Ben Thomas, Reader in Art History, along with Kostas Gravanis, PhD candidate in History and Philosophy of Art, will be in conversation with Dr Claudia La Malfa, Adjunct Professor of History of Art at the American University of Rome and Visiting Lecturer at the University of Kent, on Friday 19 June at 5.30pm.
Ben and Kostas will be discussing Claudia La Malfa’s recent book Raphael and the Antique (Reaktion, 2019), as part of the Italian Cultural Institute’s online #ItalyRestArt series, which aims to continue to promote Italian culture during lockdown.
Raphael and the Antique gives a full account of Raphael’s prodigious career, from central Italy when he was 17 years old, to Perugia, Siena and Florence, where he first met with Leonardo and Michelangelo, to Rome where he became one of the most feted artists of the Renaissance. The book focuses on and highlights Raphael’s re-invention of classical models, his draughtsmanship and his concept of art, which he pursued and was still striving to perfect at the time of his death aged only 37, in 1520.
‘Raphael’s compositions were highly appreciated for his mastery of representing the real world within the sphere of the ideal’ writes La Malfa. ‘[Raphael’s] greatness rested in the sublime synthesis of the naturalistic representation of mankind and the perfect proportions of the forms of classical art.’
The webinar is free to attend and can be accessed from the Italian Cultural Institute’s event page, here:
https://iiclondra.esteri.it/iic_londra/it/gli_eventi/calendario/2020/06/webinar-raphael-then-and-now-launch.html