The Renaissance Times

Our guest today, Toby Lester, has worked as a refugee affairs officer for the United Nations, helped with programmes in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, undertaken Peace Corps work in Yemen. He has written also extensively for national publications, including the Smithsonian, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, The American Scholar, The Wilson Quarterly, […] The post #138 – Toby Lester, Da Vinci's Ghost – Leonardo da Vinci Part 27 appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

Taking a short break from Leonardo, our guest today is Julia Charity, an official Vatican tour guide! Julia, who originally hails from the UK, tells us how she ended up as a Vatican tour guide and about some of her favourite art on display in the Pope's fortress, including "The Last Judgment" by Michelangelo, the "Transfiguration" by her "Renaissance husband", Raphael, and the Borgia Apartments. The post #136 – Julia & The Vatican appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

Curtis Wong has had an incredible career. He has produced critically acclaimed educational CD-ROMs at Corbis and the Voyager Co., as well as the definitive editions of feature films for the Criterion Collection. He ran the Content Group at Intel, and was granted many patents at Microsoft Research. Today he joins us to tell some stories from his career, including his groundbreaking work with Bill Gates to produce the digital version of Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Leicester. The post #120 – Leonardo da Vinci Part 13 – Curtis Wong appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

We chat with one of the world's leading authorities on Leonardo da Vinci – Matthew Landrus from Oxford University, author of Leonardo da Vinci's Giant Crossbow.   The post #118 – Leonardo da Vinci Part 11 – Matthew Landrus appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

If you're wondering “where are rest of the episodes?”, they are on our website as part of our membership program. The post Where are rest of the episodes? appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

Leonardo's earliest surviving work of art is a landscape sketch of Vinci in his notebook dating from 1473 when he was 21 years old. The earliest surviving painting is BAPTISM OF CHRIST, a collaboration with his old master, Verrocchio (as seen in Marketing The Messiah). On this episode, we go deep on both works of art, looking at what made Leonardo da Vinci different from his contemporaries. The post #111 – Leonardo da Vinci Part 4 – Manscaping Jesus appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

Leonardo's first known artwork is a Frankenstein monster and he invents sfumato. The post #110 – Leonardo da Vinci Part 3 – Frankenstein's Monster appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

We examine Leonardo's writing style, and his apprenticeship at age 14 to Andrea del Verrocchio, an Italian painter, sculptor, and goldsmith, because even geniuses need a master to learn from (despite what The Queen's Gambit will have you believe). The post #109 – Leonardo da Vinci Part 2 – Back And To The Left appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

"Extraordinary power ... conjoined with remarkable facility, a mind of regal boldness and magnanimous daring." That's how Vasari described Leonardo da Vinci. But how much do we really know about the world's most famous artist? And how much of what we think we know is myth? The post #108 – Leonardo da Vinci Part 1 – A Complete Bastard appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

Savonarola was notified that he and his closest colleagues had been condemned to die. His most ardent believers had faith that the Lord would save him at the last minute, but, yet again, God didn't show up for work. At 1pm, May 23, 1498, they were degraded then burned in the Piazza della Signoria. And now Florence needs to get its shit together. Do they bring back the Medici? Join the Holy League? And what can they learn from the Savonarola episode? The post #107 – Savonarola Part 14 – Savonarola Burns appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

The trials of Savonarola begin. First he is put on trial by the Signoria of Florence for his political interference. Then he is put on trial by the Pope for his religious accusations and claims of prophecy. This being Catholic Italy, part of the trial involves torture - the strappado. Under torture Savonarola confesses to making everything up and being a big old fake. The post #106 – Savonarola Part 13 – Strappado appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

With Charles out of the picture, Piero de Medici figures it's time for him to return to Florence. He marched into Tuscany with a force of four hundred lancers, light cavalry, and foot soldiers. Unfortunately, nobody shows up to welcome him and he goes back into exile. But his attempt at a return sets off a series of political assassinations in Florence, supported by Savonarola. Civil tensions increase until a Franciscan friar challenges Savonarola to trial by fire. When this doesn't work out as planned, the people are furious and Savonarola gets thrown into prison. The post #105 – Savonarola Part 12 – Trial By Fire appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

