COURSE DESCRIPTION

When we travel to Italy, it’s the material reminders of the past that seduce us: the extraordinary patrimony of paintings, sculptures and buildings that the country preserves. But these objects are the tangible result of something that is often much harder to visualise: the life, times and even personalities of the patrons who commissioned them. Can we know much about these people? What kind of records have they left, and to what extent can we recreate their lives?

As fascinating as the great men and women of the Italian Renaissance are, they are particularly thrown into relief when set aside their contemporaries, from family and peers, to rivals and even sworn enemies. In this course, we investigate a pair of Renaissance Italian characters every week, putting the flesh back on their bones and allowing them to speak to you directly through their biographies, writings and great works they commissioned.

In this eight-week course we delve into the lives and worlds of diverse figures, from great artists such as Michelangelo and Piero della Francesca, to key patrons of arts and letters such as Isabella d’Este and the Strozzi and Medici of Florence, and the lives of women in the Renaissance courts of Italy.

COURSE CONTENT

Session 1: Dr Nick Gordon: Arnolfo di Cambio & Filippo Brunelleschi

Session 2: Dr Kathleen Olive: Palla & Alessandra Strozzi

Session 3: Freya Middleton: Michelangelo & the Medici

Session 4: Dr Kathleen Olive: Isabella & Beatrice d’Este

Session 5: Dr Will Visconti: Veronica Franco & Baldassare Castiglione

Session 6: Freya Middleton: Cosimo I & Giorgio Vasari

Session 7: Dr Will Visconti: Olimpia Maidalchini & Vannozza dei Cattanei 

Session 8: Dr Nick Gordon: Leon Batista Alberti & Piero della Francesca

LECTURERs

Dr Kathleen Olive is well known to Italian enthusiasts for her lectures and seminars, including popular short courses at the WEA, Sydney, and national lectures for the Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Association (ADFAS). She has worked as a cultural tour leader for over 15 years, with deep expertise in Italy, and in France, Spain and Japan. Her published research on a Renaissance Italian manuscript, the so-called Codex Rustici, was presented to Pope Francis I in 2015 as the official gift of the Florentine Curia.

Freya Middleton has an M.A. from Warwick University and over 15 years’ experience as a specialist tour guide in Florence. Resident in her beloved city for the entirety of her adulthood, Freya is deeply enmeshed in Florentine life and has for many years been ranked the top guide in the city. A regular presenter at the British Institute of Florence, she is also the preferred lecturer and guide of the Advancing Women Artists Foundation (Florence) and for the Australia Council’s Venice Biennale delegates. Venice is yet another of Freya’s areas of expertise, and she has been awarded a prestigious internship at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. Her enthusiasm for all things Italian is infectious, and her gift of the gab legendary.

Dr Nick Gordon has a PhD and University Medal in history from the University of Sydney, and over fifteen years experience of lecturing to university and adult audiences. He is a practising and exhibiting artist with an encyclopedic knowledge of art from the middle ages to the contemporary, and his research on the Italian Middle Ages has won numerous academic scholarships and prizes.

Dr Will Visconti has a PhD in French Studies and Italian Studies from the University of Sydney. He has taught art history, French and Italian at the University of Sydney, where he is an Adjunct Lecturer, and Central St Martins College, London. His research focuses on sex, the arts and transgression in history and ranges across numerous disciplines - literature, cultural studies, theatre and art history.

COURSE STRUCTURE

8 x 1.5 hour sessions. Each session includes a lecture and time for group discussion and analysis.

COURSE DATES

Wednesdays 29 July - 16 September 2020

REQUIREMENTS

This course does not require any assumed knowledge, only a willingness to learn and an interest in art. Sessions require access to ZOOM (which is free), a device with a camera (such as a tablet or computer with a webcam), and an internet connection.

BOOKING

Please note that all times are in Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC +10)

This course has already started. If you would like to join, please contact nick@theshortcourse.org