24
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
The Making of the Museum
Using maps, charts, photographs, paintings, and prints, this lecture provides a historical portrait of New York City and the circumstances that spawned its greatest museum.
1.
The Making of the Museum
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13.
European Sculpture
The Metropolitan's European sculpture collection includes Renaissance works in stone, bronze, and terra-cotta, and masterpieces by artists such as Bernini and Canova.
13.
European Sculpture
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2.
The Art of Ancient Greece and Rome
We begin our tour of The Metropolitan in the Classical collection, which occupies large spaces of a grandeur suited to Greco-Roman art.
2.
The Art of Ancient Greece and Rome
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14.
The Arts of Africa and Oceania
The intricately crafted objects in this lecture include a feather box, a ceremonial shield, and a painted wooden skull rack from Oceania, as well as powerful masks and sculpted figures from Africa.
14.
The Arts of Africa and Oceania
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3.
Ancient Egyptian Art
The Egyptian collection ranges from entire tombs and temples to tiny objects of gold, glass, and ceramic, with particularly rich holdings in "the art of the afterlife."
3.
Ancient Egyptian Art
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15.
The Ancient New World
We survey a collection of materials from the rich cultures of the Americas before European colonization, the most comprehensive display of ancient New World Art in any universal art museum.
15.
The Ancient New World
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4.
Asian Art
These galleries contain masterpieces from Tibet, India, Cambodia, Korea, China, and Japan. Especially notable is the Astor Court, which is modeled on a Ming dynasty scholar's courtyard.
4.
Asian Art
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16.
Musical Instruments and Arms and Armor
This lecture looks at major masterpieces in the arts of making music and war. The Departments of Musical Instruments and Arms and Armor both feature stunning examples from the histories of their fields.
16.
Musical Instruments and Arms and Armor
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5.
The Ancient Near East and Islamic Art
Extending from Bronze Age objects to a glorious room from an Islamic palace, these collections show the mastery of glass, ceramic, stone carving, and bronze in successive urban cultures.
5.
The Ancient Near East and Islamic Art
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17.
Costumes and Textiles
New York's preeminence as a fashion center led The Metropolitan to create the Costume Institute and the Antonio Ratti Textile Center to study collections of historical fashions and fabrics.
17.
Costumes and Textiles
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6.
European Painting I—The Renaissance
The Metropolitan is famous for its Department of European Painting. We investigate the development of figural illusionism in works by Giotto, Fra Angelico, and others.
6.
European Painting I—The Renaissance
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18.
American Art—1650–1865
Starting in period rooms from the colonial era, we explore the development of a distinctive American art up to the Civil War through works by Revere, Stuart, Copley, Hicks, Cole, Church, and others.
18.
American Art—1650–1865
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7.
European Painting II—16th–17th Centuries
Covering the High Renaissance and the extraordinary profusion of painting in Europe for the next two centuries, this lecture includes works by Raphael, Vermeer, El Greco, Velázquez, and Rembrandt.
7.
European Painting II—16th–17th Centuries
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19.
American Art—1865–1900
America entered an industrial boom after the Civil War that created a new demand for art in a wide range of genres. We sample pieces by Tiffany, Saint-Gaudens, Eakins, and Sargent, among others.
19.
American Art—1865–1900
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8.
European Painting III—18th Century
Works examined include Italian paintings by Tiepolo and Canelletto, French Rococo oils by Watteau and Boucher, and British portraits by Reynolds and Gainsborough.
8.
European Painting III—18th Century
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20.
20th-Century Art—Before World War II
The Metropolitan's encyclopedic holdings allow comparisons between its 20th-century collection and its other works—for example, a Brancusi sculpture and an archaic Greek figure.
20.
20th-Century Art—Before World War II
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9.
European Painting IV—19th Century
The Metropolitan has perhaps the most balanced collection of French painting from 1830 to 1900 in any universal art museum. We look at works by Monet, Cézanne, and Gauguin, among others.
9.
European Painting IV—19th Century
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21.
20th-Century Art—After World War II
We explore The Metropolitan's post–World War II art, including abstract expressionists such as Pollock, Rothko, de Kooning, and David Smith, as well as Pop, Op, and other movements.
21.
20th-Century Art—After World War II
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10.
