Enrico Scrovegni built the Arena Chapel in the 14th century as one wing of his magnificent palace in Padua. Unlike many other such structures of the time, the chapel's interior is unarticulated; all niches, marbling and other rich effects in fact consist entirely of paint applied by Giotto, the foremost fresco painter of his day. The numerous frescos, depicting the lives of the Virgin and of Christ along with other Christian narratives, are analyzed in their architectural and art-historical contexts.
"This program surveys the life and work of the perennially fascinating genius Leonardo da Vinci, from his birth in Tuscany to his final years in Cloux."
Provides a general introduction to Renaissance art and music. Shows how the Renaissance artists and composers, influenced and inspired by the new humanistic philosophy, developed new forms and techniques such as painting with oils and four-part polyphony.
Focusing on eight iconic works of art, this series reveals the history of visual imagination through the ages. A combination of reconstruction, photography and storytelling transport the viewer back to the intense moments when great works were conceived and born: the murderous, messianic world of Baroque Rome; opulent, parvenu Amsterdam; paranoid, revolutionary Paris; Victorian England suffocating beneath riches and righteousness; the madhouses and brothels of Provence; the carnage of civil war Spain; 1950s New York, caught between Cold War jitters and Manhattan glitter. In each place, a great artist is backed into a corner, facing a crisis, given a chance to confound his rivals, enemies and critics one more time.
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 Nicola Albergati, and Portrait of Baudouin de Lannoy.