Truth, Power and Desire: A Journey into the Emotions in the History of Italian Art
Online talk by Prof. Costantino D’Orazio
To watch the previous conference please click here
The Italian Cultural Institutes of Sydney and Melbourne are pleased to present the second online conference held by Prof. Costantino D’Orazio, one of the most famous Italian art critics. Prof. D’Orazio was invited by our Institute to hold a cycle of three conferences on Italian art which will reveal to us some aspects of Caravaggio, Michelangelo, Bernini and Balla. Thanks to our guest’s competence and great communication skills, we will embark on an imaginary journey through Italian art, from the Renaissance to Futurism. The conferences, especially designed for the Australian public, will all be presented live as a webinar, and the participants will have the opportunity to interact directly with Costantino D’Orazio. We are still hoping, however, to welcome D’Orazio in Australia again during the second half of 2020, on the occasion of the seminars organized by the Institute in collaboration with the Art Gallery Society of NSW, to celebrate together, with an important symposium, the 500th anniversary of Raffaello Sanzio’s death.
Michelangelo: The power of the body
Restless, sanguine, fearless, Michelangelo Buonarroti is an artist of a thousand contradictions, always poised between isolation and apotheosis. He feels the urgent need to work, he cannot live without the chisel in his hand.
Known by all, both admired and reviled by many.
The passion that dominates him leads him to love life and art, but also to clash with anyone who hampers his goals, from the Pope to his most famous colleagues. He hates Leonardo for his ostentatious vanity, he envies Raphael for his lightning success. Far from the courtly environment, he produces masterpieces in total solitude, living with his works a relationship as intense as it is dramatic: a truly physical relationship with the marble he is modelling, as in David’s case, an intimate and jealous embrace with the fresco, as in the case of the Sistine Chapel.
Art historian Costantino D’Orazio will lead us inside Buonarroti’s mind and heart. He will reveal the torments, but also his work method, to bring to light the emotions animating his works.
Prof. Costantino D’Orazio was born in Rome in 1974. He is a leading art historian, curator and essayist. He has published several 
successful books on Italian art history. He is senior curator at MACRO (Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome) and lectures within the Master for Art Curators at Luiss University and Link Campus. He is a regular contributor to the art programs aired on Italian national radio and TV stations RAI 3, Rainews24, Radio 2 and Radio 3. He is the author, among others, of Caravaggio segreto (Secret Caravaggio, Sperling & Kupfer 2013), Leonardo segreto (Secret Leonardo, Sperling & Kupfer 2014), Michelangelo. Io sono fuoco. Autobiografia di un genio (Michelangelo. I am fire. Autobiography of a genius, Sperling & Kupfer 2016), Ma liberaci dal male (Free us from evil, Sperling & Kupfer, 2017), Mercanti di bellezza (Beauty merchants, Rai Eri, 2017) and Leonardo svelato (Leonardo revealed, Sperling & Kupfer, 2019).
This webinar will be held online via Zoom and you can book by clicking on this link:
The Michelangelo: The power of the body
The times for the Australian States and Territories are:
6.30pm AEST (VIC, NSW, TAS, QLD)
6pm ACST (SA, NT)
4:30pm AWST (WA)
The event is free of charge and it is organised in collaboration with the IIC Melbourne.
The webinar will be held in ENGLISH.
To watch the previous conference please click here