"of its superior picture quality. The film opens in documentary style, chronicling the work of Michelangelo Buonarroti. It then follows Michelangelo (Charlton Heston), a renowned sculptor of the Republic of Florence in the early 16th century, and shows him at work on large-scale sculptures near St. Peter's Basilica. When Pope Julius II (Rex Harrison) commissions him to paint the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo resists because he finds the ceiling's paneled layout of the Twelve Apostles uninspiring. Nonetheless, he is forced into taking the job. During the initial attempt, Michelangelo is discontented with the results, and destroys the frescoes. He flees to"
"In 1964 Caracciolo was one of the painters chosen to paint a replica of the Sistine Chapel for the scenery of the 1965 film ""The Agony and the Ecstasy"", on the life of Michelangelo. From 1975 to 1978 he lived at Rosemount House, near Moate, County Westmeath, where he painted many scenes of the surrounding countryside and exhibited at the Lad Lane Gallery in Dublin in 1978. He also exhibited at the Solomon Gallery. In 1983 he became an associate Member of the Royal Hibernian Academy and in 1984 a full member of the RHA. He died near Siena, Italy"
"and Susan Hayward as Rachel Donelson Jackson. In 1956, a film version was made of ""Lust for Life"", based on his 1934 novel, starring Kirk Douglas as Van Gogh. In 1965, a film was made of ""The Agony and the Ecstasy"", starring Charlton Heston as Michelangelo and Rex Harrison as Pope Julius II. Stone's 1975 book ""The Greek Treasure"" was the basis for the German television production """" (""Hunt for Troy"", 2007). Irving Stone Irving Stone (born Tennenbaum, July 14, 1903, San Francisco, California – August 26, 1989, Los Angeles) was an American writer, chiefly known for his biographical novels"
"Irving Stone Irving Stone (born Tennenbaum, July 14, 1903, San Francisco, California – August 26, 1989, Los Angeles) was an American writer, chiefly known for his biographical novels of noted artists, politicians and intellectuals; among the best known are ""Lust for Life"" (1934), about the life of Vincent van Gogh, and ""The Agony and the Ecstasy"" (1961), about Michelangelo. Born Irving Tennenbaum, he was seven when his parents divorced. By the time he was a senior in high school, his mother had remarried. He legally changed his last name to ""Stone"", his stepfather's surname. Stone said his mother instilled a"
"librarian of the University of California at Los Angeles. He dedicated books to her and thanked her in several of his works. According to his afterword for ""Lust for Life"", Stone relied on Van Gogh's letters to his brother Theo. Stone additionally did much of his research ""in the field"". For example, he spent many years living in Italy while working on ""The Agony and the Ecstasy,"" a novel about Michelangelo. The Italian government lauded Stone with several honorary awards during this period for his cultural achievements highlighting Italian history. Although best known for his novels, Stone also wrote a"
"<br> Agony in the Garden (Bellini) The Agony in the Garden is an early painting by the Italian Renaissance master Giovanni Bellini, who painted it around 1459–65. It is in the National Gallery, London. It portrays Christ kneeling on the Mount of Olives in prayer, with his disciples Peter, James and John sleeping near to him. A Judas in the background leads the Roman soldiers to capture Christ. The picture is closely related to the similar work by Bellini's brother-in-law, Andrea Mantegna, also in the National Gallery. It is likely that both derived from a drawing by Bellini's father, Jacopo."
