Atlas holding the world. Taken in Florence, Italy. ( Greek Myths: Adventures of Hercules )
Hercules battles the Hydra. In this version, the monster is a multi-headed serpent. I suppose a dragon requires too big a statue! Taken in Florence, Italy. ( Greek Myths: Adventures of Hercules )
The Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy. Here you see a magnificent sculpture of Poseidon. ( Greek Myths: Adventures of Hercules )
Bright renaissance colors amidst ancient but usable buildings in the canals of Venice, Italy. ( Masters of the Renaissance ) A Scene from Raphael's "The School of Athens." Raphael was a young Renaissance contemporary of Leonardo and Michelangelo. Raphael greatly admired both these men even as he competed with them. (I really wanted to tell the story of Raphael on my Renaissance recording, but there just wasn't enough space. You might want to read up on him on your own.)
Raphael had a great idea for this painting that actually takes up an entire wall in the Vatican Museum in Rome, Italy. He decided to use the faces of some of the other great painters to model the most famous ancient Greek philosophers. In this portrait, we see Michelangelo sitting alone in front, looking thoughtful in his purple smock. Leonardo appears behind him in a red outfit.
In this other scene from the same picture, Raphael himself appears in the lower right corner with his dark haired face peering over someone's shoulder.
Ghiberti's door carving of Eve's creation from the rib of a sleeping Adam. Taken in Florence, Italy. ( Masters of the Renaissance )
Brunelleschi's Death Mask. As grotesque as this may seem today, in Renaissance times, it was popular to make death masks of famous and/or prestigious people. This mask was created from Brunelleschi's face shortly after he died. It is housed today in a museum in Forence, Italy, just across the street from Brunelleschi's famous dome. ( Masters of the Renaissance )
An outdoor copy of Michelangelo's "David." The original is indoors for preservation purposes. It is one of the most awe-inspiring statues ever! Notice the giant hand holding the stone, and David's intense stare. ( Masters of the Renaissance )
A close-up of David's other hand.
Michelangelo's domed ceiling inside St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, Italy. ( Masters of the Renaissance )
Ghiberti door panel: Cain plowing a field. ( Masters of the Renaissance )
Ghiberti door panel: Cain slays Abel. ( Masters of the Renaissance )
Ghiberti door panel: Moses receives the Ten Commandments. ( Masters of the Renaissance; Jewish Holiday Stories )
Ghiberti door panel: Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. ( Masters of the Renaissance )
Jim in Florence, Italy, recording his observations ( for the recording that is now called Masters of the Renaissance ) as he viewed the original door panels by Ghiberti. These original panels are now in a museum to protect them from outside elements.
A Michelangelo self-portrait. Here, he used his own features for Joseph of Arimithea in a Pieta carved in old age (not to be confused with the Vatican Pieta). ( Masters of the Renaissance )
The entire Florentine Pieta by Michelangelo. ( Masters of the Renaissance )
Some of the scaffolding and levers designed by Brunelleschi for building the great dome in Florence. ( Masters of the Renaissance )
Some of the scaffolding and levers designed by Brunelleschi for building the great dome in Florence. ( Masters of the Renaissance )
Some of the scaffolding and levers designed by Brunelleschi for building the great dome in Florence. ( Masters of the Renaissance )
Brunelleschi's model of the "crown" of his dome. ( Masters of the Renaissance )
Brunelleschi's models for parts of his domed church. ( Masters of the Renaissance )
Brunelleschi's models for parts of his domed church. ( Masters of the Renaissance )
Bright colors adorn Brunelleschi's columns. ( Masters of the Renaissance )
Bright colors adorn Brunelleschi's columns. ( Masters of the Renaissance )
Across from his great dome sits this statue of Brunelleschi gazing upward as his dome is built. ( Masters of the Renaissance )
Jim listens as our Florentine guide, Frank, points out the sights.
500 years ago, Michelangelo Buonarroti and his parents lived in this very apartment! Michelangelo was residing here when he met Lorenze de Medici. Today, people (and a cat) still occupy the apartment (but not the Buonarrati family, of course!) ( Masters of the Renaissance )
Perseus holds aloft the head of Medusa. This famous statue from the Medici sculpture collection in Florence, Italy, refers to the great Greek mythological adventure. ( Greek Myths: Perseus and Medusa )
Galileo Galilei thoughtfully looks skyward in this statue of this home city of florence, Italy. This statue and the next two stand outside the Uffizi Gallery, once the offices of the Medici family and now the greatest Renaissance art museum on earth. ( Galileo and the Stargazers; Masters of the Renaissance )
A middle-aged Leonardo da Vinci. ( Masters of the Renaissance )
Donatello, the lighthearted genius of sculpture. ( Masters of the Renaissance )
The Roman Coliseum. From the rooms at the bottom of this photo, covered in ancient days, Beric walked out to fight as a gladiator. (from Beric the Briton)
Huge crowds watched the deadly games at the Roman Coliseum. In those days, the whole exposed lower level you see here was covered with a solid floor. (from Beric the Briton)
Another view of the vast ruins of the Coliseum (from Beric the Briton)
Jim at the Roman Coliseum: today we smile, but to Beric, this place was no laughing matter. (from Beric the Briton)
Randy, a modern visitor to the ancient Coliseum. (from Beric the Briton)
Titus's Arch in Rome shows captives and treasures being carried off to Rome after the fall of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple. To the Romans, a triumph; to the Jews and early Christians, a tragedy. (from For the Temple)
Jim and Randy in the Roman Forum a dozen steps from the spot on which Marc Antony spoke at Julius Caesar's funeral. (from Julius Caesar and the Story of Rome)
Michelangelo's dome of St. Peter's in the Vatican, photographed from a hilltop in Rome. (from Masters of the Renaissance)
Pope Julius, who set Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling. (from Masters of the Renaissance)
Inside Michelangelo's immense dome in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City. (from Masters of the Renaissance)
Hercules battles a centaur in this famous statue from Italy. Michelangelo and Leonardo grew up around such statues and learned from them. (from Greek Myths, Masters of the Renaissance)
Detail from Raphael's masterpiece "The School of Athens", from the Vatican. Famously, Raphael used great artists of his own time to represent the great Greek philosophers. He did this without having these people sit and model for him. Instead, he painted each from memory. In the front, Raphael's portrait of a thoughtful Michelangelo (in purple); in the center, Raphael shows Leonardo (in red and purple) representing the ancient Greek master Plato. (from A Treasury of Wisdom: Stories of Hope and Inspiration, Masters of the Renaissance)
In Raphael's great painting, "The School of Rome", he painted himself observing from a corner. That's Raphael in a black hat, peeking out from behind the white robed man on the right. (from A Treasury of Wisdom: Stories of Hope and Inspiration)