Unlock with PatreonArt History Lecture
Sculpture in Rome
w/ Tom Richards
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Rome, a city with ancient roots, founded in the 8th century BCE and today the national capital of Italy, only a 90 minute train ride away from the FAA’s home in Florence, is the focus of this lecture where we explore artworks, artists, and locations that showcase the unique essence of the city’s sculptural elements through the baroque era.
Following the 1527 Sack of Rome and the Council of Trent, we explore the history behind the period’s most influential artists, and learn about what they wanted to convey with the monuments, paintings and sculptures that were commissioned to create. When compared to the Renaissance of Florence, the works of Rome, seat of political and religious stature and power, are larger in scale, and reflect a very different style and purpose.
Join us on this journey through several of the most notable works to be found in Rome, and take a quick glimpse into a few of the city’s revered museums and churches, while considering compositional elements, how the works were intended to be viewed, and how they are displayed now!
We hope you enjoy this lecture, with images of works from antiquity, and by artists such as Donatello (Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, 1386-1466), Michelangelo (Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, 1475-1564), and Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), and locations including The Vatican Museums, the Borghese Gallery and Museums, and The Palazzo Massimo alle Terme – all in Rome and Vatican City.
To further research the works from this lecture we have selected details on artists, artworks and locations below, in the order presented in the lecture!
- “Bust of Costanza Bonarelli” (“Busto di Costanza Bonarelli”), 1636–37 located in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence, Italy by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598, Naples – 1680, Rome)
- “Saint Sebastian” (“San Sebastiano”), 1617-18 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini located in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid, Spain.
- “Bust of Pope Innocent X”, one of two portrait busts by Gian Lorenzo Bernini of Pope Innocent X, Giovanni Battista Pamphili. Created around 1650, both sculptures are now in the Galleria Doria Pamphili in Rome, Italy.
- “Portrait of Pope Innocent X”, oil painting, 1650 by Diego Velázquez located in the Doria Pamphili Gallery in Rome, Italy.
- Basilica Papale di Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, Italy.
- Piazza della Santissima Annunziata, the Ospedale degli Innocenti designed by Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446, Florentine) in Florence, Italy.
- Piazza del Campidoglio designed by Michelangelo (Michelangelo Buonarroti) (1475, Caprese Michelangelo – 1564, Rome) in Rome.
- Details by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel (ceiling and wall) in the Apostolic Palace, Vatican City.
- “Creation of Eve”, 1410 by Donatello (Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi) (1386–1466, Florentine) in the collection of the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo in Florence, Italy.
- The Pistoia Crucifix, c. 1600/1616 by Pietro Tacca (1577-1640, Florentine) located at the The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, USA.
- “Crucifixion”, c. 1622 by Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641), located in The Church of San Zaccaria in Venice, Italy.
- “Saint George” (“San Giorgio”), c. 1415–1417 by Donatello, located in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence, Italy.
- “The Fontana della Pigna” or simply “Pigna” decorates a vast niche in a wall of the Vatican facing the Cortile della Pigna, located in Vatican City. A former Roman fountain, architect Pirro Ligorio (1512–1583) designed the wall and niche.
- “David”, 1501–1504, by Michelangelo located in the Accademia Gallery in Florence, Italy.
- “David”, started in 1623, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini located in the Borghese Gallery and Museum in Rome, Italy.
- “Saint Longinus”, 1629–38, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini located at St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City.
- “Ecstasy of Saint Teresa”, 1647–1652, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini located at Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome, Italy.
- Detail of “Saint Teresa of Jesus” (“Avila”) after portrait from life by Fray Juan de la Miseria in 1576.
- “The Rape of Proserpina” (“Ratto di Proserpina”) 1621–1622, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini located in the Borghese Gallery and Museum, Rome, Italy.
- “Laocoön and His Sons” by Agesander of Rhodes, Athenodoros of Rhodes, and Polydorus of Rhodes, c. 40-30 BCE, Excavated in Rome in 1506. Located at the Vatican Museums, Vatican City.
- Copy of the restoration of the Vatican’s “Laocoön and His Sons” by Gian Lorenzo Bernini located in Venice, Italy.
- “Apollo and Daphne”, 1622–1625, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini located in the Borghese Gallery and Museum, Rome, Italy.
- “Apollo Belvedere” located in the Vatican Museums, Vatican City.
- “Discobolus Lancellotti” and the fragmentary statue of the Lancellotti type. Roman copies of a 5th century BC Greek original by Myron, Hadrianic period. Located at the Palazzo Massimo all Terme in Rome, Italy.
- “Seleucid prince”, bronze, Greek of the Hellensitic era, 3rd-2nd centuries BCE, located at the Palazzo Massimo all Terme in Rome, Italy.
- “Boxer at Rest”, bronze, Hellenistic Greek sculpture, c. 330-50 BCE, in the collection of the National Museum of Rome, normally displayed in the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, in Rome, Italy.
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