Italian Art for Travelers
Your passport to culture, history, and art

Drawings let us see the artist at work, thinking through problems. Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael’s drawings are like fingerprints or handwriting. Each had unique styles and methods of drawing. Raphael frequently drew hands. Michelangelo concentrated on the muscular torso or twisting body. Leonardo brainstormed on paper, keenly interested in nature and how the world around him worked.

Three consequential sixteenth century conclaves illustrate the power wrangling and coalitions in electing a pope: the conclaves for Julius I

Michelangelo’s fame was well founded after completing two early masterpieces, the Pietà and the David. Both speak to his creative genius.

Four popes did much to shape the Rome we see today. The della Rovere, Farnese, Borghese, and the Barberini families each placed their own ma

Michelangelo and Titian, the two sixteenth century powerhouse competitive artists, decided to create their own memorial as the end of their

Was Michelangelo gay? It’s complicated. How does one say Michelangelo is gay when there isn’t even a word for it in the language of his time? The concept of gender identity, sexual orientation, or LBGTQ peoples in the ancient world or the Renaissance did not exist. A better question would be, who did he love? That we know.

Michelangelo began working on St. Peter's at age 71. The last 17 years of his life were devoted to St. Peter's.

As I left the exhibit at the Met, a little overwhelmed, and took a taxi back to the hotel, my thoughts turned to three questions...

Michelangelo was active as an artist for some seventy years and the exhibit brought together works from his earliest teenage years to drawin