The Great Myths Of The Renaissance [59:51]

YouTube ^ | September 12, 2020 | Waldemar Januszczak

[SunkenCiv]

Waldemar Januszczak challenges the traditional notion of the Renaissance having fixed origins in Italy and showcases the ingenuity in both technique and ideas behind great artists such as Van Eyck, Memling, Van der Weyden, Cranach, Riemenschneider and Durer.

The Great Myths Of The Renaissance (Waldemar Januszczak Documentary) | 59:51
Perspective | 429K subscribers | 1,152,290 views | September 12, 2020

[SunkenCiv]

See the Renaissance as you’ve never seen it before with the help and enthusiasm of art critic Waldemar Januszczak. Questioning some of the common beliefs about this exciting era in the history of art, over four episodes he looks at the influences of religion, the social climate, and the artistic scene in Venice and Bruges on the work of great artists of the time. With fascinating insights into their paintings, he brings them to life in his own unique style. Watch Renaissance Unchained on Da Vinci. Be amazed!

Renaissance Unchained - Trailer | Da Vinci | 0:30
Da Vinci | 52K subscribers | 915 views | May 29, 2019

[SunkenCiv]

"Renaissance Unchained" is free with ads right now on Amazon Prime. The guy's voice is a detriment IMHO, but very nice job! And great art.

[ComputerGuy]

Riemenschneider had a distinctive style. I like his work.

[SunkenCiv]

https://search.brave.com/search?q=Riemenschneider

[ComputerGuy]

Thanks

[SunkenCiv]

My main jaw-dropping moment so far was the glimpse of Durer’s watercolors.

[ComputerGuy]

I just started the video. 5 min

[SunkenCiv]

I didn’t get his using an old suitcase as a prop at first. :^) I’m a bit into the second episode now.

[rollo tomasi]

Renaissance started in Florence because of the Medici marketing/banking meme. Art/architecture style had little to do with anything. There were plenty of that “dreaded Gothic” period which in a lot of ways, superior.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Thanks for posting, SC. I’m enjoying this show (even though the narrator is extremely annoying!). I never took an art history class in my life, but this is extremely fascinating. The writers sure crammed a lot of information into this show.

There’s a VERY slight family connection for me, too. My paternal great grandfather was a silk merchant in southeast Netherlands in the late 1800s. But the rapid acceleration of cloth manufacture mechanization changed that profession and he moved to Cologne, Germany for another trade. His son (my grandfather) went to work for a battery company in Cologne in the 1890s and was a traveling salesman and service engineer / technician. The company assigned him to Danzig around 1897 where he met his bride. So the family got out of textiles and into the then-high tech. Batteries were used everywhere, for communications, lighting, transportation (rail, cars, boats), and other applications.

[SauronOfMordor]

Also the fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Turks in the 1400s, sent many scholars of Greek Classics west into Europe, leading to a revival of interest in the Classical world.

https://medium.com/@historicherald47/the-fall-of-constantinople-1453-a-turning-point-in-history-3f9c138409d8

[SunkenCiv]

My pleasure. It’s been 99% great thus far, the third episode just started here. :^)

[Paal Gulli]

Januszczak is hilarious. I love his presentation, especially when he goes through an entire episode with his back turned to the camera. And he relishes in being the iconoclast, doesn't mind in the least sticking his thumb in the eye of the art establishment.

I know very little about the "art" of art but I have got quite an education in the history of art thanks Waldemar, Simon Schama and Andrew Graham-Dixon.

My favorite story from Waldemar relates to Cellini's bronze of Perseus on Florence's Piazza della Signoria, where he (Cellini) specifically had it positioned so it would look as if Michelangelo's statue of David, where it used to sit just outside the Palazzo Vecchio (and where an exact replica stands today), was looking in that general direction.

So why would Cellini want David to be looking at his Perseus? Because most of the great Renaissance artists were homosexual. Michelangelo and Cellini were part of that crowd and in that era there was non-stop cat-fighting between Florence's old queens. Cellini's Perseus is holding forth the head of Medusa, who he has just slain, and gazing on any of the Gorgon sisters turns you to stone. So Cellini is implying that it was his work of bronze that turned David into stone.

No other art historian does bawdy with academic detachment quite like Januszczak.

[SunkenCiv]

LOL

[Honorary Serb]

Serbian Renaissance:

https://lifeisacamino.com/2015/01/07/a-serbian-renaissance-in-giottos-lifetime/

[SunkenCiv]

Nice pics!

[SunkenCiv]

Thomas Cole (1 February 1801 – 11 February 1848)
Hudson River School, iow, not from the Renaissance at all...

https://www.arthistoryproject.com/subjects/politics/the-course-of-empire/

Later on, another personal favorite, rediscovered by Allen Funt:

https://www.google.com/search?q=alma-tadema
https://www.google.com/search?q=alma-tadema+and+allen+funt

[SunkenCiv]

Well, episode four just finished up, I should track it down on permanent media.

[Moltke]

Too bad they only showed three of them!

Question: What is the order to this series? I went to the “Perspective” Main Page but there so many listed there it’s not easy to see any order.

Self answer (perhaps helps others) after some further digging, here’s the playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4nTTHd5efA&list=PL5JqSuIvtmAMn1_tOfmmYB-HL-L2lCXuC

[SunkenCiv]

Amazon’s been serving up free stuff apparently A) based on my past viewing history and B) to keep me from binge-watching the same old series over and over. :^)