Drawings and Prints
We sample some of the more than 1.5 million objects in the Department of Drawings and Prints, which includes the entire range of drawing styles and materials from the Late Middle Ages to the present.
10.
Drawings and Prints
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22.
The Robert Lehman Collection—1400–1800
A remarkable private collection kept intact after its donation to The Metropolitan, the Lehman Collection is rich in old master paintings and drawings. We sample its holdings up to 1800.
22.
The Robert Lehman Collection—1400–1800
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11.
Photographs
Photography, the most pervasive of modern media, is well represented at The Metropolitan, with a collection extending back to the earliest experiments in the early 19th century.
11.
Photographs
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23.
The Robert Lehman Collection—1800–1960
The Lehman Collection has important works from the 19th and 20th centuries. We examine paintings by Ingres, Corot, Monet, Renoir, Matisse, Derain, Bonnard, and Balthus, as well as works on paper.
23.
The Robert Lehman Collection—1800–1960
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12.
European Decorative Arts
In an exercise of time travel, we visit luxuriously appointed period rooms representing high European culture—from an Italian Renaissance studiola to an 18th-century Parisian grand salon.
12.
European Decorative Arts
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24.
The People of the Museum
The Metropolitan has been built by farsighted directors and generous donors. We look at some of the most remarkable of these.
24.
The People of the Museum
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36
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
Italy and the Renaissance
This lecture examines the features of late medieval culture in Italy that paved the way for the Renaissance. In painting, Giotto di Bondone evolved a proto-Renaissance style in contrast to the prevailing late-Gothic style.
1.
Italy and the Renaissance
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19.
Leonardo da Vinci—The Last Supper
Professor Kloss sketches the history of Leonardo's The Last Supper, contrasting it with other representations of the subject. Despite its deteriorating state since Leonardo's lifetime, the painting has always overwhelmed viewers by its emotional power.
19.
Leonardo da Vinci—The Last Supper
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2.
From Gothic to Renaissance
Around 1400, a European-wide style known as International Gothic flourished in Italy. Artists including Lorenzo Monaco and Gentile da Fabriano retained this style. Others, such as Lorenzo Ghiberti, developed a new style that we call Renaissance.
2.
From Gothic to Renaissance
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20.
Michelangelo—Florentine Works
The first of three lectures on Michelangelo covers the early career of an artist called "divine" long before his own death. This lecture features his sculptures of Bacchus, the Pietá, David, the Bruges Madonna, and the only finished example of his early forays into painting, the Doni Tondo.
20.
Michelangelo—Florentine Works
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3.
Brunelleschi and Ghiberti in Florence
Architecture is central to understanding the birth of the Renaissance, and it was in Florence that the first great buildings of the Renaissance were constructed. This lecture looks at the buildings of Filippo Brunelleschi and the famous bronze doors of Lorenzo Ghiberti.
3.
Brunelleschi and Ghiberti in Florence
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21.
Michelangelo—Roman Projects
In the early 1500s, Michelangelo was engaged to paint a fresco of the Battle of Cascina in Florence. It was never completed, since he was summoned to Rome to design a massive papal tomb with sculptures that would become some of his greatest figures, including Moses and Dying Slave.
21.
Michelangelo—Roman Projects
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4.
Donatello and Luca della Robbia
The most influential visual artist in Italy in the 15th century was Donatello. This lecture traces his work until he moved to Padua in 1443. Also covered is Luca della Robbia, whose superb choir gallery for the Florence Cathedral is in direct competition with Donatello's choir gallery for the same church.
4.
Donatello and Luca della Robbia
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22.
Michelangelo—The Sistine Chapel Ceiling
Professor Kloss discusses the symbolic and theological story in the ceiling frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, and the unparalleled inventiveness that Michelangelo brought to the task of designing and painting more than 5,700 square feet of ceiling surface in four years.
22.
Michelangelo—The Sistine Chapel Ceiling
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5.
Masaccio
The first of two lectures on Masaccio examines his Pisa Altarpiece. Also studied is his monumental fresco The Trinity, with attention to his introduction of one-point perspective.
5.
Masaccio
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23.
Raphael—Madonnas and Portraits
The first of two lectures on Raphael studies his different interpretations of the Madonna and Child theme, for which he is best known. He was also a superb portraitist, as evidenced by his Julius II, Baldassare Castiglione, and Bindo Altoviti.