"Agony in the Garden (Perugino) Agony in the Garden is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Pietro Perugino, executed around 1483-1493, and housed in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. The work was painted for the church of the convent of San Giusto alle mura together with the ""Pietà"" and a ""Crucifixion"". Renaissance art biographer Giorgio Vasari saw them in side altars of the church of San Giovanni Battista alla Calza, after the original location had been destroyed during the Siege of Florence in 1529. It was moved to the Uffizi in the 20th century. The dating of the work is"
"Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Rome, 1651), or those in the Gardens of Versailles were a Baroque speciality. The Baroque style was perfectly suited to sculpture, with Gian Lorenzo Bernini the dominating figure of the age in works such as ""The Ecstasy of St Theresa"" (1647–1652). Much Baroque sculpture added extra-sculptural elements, for example, concealed lighting, or water fountains, or fused sculpture and architecture to create a transformative experience for the viewer. Artists saw themselves as in the classical tradition, but admired Hellenistic and later Roman sculpture, rather than that of the more ""Classical"" periods as they are seen today. Baroque"
"Michelangelo Antonioni Michelangelo Antonioni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007), was an Italian film director, screenwriter, editor, and short story author. Best known for his ""trilogy on modernity and its discontents"" — ""L'Avventura"" (1960), ""La Notte"" (1961), and ""L'Eclisse"" (1962), as well as the English-language ""Blowup"" (1966)—Antonioni ""redefined the concept of narrative cinema"" and challenged traditional approaches to storytelling, realism, drama, and the world at large. He produced ""enigmatic and intricate mood pieces"" and rejected action in favor of contemplation, focusing on image and design over character and story. Antonioni received numerous awards and"
"to the painting's sides by the symmetrical line of the hills. Behind Jesus is a lake landscape, a typical element of the Italian painting at the time, with a fortified city and an ancient bridge. At the sides, two groups of soldiers, led by Judas Iscariot, are closing to arrest Jesus. Agony in the Garden (Perugino) Agony in the Garden is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Pietro Perugino, executed around 1483-1493, and housed in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. The work was painted for the church of the convent of San Giusto alle mura together with the ""Pietà"" and"
"Emilio Savonanzi Emilio Savonanzi, nicknamed il Reniano (1580-1666) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in and around his native Bologna. He trained under Guido Reni, hence his nickname. He painted a ""Scene from the Life of Santa Lucia"" for the church of San Martino in Anatoglia. He painted frescoes about the ""Life of the Virgin"" in the church of Santa Maria della Grazia in Camerino, Italy. He painted a ""Deposition"" now in the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo. Luigi Lanzi describes him as an erudite, eclectic, wealthy and peripatetic, but not assembling his knowledge into excellence:Savonanzi, a"
"Milan. The city hosted numerous formidable artists, architects and painters of that period, such as Caravaggio. Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680) was the leading sculptor of his day and the favorite artist of several popes and their relatives, who gave him important commissions. His ‘Apollo and Daphne’ in the Villa Borghese in Rome illustrates how he could precisely capture in white marble the dramatic moment when Daphne, fleeing the pursuing sun god, realizes she is metamorphosing into a laurel tree. This ability to make expressive dramatic narratives in sculpture can also be seen in his Ecstasy of Saint Teresa (1645–52), created"
"down, it has otherwise been well-cared for since its creation. St. Francis in Ecstasy (Bellini) The Ecstasy of St. Francis (or St. Francis in the Desert) is a painting by Italian Renaissance master Giovanni Bellini, started in 1475 and completed around 1480. It is in the Frick Collection in New York City, displayed prominently in what was the living room of Henry Clay Frick, an American industrialist, financier, and art patron. The painting is oil on panel and shows the influence of Andrea Mantegna, who was the painter's brother-in-law. It is signed ""IOANNES BELLINVS"" on a small, creased tag visible"
"Mary Magdalen in Ecstasy Mary Magdalen in Ecstasy (1606) is a painting by the Italian artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610). Caravaggio's ""Mary Magdalen in Ecstasy"" (or variations on that name) exists in at least eighteen copies, of which this version, in a private collection in Rome, illustrated in John Gash's ""Caravaggio"" (revised 2003 edition only), has been claimed as the most likely original. The painting was done in the few months following Caravaggio's flight from Rome after the death of Ranuccio Tommassoni on 29 May 1606, while he was in hiding on the estates of his protectors, the powerful"
"trend was spurred by fabricated claims and smear campaigns, which he claims were orchestrated by the temperance movement and the wine industry. One critic claimed: Edgar Degas's 1876 painting ""L'Absinthe"" can be seen at the Musée d'Orsay epitomising the popular view of absinthe addicts as sodden and benumbed, and Émile Zola described its effects in his novel ""L'Assommoir"". Swiss farmer Jean Lanfray murdered his family in 1905 and attempted to take his own life after drinking absinthe. Lanfray was an alcoholic who had consumed considerable quantities of wine and brandy prior to drinking two glasses of absinthe, but that was"
