Renaissance Art

While Italians looked to Florence as their artistic center, northern Europeans looked to Flanders and Germany, where a distinctive Renaissance style was created, based on an exploration of visual realism.This program examines:o Rogier van der Weyden's St. John Altarpiece (after 1450), from the Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlino Rogier van der Weyden's Portrait of a Young Woman (circa 1455), from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DCo Hugo van der Goes' Adoration of the Magi (circa 1470), from the Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlino Albrecht Durer's Portrait of an Unknown Cleric (1516), from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DCo Hans Holbein the Younger's Portrait of the Artist's Wife with Katharina and Philipp (1523), from the Kunstmuseum, Baselo Pieter Bruegel the Elder's The Triumph of Death (circa 1562), from the Museo del Prado, Madrid. (60 minutes)

Marlow travels to England, France and Italy on a lively, visual journey illustrating how the Christian idea of nudity associated with sin was replaced with ideas of nudity being associated with beauty and sensuality. Included are Botticelli’s "Birth of Venus," Michelangelo’s "David," and Giotto’s "The Last Judgement.

Thirty-six lectures of thirty minutes each by William Kloss, independent art historian with Smithsonian Associates, the Smithsonian Institution. These lectures cover the art historical periods known as the Early Renaissance and the High Renaissance, which extended from about 1400 to about 1520. No era of artistic achievement is as renowned as the Renaissance, and no country holds a higher place in that period than Italy. The supreme works created in Florence, Rome, Venice, and other Italian cities by such masters as Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titian have never been equaled and have established a canon of beauty that pervades Western culture to this day. In this artist-centered survey, many works are explored in considerable depth, while also examining hundreds of different paintings and sculptures by scores of different artists.

The Mystery of Jan van Eyck tells the stories of some of the Flemish master’s most significant paintings—The Ghent Altarpiece, The Arnolfini Marriage, The Dresden Triptych, Portrait of Cardinal Niccolò Albergati, and Portrait of Baudouin de Lannoy, to name only five—with quiet authority and deep respect. Composed of stills and highly detailed close-ups supported by informative analysis and period music, the program is itself a museum piece—and an indispensible part of any library’s collection of art videos pertaining to the Northern Renaissance. Background on van Eyck’s life and career is also included, as are insights into the visionary van Eyck’s painting techniques and worldview. (86 minutes)