1450. A Journey Through Italian Art Through the Eyes of Rogier van der Weyden

CYCLE: The arts around the Holy Years.
SPEAKER: Aldo Galli
DATE: Thursday 20 November, 6 p.m.

Among the many pilgrims who flocked to Rome for the Jubilee of 1450, proclaimed by Pope Nicholas V, was one of the greatest European painters of his time: the Flemish master Rogier van der Weyden. To his eyes, the art of his Italian contemporaries must have appeared astonishingly rich and diverse: in Milan, the long Gothic season was not yet over; in Genoa and Naples, Northern European painting was being welcomed with enthusiasm; while in Florence, Filippo Lippi, Andrea del Castagno, and Domenico Veneziano were at the height of their careers. Lorenzo Ghiberti was preparing to unveil the Gates of Paradise, and Fra Angelico was traveling back and forth to Rome, leaving behind his final masterpieces in both cities.
Meanwhile, in Padua, Donatello was revolutionizing the art of northern Italy, and Piero della Francesca was laying out his theorems of space and light along the Adriatic coast, from Ferrara to Rimini to Ancona…

Aldo Galli was born in Parma and studied in Siena and Turin. He is Professor of Art History at the University of Trento. His research focuses primarily on sculpture and painting between the Gothic and Renaissance periods, and on the connections between Italian and European art. In addition to publishing books and essays in edited volumes and scholarly journals, he has contributed to numerous exhibitions in Florence, Milan, Siena, Trento, Padua, Berlin, and Paris. He is a member of the scientific committee of the Federico Zeri Foundation in Bologna.