"The Wedding at Cana The Wedding Feast at Cana (1563), by the Italian artist Paolo Veronese (1528–88), is a representational painting that depicts the biblical story of the Marriage at Cana, at which Jesus converts water to wine (John 2:1–11). Executed in the Mannerist style (1520–1600) of the late Renaissance, the large-format (6.77m × 9.94m) oil painting comprehends the stylistic ideal of compositional harmony, as practised by the artists Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo. The art of the High Renaissance (1490–1527) emphasized human figures of ideal proportions, balanced composition, and beauty, whereas Mannerism exaggerated the Renaissance ideals — of figure, light,"
"as an artist was to render the highest possible justice to the visible universe, he was speaking with the novelist's surest instinct. The artist penetrates the concrete world in order to find at its depths the image of its source, the image of ultimate reality. According to Greeley aspects of the Catholic imagination include community, salvation, hierarchy, sacred place/sacred time, and sacred desire. As one reviewer of Greeley's book noted: The cultural works include the Cologne Cathedral, Bernini's ""St. Theresa in Ecstasy"", Marian poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins and François Villon, Italian American films (especially those directed by Martin Scorsese),"
"The Tempest (Giorgione) The Tempest (Italian ""La Tempesta"") is a Renaissance painting by the Italian master Giorgione dated between 1506 and 1508. Originally commissioned by the Venetian noble Gabriele Vendramin, the painting is now in the Gallerie dell'Accademia of Venice, Italy. Despite considerable discussion by art historians, the meaning of the scene remains elusive. On the right a woman sits, suckling a baby. The woman has been described as a ""Gypsy"" since at least 1530, and in Italy, the painting is also known as ""La Zingara e il Soldato"" (""The Gypsy woman and the soldier""), or as ""La Zingarella e"
"Agony in the Garden (Bellini) The Agony in the Garden is an early painting by the Italian Renaissance master Giovanni Bellini, who painted it around 1459–65. It is in the National Gallery, London. It portrays Christ kneeling on the Mount of Olives in prayer, with his disciples Peter, James and John sleeping near to him. A Judas in the background leads the Roman soldiers to capture Christ. The picture is closely related to the similar work by Bellini's brother-in-law, Andrea Mantegna, also in the National Gallery. It is likely that both derived from a drawing by Bellini's father, Jacopo. In"
"were greatly valued. Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy (Caravaggio) Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy (or ""The Ecstasy of Saint Francis"") is a painting by the Italian Baroque master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. It is held in the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut. The painting was the first of Caravaggio's religious canvasses, and is thought to date from 1595, when he had recently entered the household of Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte. It was presumably painted at the behest of Del Monte, and is thought to be one of the first paintings done by the artist as ""Del Monte's painter"","
"two in the National Gallery, London (""The Vision of Saint Eustace"" and ""The Virgin and Child with Saint George and Saint Anthony Abbot""). Many of his drawings can now be found at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, Italy and the Louvre, Paris. Pisanello influenced many of his contemporaries, but he did not create his own school. His genius shone briefly and after his death he was quickly forgotten in the rise of the humanistic and classical culture of the Renaissance. He is now considered the last and most magnificent artist of the courtly style of the Gothic art in the"
"Gerolamo Giovenone Gerolamo Giovenone (1486/1487 – 1555), also spelled ""Girolamo"", was an Italian painter of the early Renaissance period, active mainly in Milan. He was born in Vercelli. He was the teacher of the painter Gaudenzio Ferrari and possibly also taught il Sodoma. In Milan, he painted the ""Resurrection"" for the church of the Augustines. An altarpiece fragment depicting an ""Adoration of the Virgin and Child by Saints Nicola da Tolentino and Eusebius"" is displayed by the Museo Borgogna in Vercelli. A ""Virgin and Child with Saints"" is found at the National Gallery in London. Another of his pupils was"
"even betraying feebleness of touch, and not scrupling to denominate himself an artist of many hands. He resided at Ancona, next at Camerino, at which places, as well as in the adjacent districts, he left a variety of works. Emilio Savonanzi Emilio Savonanzi, nicknamed il Reniano (1580-1666) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in and around his native Bologna. He trained under Guido Reni, hence his nickname. He painted a ""Scene from the Life of Santa Lucia"" for the church of San Martino in Anatoglia. He painted frescoes about the ""Life of the Virgin"" in the"
"to sculpture, with Gian Lorenzo Bernini the dominating figure of the age in works such as ""The Ecstasy of St Theresa"" (1647–1652). Much Baroque sculpture added extra-sculptural elements, for example, concealed lighting, or water fountains, or fused sculpture and architecture to create a transformative experience for the viewer. Artists saw themselves as in the classical tradition, but admired Hellenistic and later Roman sculpture, rather than that of the more ""Classical"" periods as they are seen today. The Protestant Reformation brought an almost total stop to religious sculpture in much of Northern Europe, and though secular sculpture, especially for portrait busts"