A miracle prevents Mad Max from invading Italy and Savonarola's prophetic credentials continue to rise. But he still wants Florence to purify itself further so he orders his first Bonfire Of The Vanities. The post #104 – Savonarola Part 11 – Bonfire Of The Vanities appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

Yes, we're still talking about Savonarola! Deal with it! On this episode, Savonarola refuses the Pope's summons to go to Rome and to stop preaching. He uses the ol' Bill Clinton defence. During some of his downtime, one of his colleagues offers to go through a trial by fire to prove how much God loves Savonarola. And when he returns to preaching, Savonarola demands for blood to be spilled by anyone who criticises “his” signoria and decides to build the Hitler Youth to force Florence into being good little Christians. But then the Holy Roman Emperor sets sail for Italy with an armada to kick out the French and Florence yet again needs to choose a side - Savonarola or the Pope? The post #103 – Savonarola Part 10 appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

By early 1495, Savonarola managed to get control of the Great Council of Florence and has his reforms passed. He may not be gonfaloniere, but he is a political force. He soon gets one of his own followers elected gonfaloniere and then has complete control over the city. Then he started arguing to shut down more fun things. Sodomy, dancing, poetry, prostitution, blasphemy - he's the anti-Lorenzo. Meanwhile King Charles of France and the Pope go to war and Florence is forced to choose between the King, who Savonarola has said is the agent of God, and the Pope. When they choose the King, Savonarola ends up on the Pope's naughty list - and his future suddenly looks dim. The post #102 – Savonarola Part 9 appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

With the Medici and the French both gone from Florence, Savonarola tries to influence the new Signoria to pass significant reforms - but they ignore him. Then another enemy appears - this time, a religious rival. Feeling like he wasn't appreciated, Savonarola eventually spat the dummy and said he wanted to leave Florence once and for all. Meanwhile, on November 17, the day Charles VIII and his troops entered Florence, Pico della Mirandola died at the age of thirty-two - only two months after his friend and possibly lover, Poliziano, who died aged only 40. They were poisoned - possibly on the orders of the exiled Piero de Medici. The post #101 – Savonarola Part 8 appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

Savonarola meets with King Charles VIII of France in Pisa, calling himself a prophet of God and telling Charles that he was the instrument of God's divine plan. Then he returns to Florence where the Medici have been kicked out and he congratulates the Florentines on a bloodless revolution. But, he says - there is still more work to be done to get back into God's favour. Shortly after, the King arrives in Florence with 9000 troops - and announces he wants them to bring back Piero de Medici. The post #100 – Savonarola Part 7 appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

Savonarola's predictions that God was going to punish the Florentines seem to be coming true when, in 1494, King Charles VIII of France invades Italy to take control of Naples. On his way south, he also threatens to attack Florence. When Piero de Medici tries to negotiate a settlement, it's a complete failure. So the Signoria send Savonarola to meet with the king instead. The post #99 – Savonarola Part 6 appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

In 1492, Lorenzo The Magnificent died. His heir was his eldest son, 20 year old Piero de' Medici, a useless turd. The Pope died soon afterwards and was replaced by the corrupt Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia as Pope Alexander VI. Savonarola proclaimed that the “Sword of the Lord” would soon descend upon Florence to punish it for its wicked ways. In this case, the sword would soon be carried another 20 year old ruler - King Charles VIII of France. The post #98 – Savonarola Part 5 appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

In his sermons in early 1491, Savonarola attacked the people and priests who thought of Christianity as a merely ceremonial religion. He also criticised how ignorant the people were of the doctrines of Christianity, ‘thieving priests' who sold lucrative posts and Church offices to the wealthy, and he claimed the clerics and people were all sodomites and attacked the oppression of the poor, by unjust taxation. The post #97 – Savonarola Part 4 appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