23.
Raphael—Madonnas and Portraits
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6.
Masaccio—The Brancacci Chapel
This lecture looks at Masaccio's principal frescoes for the Brancacci Chapel, with special attention to their melding of style and narrative content. Masaccio undertook the project with Masolino.
6.
Masaccio—The Brancacci Chapel
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24.
Raphael—History Paintings
Raphael was a master of grand narrative painting of religious, mythological, and secular themes. His greatest works in this genre are the monumental frescoes for the official papal stanzae, or rooms. These include the Disputa, School of Athens, and Expulsion of Heliodorus.
24.
Raphael—History Paintings
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7.
Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi
Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi were the most important painters in Florence after the death of Masaccio. Fra Angelico was able to switch between a late medieval style and a more realistic Renaissance manner. Fra Filippo Lippi's paintings combine charm and inward quietness.
7.
Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi
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25.
Urbino—Microcosm of Renaissance Civilization
This lecture explores Urbino's palace-fortress, whose gem is the Studiolo, or small study, one of the most famous rooms of the Renaissance. Its beautiful cupboards are decorated with inlaid trompe l'oeil designs, some of which are illusionistic replicas of the books, instruments, and armor they once enclosed.
25.
Urbino—Microcosm of Renaissance Civilization
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8.
Three Specialists
This lecture looks at paintings by three contrasting artists in Florence. Paolo Uccello was devoted to foreshortening and perspective. Andrea del Castagno found ways to make figures look like painted sculptures. And Domenico Veneziano introduced a tonal delicacy and pastel palette from his native Venice.
8.
Three Specialists
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26.
Andrea Mantegna in Padua and Mantua
The course moves to Northern Italy—to Padua and Mantua, where Andrea Mantegna was one of the most individualistic artists of the late 15th century. Among his works discussed are the frescoes in the Ovetari Chapel, the famous ceiling fresco of the Camera degli Sposi, and The Dead Christ.
26.
Andrea Mantegna in Padua and Mantua
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9.
Donatello and Padua
Continuing the career of Donatello, Professor Kloss covers Donatello's move to Padua to work on a bronze equestrian statue, Gattamelata. Among his other Paduan works is a wooden sculpture, Saint John the Baptist. On returning to Florence, he made the even more expressive Saint Mary Magdalen.
9.
Donatello and Padua
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27.
Venice—Byzantine, Gothic, and Renaissance
The first of eight lectures on Venice surveys its setting and history. At the core of the city are the ducal palace and Basilica of San Marco, adorned with bronze horses and the enamel plaques for the Pala d'Oro, plunder from the sack of Constantinople in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade.
27.
Venice—Byzantine, Gothic, and Renaissance
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10.
Piero della Francesca—Individual Works
The first of two lectures on Piero della Francesca explores works painted between about 1445 and 1470, including his Baptism of Christ and the famous Resurrection, and later paintings such as the Madonna and Child with Saints and the unfinished Nativity.
10.
Piero della Francesca—Individual Works
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28.
Celebrating the Living City
Vittore Carpaccio and Gentile Bellini were painters devoted to Venice's beauties and virtues, which they displayed in works such as Lion of San Marco by Carpaccio and Miracle of the Cross at Ponte San Lorenzo by Bellini.
28.
Celebrating the Living City
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11.
Piero della Francesca—Legend of the True Cross
This lecture covers Piero's great fresco cycle, The Legend of the True Cross, depicting the story of Jesus' cross from its origin in the tree of knowledge to its disappearance and rediscovery by Saint Helena, mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine.
11.
Piero della Francesca—Legend of the True Cross
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29.
Giovanni Bellini—The Early Years
The first of three lectures on Giovanni Bellini, brother of Gentile, studies his Madonnas and his moving images of the Pietá, or Lamentation. Bellini was Andrea Mantegna's brother-in-law, and their versions of The Agony in the Garden are compositionally similar but stylistically and expressively diverse.
29.
Giovanni Bellini—The Early Years
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12.
Pageant of Life in Renaissance Florence
Benozzo Gozzoli and Domenico Ghirlandaio incorporated the civic life of Florence into their narrative paintings, while continuing the Renaissance exploration of pictorial space, both in landscape and in architectural settings.
