to adorn the end wall of the refectory of the Benedictine monastery of San Giorgio in Venice, Italy. What he produced was an extraordinary impression of typical Venetian revelry in the late 16th century with more than 100 figures participating in the great feast.

Paolo Veronese is the third member of the great Venetian late Renaissance trio that also includes Titian and Tintoretto. The church of San Sebastiano in Venice was decorated over 15 years with paintings exclusively by Veronese and is a veritable shrine to the genius of this great painter.

This episode addresses the paintings in the second half of the Chapter Hall of the Scuola, which focus specifically on the theme of food with scenes of "Manna Falling from Heaven" and the "Last Supper."

Once he completed his paintings for the Albergo, Tintoretto continued the decoration of the Scuola with a series of paintings for the Chapter Hall. These paintings are some of Tintoretto's best and demonstrate his revolutionary approach to painting.

Tintoretto's paintings in the Albergo (board room) of the Scuola of San Rocco are dramatic representations of the Passion of Jesus Christ. From his tragic "Ecce Homo" all the way to his Hollywood-style "Crucifixion," Tintoretto produced some of the most innovative and theatrical paintings of the Renaissance.

In 1564, the Scuola of San Rocco announced a competition for the commission for the ceiling paintings of the Albergo (board room) of their meeting house. True to his nature, Tintoretto surprised and outwitted all his competitors. Find out how in this episode!

The Scuola Grande of San Rocco in Venice, Italy, is the only active "scuola," or confraternity, in the city. It has maintained its original appearance and magnificent decoration – nearly all of which was by Tintoretto - for the last five centuries. This podcast explores the history of the scuola and its importance to Venice.

From the original location and patron of Donatello's "Mary Magdalene," to the influence of Giotto on Taddeo Gaddi, to the original meeting hall of the Florentine government, to the dome of St. Peter's, to the authenticity of the recently discovered "Flaget Madonna" attributed by some to Raphael, 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.

Stretching 120m in length with its walls covered entirely in 16th century maps of various Italian city states, principalities, and islands, the Gallery of the Maps is one of the most spectacular spaces in the Vatican Museums.

Still located in the Loggia dei Lanzi where it was installed in 1583, the "Rape of the Sabine" was produced for Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici. While the group of three figures may seem like a fitting representation of the mythological event where Roman men took Sabine women as their wives, the statue was originally subject-less.

The dome frescoes of Florence Cathedral cover nearly an acre of dome surface, making it the world's largest fresco. Begun by Giorgio Vasari in 1572 and completed by Federico Zuccari in 1579, the main subject of the fresco is the Last Judgment and incudes some strikingly graphic imagery in the Hell sections.