In 1487 Savonarola left Florence for a new assignment in Bologna, to continue his studies toward a degree of master of sacred theology while teaching juniors. But apparently it didn't go well. He wasn't given his masters and his academic career was terminated. For the next few years he was sent around Italy to preach. He finally gets reassigned BACK to San Marco in Florence. Probably at the request of Lorenzo, on the recommendation of Pico della Mirandola, the self-proclaimed smartest motherfucker in the world. Now that he has the blessing and interest of Lorenzo and Pico, he's in an entirely new situation. People care what he has to say. And he preaches about the coming of the Apocalypse. The post #96 – Savonarola Part 3 appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

Savonarola starts his preaching career but it doesn't go very well. One person who *is* impressed though is a young Pico della Mirandola. That would have far-reaching consequences. He also wrote a book - On Politics and Government (De politica et regno) - basically his Mein Kampf. If only Lorenzo read it, Florence may have been spared the things to come. To give his preaching a bit more oompf, Savo starts to throw in an old favourite - The ESCHATON. The post #95 – Savonarola Part 2 appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

After Lorenzo de Medici's death in 1492, Botticelli gave up painting, abandoned his humanist studies, and became a hardcore fundamentalist Christian. As did a lot of Florentines. The reason? They all fell under the spell of the original fire and brimstone preacher. He wasn't rich. He didn't have an army. He wasn't of the nobility. He wasn't sent by the pope. In fact, the Pope hated him. But he managed to do what so many rich men with armies had failed to do for decades. He overturned the government of Florence, kicked out the Medici family, and took control of the city. And... to top it off, he was a precursor of the Reformation. He is famous for the Bonfire Of The Vanities. His name was Girolamo SAVONAROLA. The post #94 – Savonarola Part 1 appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

When Giuliano de Medici gets murdered in the Duomo during the Pazzi Conspiracy of 1478, Booty was probably there. What should a Florentine painter paint after the Pope had your best friend killed during a church service in a cathedral? No more Madonnas and Baby Jesuses. It's time for Booty to paint his ultimate masterpiece - The Birth Of Venus. The post #93 – Sandro Botticelli 5 appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

Botticelli's first painting of a non-religious subject was FORTITUDE, 1470. It's considered his first masterpiece. He then explored other stories like The Return of Judith to Bethulia from the Old Testament and St Sebastian, an early Christian saint and martyr, his first truly SEXY painting. He then turned to the stories from Greco-Roman antiquity and the poetry of his friend Poliziano for inspiration, leading his way to painting his own version of Apelles' 'Aphrodite Anadyomene', The Birth Of Venus. The post #92 – Sandro Botticelli 4 appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

We go back to the beginnings of Botticelli's career as a solo artist to examine his progression from Lippi's apprentice to becoming the breakthrough Renaissance artist. We start by putting some of his early Madonna and Child paintings under the microscope including the Virgin and Child with an Angel, Madonna of the Rose Garden, Madonna della Loggia and The Virgin and Child with Two Angels. The post #91 – Sandro Botticelli 3 appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

We continue talking about the life and art of Sandro Botticelli. We go deep on his paintings of The Adoration of the Magi, and the first of his pagan masterpieces, the Primavera. The post #90 – Sandro Botticelli 2 appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

During Lorenzo de Medici's life, no fewer than three of the outstanding artists of the Renaissance are thought to have spent at least a brief formative period of their early lives in the Palazzo Medici: Leonardo and Michelangelo and the one we're going to talk about for the next few episodes - the great Sandro Botticelli. The post #89 – Sandro Botticelli appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

When King Manuel of Portugal evicted the Jews in 1497, he didn't actually want the Jews to leave. He wanted them to convert to Christianity. When, instead, the chose to leave, he tried to stop them - by seizing their children and converting them. Rather than see their children raised as Christians, many Jews killed their own kids and then committed suicide. The Jews who did convert didn't get it any easier, either. As in Spain, they were subjected to violence and then, finally, the Inquisition came to Portugal. It's just your basic Christian terrorism. The post #88 – Christian Terrorism appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

