Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists

Misha Glenny and guests discuss one of the great writers on Central Europe after the first world war and on the dying of the old orders with the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire. As a German speaking Jew from Brody in the north-eastern edge of that Empire, which was then i ...  Show more

Misha Glenny and guests discuss the work of Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972), the graphic artist and printmaker best known for his impossible buildings, paradoxical perspectives, and repeating geometric patterns. Born in Leeuwarden and trained as a printmaker, Escher visited t ...  Show more

This 2018 episode covers an artist and architect from 16th-century Italy. But what really made him famous was his writing. He penned biographies of famous artists, but he wasn't very exacting about the details.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

Michelangelo was one of the greatest artists of his time, with works such as the Sistine Chapel and his sculpture of David, earning him an enduring place in history. Amid the complex Italian politics of his time, Michelangelo navigated powerful dynasties, religious upheavals, and ...  Show more

At 31, Michelangelo was considered the finest artist in Italy, perhaps the world. Long before he died at almost 90, he was widely believed to be the greatest sculptor or painter who had ever lived. Few of his works - including the Sistine Chapel Ceiling, David</e ...

“The Mona Lisa”. “The Last Supper”. “The Vitruvian Man”. Leonardo Da Vinci’s work still inspires over five hundred years later. But what about the man behind the paintings? He was an illegitimate child, a graverobber, and briefly lived at the Vatican. Carter and Vanessa explore t ...  Show more