12.
Pageant of Life in Renaissance Florence
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30.
Antonello da Messina and Giovanni Bellini
One of the major influences on Bellini was Antonello da Messina. This lecture traces that influence through works such as Antonello's San Cassiano Altarpiece and Crucifixion, and Bellini's San Giobbe Altarpiece, Transfiguration, and St. Francis in Ecstasy.
30.
Antonello da Messina and Giovanni Bellini
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13.
The Heroic Nude
This lecture considers two artists of the male nude. Antonio del Pollaiuolo's figures are violently dramatic. Luca Signorelli used more static, contemplative poses, but he also created astonishingly physical nudes in Resurrection of the Dead and The Damned Consigned to Hell.
13.
The Heroic Nude
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31.
Giovanni Bellini—The Late Years
This lecture explores the serene style of Bellini in his later years, including Madonna and Child with the Magdalen and St. Catherine, the noble Doge Leonardo Loredan, the San Zaccaria Altarpiece, and the remarkable mythological painting The Feast of the Gods.
31.
Giovanni Bellini—The Late Years
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14.
Sculpture Small and Large
This lecture looks at four important sculptors and their contrasting contributions to Renaissance art: Antonio Pisanello, Francesco di Giorgio, Antonio Rossellino, and Andrea del Verrocchio.
14.
Sculpture Small and Large
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32.
Giorgione
Giorgione's masterful use of oils and softness of touch, together with his ambiguous subject matter, have made him one of the most admired artists of his age. He is best known for The Tempest, showing a soldier and a nude woman and child, flanking the opening into a lush, storm-menaced landscape.
32.
Giorgione
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15.
Botticelli—Spirituality and Sensuality
The first of two lectures on Sandro Botticelli pays particular attention to the Birth of Venus and Primavera (Spring). The latter is one of the most discussed paintings in Renaissance art.
15.
Botticelli—Spirituality and Sensuality
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33.
Giorgione or Titian?
Titian probably completed the paintings left unfinished by Giorgione, who died of plague in 1510. This lecture explores the question of attribution by looking at several "problem pictures," including Sleeping Venus and Adoration of the Shepherds, which caused a famous quarrel in art dealing.
33.
Giorgione or Titian?
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16.
Botticelli and the Trouble in Italy
In his later career, Botticelli produced works such as the disquieting Calumny of Apelles, possibly painted as a defense of the Puritanical preacher Savonarola, whose execution in 1498 initiated Botticelli's metaphysical phase culminating in the haunting Mystic Nativity.
16.
Botticelli and the Trouble in Italy
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34.
Titian—The Early Years
Titian's influence has reverberated through the history of art from Rubens to Delacroix to Renoir. This lecture looks at eight of his masterpieces, including the famous Sacred and Profane Love, which is as enigmatic as it is beautiful.
34.
Titian—The Early Years
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17.
Filippino Lippi
Filippino Lippi, son of Fra Filippo Lippi, completed the fresco cycle in the Brancacci Chapel left unfinished by Masaccio. Noted for his poetic softness and melancholy, his work took an expressionistic turn toward the end of his life.
17.
Filippino Lippi
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35.
A Culture in Crisis
The first of two summary lectures compares works from the Early and High Renaissance to judge the stylistic shift that occurred during the period. This shift is mirrored by political turmoil culminating in the sack of Rome by the troops of Emperor Charles V in 1527.
35.
A Culture in Crisis
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18.
Leonardo da Vinci—Portraits and Altarpieces
Two lectures are devoted to Leonardo da Vinci, who had already achieved a mature style by his early twenties when he painted Ginevra de' Benci. Also featured are his unfinished Adoration of the Magi, the haunting Madonna of the Rocks, Mona Lisa, and the beautiful Lady with an Ermine.
18.
Leonardo da Vinci—Portraits and Altarpieces
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36.
The Renaissance Reformed
The Renaissance was succeeded by Mannerism, a style well illustrated by Parmigianino's distorted Madonna of the Long Neck. Some artists resisted the trend, notably Titian. Professor Kloss closes with a final look at three vastly different interpretations of The Last Supper: Castagno's version of 1447, Leonardo's of about 1498, and Tintoretto's startling vision of about 1594.
36.
The Renaissance Reformed
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