This episode starts with a correction about the skin colour of the Moors, brought to you by our Moroccan listener Mohamed. Then, to set the scene for this episode, we have a special song - "The Alhambra Decree" by legendary contemporary folk singer-songwriter David Rovics. Crazy coincidence - I've been a fan of David's work for 15 years and have been on his mailing list forever. And the same week I happened to be preparing this episode, I saw his latest email that contained this song. So I reached out and he was nice enough to give me permission to use this track. So what was the Alhambra Decree? It was the 1492 decision, by Isabella and Ferdinand, after they concluded their war with the last remaining Muslim region of Granada, that all of the Jews were to be banished from Spain. But did they really want to banish them? Or just give them an added incentive to convert to Christianity? And why would anyone want to convert to Christianity after the hell the Inquisition had just put the conversos through? Some gave in under pressure and converted - some stuck to their guns and migrated to Portugal, whose King promised them refuge. Which was great - until the King of Portugal decided he wanted to marry the daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand. The post #87 – The Alhambra Decree appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

When the Inquisition came to your town, they would grant you 30 days to confess to being a heretic. This was known as the "Edicts Of Grace". If you confessed, you might get a hefty fine, but at least you wouldn't end up in prison or burned at the stake. Of course, many conversos decided it was the smart move to confess - whether they actually were a crytpo-Jew or not. The post #86 – Edicts Of Grace appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

In 1482, as the Spanish Inquisition started to ramp up in more towns, the Pope appointed seven more inquisitors, including the infamous Tomás de Torquemada. However, critics of the Inquisition claimed that "the Inquisition has for some time been moved not by zeal for the faith and the salvation of souls, but by lust for wealth." The critic who wrote that was none other than the Pope himself. The post #85 – Torquemada appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

The papal bull issued by Pope Sixtus IV on 1 November 1478 provided for the appointment of two or three priests over forty years of age as inquisitors. Powers of appointment and dismissal were granted to the Spanish crown. This wasn't the first time an inquisition into heretics had been established. In 1401 a special new law in England permitted the execution of heretics - De heretico comburendo - a law passed by Parliament under King Henry IV. In Spain, the first auto de fe (‘act of faith') of the new Inquisition was celebrated on 6 February 1481, when six people, men and women, were burnt at the stake and the sermon at the ceremony was preached by Fray Alonso de Hojeda. The post #84 – The Spanish Inquisition appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

By the 15th century, Christians, Jews and Muslims had lived side by side in Spain for centuries. The Muslims controlled a large region of modern Spain, as did the Christians. But the Jews continued to get massacred in periodic pogroms. However, there were also many rich Jews, among them the financiers who enjoyed royal favor. Then it all fell apart with Queen Isabella when she became aware of the existence of Crypto-Judaism - Jews pretending to be Christians. Jesus hates a faker. The post #83 – The Crypto-Jews appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

In 1184, Pope Lucius III issued a papal bull, Ad Abolendam, to combat the Albigensian heresy in southern France. They were known as Cathars, or Good Christians. They were going around doing horrible anti-Christian things - like saying killing was bad, being vegetarian and treating women as equals was good, and that the church was too rich. The Pope decided they had to be stopped. How? In the words of the army commander he sent to them: ‘Kill them all. God will recognise his own.' The post #82 – The Cathars appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

In the aftermath of the Pazzi Conspiracy, Florence found itself excommunicated en masse by Pope Sixtus IV unless they handed over Lorenzo De Medici. When the city refused, Pope Sixtus went to war. The post #79 – The Papal War appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

Two days after the death of Piero de' Medici in December 1469, his eldest son, Lorenzo de' Medici, aka Larry The Med, became the new ruler of Florence. He was 20 years old. He was a major patron of the Renaissance and the father of the future Pope Leo X. The post #76 – Larry The Med appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

Piero de Medici engineers a commercial coup for the Medici family that makes up for all of their recent losses. He takes over the Pope's alum business. Alum was the mineral salts derived from volcanic deposits that were used to make dyes for cloth. Essential for the Florentine textile business. Meanwhile Piero continues to extend […] The post #75 – The Artist Who Stole A Nun appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