"Franchino Ferrari, born 1484 in Valduggia, and active in Vercelli. Gerolamo Giovenone Gerolamo Giovenone (1486/1487 – 1555), also spelled ""Girolamo"", was an Italian painter of the early Renaissance period, active mainly in Milan. He was born in Vercelli. He was the teacher of the painter Gaudenzio Ferrari and possibly also taught il Sodoma. In Milan, he painted the ""Resurrection"" for the church of the Augustines. An altarpiece fragment depicting an ""Adoration of the Virgin and Child by Saints Nicola da Tolentino and Eusebius"" is displayed by the Museo Borgogna in Vercelli. A ""Virgin and Child with Saints"" is found at"
"in 1910 it was sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Venus and Mars (Veronese) Venus and Mars is an Italian Renaissance painting by Paolo Veronese. The painting was commissioned by Emperor Rudolph and was one of three mythological and love-themed works commissioned by the artist. The other two are at the Frick Collection in New York: ""The Allegory of Virtue and Performance"" and ""Allegory of the Source of Wisdom and Power"". It deals with the romantic love of the Roman goddess of love Venus and the god of war Mars, as described in the Ovid's ""Metamorphoses"". The act of"
"now mostly in paintings, where they give an opportunity for artists to depict their more lurid or bizarre interpretations. Many artists, including Martin Schongauer, Hieronymus Bosch, Dorothea Tanning, Max Ernst, Leonora Carrington and Salvador Dalí, have depicted these incidents from the life of Anthony; in prose, the tale was retold and embellished by Gustave Flaubert in ""The Temptation of Saint Anthony"". Emphasis on these stories, however, did not really begin until the Middle Ages, when the psychology of the individual became of greater interest. Below are some of the tales. Saint Anthony was on a journey in the desert to"
"years ago in Taormina at a film festival. I introduced myself and told him that I adored his movies, his contributions to film, because he was the first guy who really started making films about the reality of the vacuity between people, the difficulty in traversing this space between lovers in modern day ... and he never gives you an answer, Antonioni—that's the beautiful thing."" Michelangelo Antonioni Michelangelo Antonioni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007), was an Italian film director, screenwriter, editor, and short story author. Best known for his ""trilogy on modernity and"
"beliefs. Cathedrals and churches had long served as picture books and art galleries for millions of the uneducated. The stained glass windows, frescoes, statues, paintings and panels retold the stories of the saints and of biblical characters. The Church sponsored great Renaissance artists like Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, who created some of the world's most famous artworks. The acceptance of humanism had its effects on the Church, which embraced it as well. In 1509, a well known scholar of the age, Erasmus, wrote ""The Praise of Folly"", a work which captured a widely held unease about corruption in the"
"d'Este's wedding in Mantua, and may even have made salamis. A painting of ""Portia and Brutus"" (c. 1486–90), believed to be painted for Eleonora of Aragon, duchess of Ferrara, is in the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas. Ercole's painting of ""Saint Jerome in the Wilderness"" from this period is in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Ercole de' Roberti Ercole de' Roberti (c. 1451 – 1496), also known as Ercole Ferrarese or Ercole da Ferrara, was an Italian artist of the Early Renaissance and the School of Ferrara. He was profiled in Vasari's ""Le Vite"
"Pietro degli Ingannati Pietro degli Ingannati, also Pellegrino di Giovanni di Antonio, (active 1529–1548) was an Italian Renaissance painter who is known for his paintings of the Virgin and Child and his portraits. Ingannati's exact dates of birth and death are not known. Ingannati was probably born in Veneto. The importance of the artist has only relatively recently been recognized as his work used to be confused with that Francesco Bissolo, an artist who also worked in a style reminiscent of Giovanni Bellini. He trained in the studio of Alvise Vivarini. His early works show the influence of Giovanni Bellini,"
"Ranieri Del Pace Ranieri Del Pace (Pisa, May 7, 1681 – February 27, 1738), also called Giovanni Batista Ranieri Del Pace, was an Italian painter of the late Baroque period, active mainly in Tuscany. He trained under Giovanni Camillo Sagrestani. Lanzi describes him as descending into Mannerism. He painted a ""St Thomas Acquinas in Glory"" (c. 1711) for the Oratory of St Thomas Aquinas in Florence. Among other projects were the four stations, elements, and stories of Adonis for the Palazzo Capponi-Covoni. He also worked in the church of San Jacopo Sopr'Arno (1709) and Ognissanti (1721). He helped design celebratory"
"St. Francis in Ecstasy (Bellini) The Ecstasy of St. Francis (or St. Francis in the Desert) is a painting by Italian Renaissance master Giovanni Bellini, started in 1475 and completed around 1480. It is in the Frick Collection in New York City, displayed prominently in what was the living room of Henry Clay Frick, an American industrialist, financier, and art patron. The painting is oil on panel and shows the influence of Andrea Mantegna, who was the painter's brother-in-law. It is signed ""IOANNES BELLINVS"" on a small, creased tag visible in the lower left corner. The painting is now in"