Alexander the Great (356–323 B.C.) precipitated immense historical change in the Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds. But the resonance his legend achieved over the next two millennia stretched even farther – across foreign cultures, religious traditions, and distant nations, with

Today, Piero della Francesca is one of the most loved of Renaissance painters. Working across Central Italy in the mid-1400s, Piero created works for some of the most discerning and extravagant Renaissance patrons. These included altarpieces, fresco cycles and some

Join us for an in-depth exploration of the life and work of Giotto di Bondone, often described as the father of Italian Renaissance painting. Our survey of his career will look at works produced in Florence, Assisi, Rome and Rimini with

Some 500 years ago, Sandro Botticelli, (1444–1510) an Italian painter of humble origin, created work of unearthly beauty. He was commissioned by a member of the powerful Florentine Medici family to execute a near-impossible project: To illustrate all 100 cantos

Workshop practices and art materials are often a neglected aspect of Renaissance studies. Yet the businesses run by painters operated within and contributed to the economic life that characterized Renaissance Italy. Before the period, artists were craftsmen valued for skill,

How many have noticed that it is Eve, not Adam, who is the centerpiece of Michelangelo's famous Sistine Chapel ceiling? Or that for every male ancestor of Christ in the ceiling, Michelangelo painted a female one? What should we make of his powerful yet seductive Libyan

Working amidst the vibrant creativity of Florence in the 15th century, the sculptor Donatello’s works encompass every emotion from unabashed joy and frivolity through formal grandeur to deeply personal religious conviction. A technical master, he broke new ground in the

After 100 years of construction, the reign of 18 different popes, and the direction of 12 different architects, St. Peter’s Basilica was finally completed in 1626. Measuring more than two football fields in length, it was by far the largest