The Pitti faction get Soderini elected gonfaloniere and install an anti-Medici signoria but they can't get the guilds, who remember the troubles of the pre-Cosimo years, to agree to banishing the Medici. So the Pitti party decide to try an armed revolution, calling in support from Venice and Ferrara. In the middle of all this, Francesco Sforza dies in Milan and his house is taken over by his craaaazy son, Galeazzo Sforza, who liked to rape noblemen's wives and tear his enemies limb from limb. The post #74 – The Pitti Party appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

In 1464, with the death of Cosimo, his only surviving son, Piero di Cosimo de' Medici – or Piero the Gouty, ‘il Gottoso', as he came to be called – took over. He was 48 years old. He would survive - and rule - Florence for just five years. Piero was perceived to be so weak and ineffectual that long-standing friends and allies of the Medici turned against him and the family. It was a decision they would live to regret. The post #73 – Piero de Medici appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

Cosimo de Medici used his network of bank branches across Europe to do more than just make money. They were also used as an intelligence network. Medici cash was spread far and wide to keep him informed about the machinations of Florence's – and the Medici family's – enemies. One major enemy during this period […] The post #72 – Duke Filippo Maria Visconti appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

It's been a while since we have caught up with Cosimo de Medici. Four years after his return to Florence in 1434, he secured a huge opportunity for Florence, that would have far reaching effects on the Renaissance – hosting the Ecumenical Council between the East and West churches. This saw a contingent of 700 […] The post #71 – The Greek Invasion appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

In 1453, when the Turks took Constantinople, Pope Nicky 5 wanted a crusade and authorized the sale of letters of indulgence—religious documents that released the buyers from penalties for their sins. And guess who printed them? Then he finally got around to working on his masterpiece and the book he is most remembered for – […] The post #70 – Gutenberg Part 6 appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

Commercial opportunities for a printing press went beyond books. One of those was the Fall of Constantinople. In 1453, the Ottoman Empire lead by 21-year-old Sultan Mehmed II defeated the army of Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last Byzantine Emperor. To tell this story we also need to talk about The Great Schism, how and why […] The post #69 – Gutenberg Part 5 appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

Hand carving a piece of metal type for a printing press would take a skilled craftsman an entire day. Just setting one page of the Bible would take 2600 pieces of type. So Gutenberg needed to come up with an efficient way to manufacture type – which is a lot harder than it sounds. He […] The post #68 – Gutenberg Part 4 appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

One of Gutenberg's partners died, and the guy's brothers wanted in on the secret project. Gutenberg refused, so they took him to court. Then in 1444, Gutenberg left Strasbourg and went… where? We don't know. He disappeared for three years. Some interesting conspiracy theories about where he might have gone. We also talk about the […] The post #67 – Gutenberg Part 3 appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

In 1428, Gutenberg moved to Strasbourg where he would live for the next 20 years. It was there that he had his first big business venture—making holy healing ray containment devices. He brought on investors who later became suspicious that he was holding out on them. He had a secret project that he was working […] The post #66 – Gutenberg Part 2 appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

Today we begin a series about the man without whom our podcasts would not exist because there would be no books. And you know we get all of our knowledge from books. The man who invented movable type and the printing press (or did he?). Johannes Gutenberg. The post #65 – Gutenberg Part 1 appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

Born 1401 as Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone, “Masaccio” (his nickname) was regarded as the first great Italian painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaissance. According to Vasari, he was the best painter of his generation. The first painter in the Renaissance who really understood linear perspective. He died age only 26, […] The post #64 – Masaccio appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

Born Guido di Pietro but known to us as Fra Angelico which means the “Angelic friar”. Despite his early talent for painting, at age 12 he entered the Dominican order and spent the rest of his life in convents, painting their walls. Admired by Cosimo de Medici and extremely influential to the early Renaissance artists, […] The post #63 – Fra Angelico & Pope Nicholas V appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

The first written work of art theory, produced during the Renaissance was “De Pictura”, or “On Painting”, written in 1435 by Leon Battista Alberti but not published until 1450, in which he explained the science behind linear perspective. He was a humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, mathematician and cryptographer. He also wrote […] The post #62 The First Renaissance Man appeared first on The Renaissance Times.