Raphael and Michelangelo, Caravaggio and Bernini... an Italian quartet inexorably linked to Rome’s awe-inspiring Renaissance and Baroque legacy – and four figures who burn brightly throughout our investigation of the Eternal City’s unrivalled collection of frescoes, paintings and sculpture.
Our first full day in Rome will be spent at the Vatican, where we will witness at first hand the splendour of Raphael’s wonderful series of frescoes in the Stanze – the four official rooms of Pope Julius II decorated by Raphael at the beginning of his brilliant career in Rome. We will also take in the delights of the Pinacoteca, the Vatican’s picture gallery, and the famous papal collection of statuary that resides in the Belvedere.
Michelangelo, whose frescoes we will see in the Sistine Chapel, undoubtedly influenced Caravaggio (despite the latter’s protestations that nature was his only teacher). The Baroque painter will feature prominently on our tour: in the Contarelli Chapel of San Luigi dei Francesi we will view his Calling of Saint Matthew, whilst in the Cerasi Chapel of Santa Maria del Popolo we will see the equally evocative Conversion of Saul and Crucifixion of St Peter. There will be an opportunity, too, to see work by Caravaggio’s female disciple Artemisia Gentileschi.
Bernini was perhaps the greatest sculptor-architect of the 17th century. When his patron Barberini was installed as Pope Urban VIII, Bernini was put in charge of building operations at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. If the façade of Barberini’s palace is one of Bernini’s most famous architectural works, then the Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona ranks as one of his most celebrated sculptural groups.
Further splendours await us both in the very heart of ancient Rome – at the Palazzo dei Conservatori, for example, with its collection of Italian Old Masters – and slightly beyond: the refurbished Museo Borghese contains Raphael’s Entombment and Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne, whereas Palazzo Doria Pamphilj houses Velázquez’s unforgettable Innocent X.
We stay at the Hotel della Torre Argentina, a three-star hotel ideally situated in the very core of ancient Rome. We will enjoy dinner at local restaurants.
Date: November 2 – 7, 2010 |
Cost: £1490 |
Lecturer: Peter Higginson |
Course Code: RBR210 |
Itinerary
Day 1 Depart Heathrow 0915 on British Airways, arriving Rome 1240. Transfer via Sta Maria del Popolo (Caravaggio) to Hotel della Torre Argentina for five nights. Evening talk: Sistine Chapel and the Stanze.
Day 2 Retrace pilgrims’ way along Via dei Coronari and across Ponte Sant’ Angelo past Castel Sant’ Angelo (exterior only) and on to Vatican Museums: Pinacoteca, Stanze, Sistine Chapel, St Peter’s (Michelangelo’s Pietà, Bernini sculptures). Evening talk: Bernini and Baroque Style in Sculpture.
Day 3 Morning: Villa Farnesina (including Renaissance Loggia of Cupid and Psyche). Afternoon: Santa Maria della Vittoria including Bernini’s Cornaro Chapel (Ecstasy of St Theresa). Evening talk: Caravaggio and Origins of the Baroque in Rome.
Day 4 San Luigi dei Francesi (Caravaggio’s first important religious works) followed by Sant’ Agostino (Caravaggio’s Madonna of Loreto, paintings by Raphael), Piazza Navona (Bernini’s Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi), Santa Maria dell’ Anima, Raphael’s tomb in Pantheon, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva (frescoes by Lippi). Afternoon: Palazzo Barberini (Galleria Nazionale d’Arte with works by Raphael and Caravaggio).
Day 5 Palazzo Doria Pamphilj (Rome’s finest private art collection, including Velázquez’s Innocent X), Museo Borghese (Raphael’s Entombment and Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne).
Day 6 Pinacoteca in Palazzo dei Conservatori (Italian Old Masters, Caravaggio) before transferring to airport for 1715 departure, arriving Heathrow 1900.
Cost
Cost of £1490 includes: return airfare, accommodation based on sharing a twin or double bedded room, breakfast & dinner, excursions & admissions.
Not included: travel insurance, single room supplement £190