Our guest today, Toby Lester, has worked as a refugee affairs officer for the United Nations, helped with programmes in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, undertaken Peace Corps work in Yemen. He has written also extensively for national publications, including the Smithsonian, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, The American Scholar, The Wilson Quarterly, BBC Magazine, and the London Times. He also worked at The Atlantic in a variety of editorial capacities: including as the managing editor. Today he serves part-time as a senior editor for Harvard ..read more

If you’re wondering “where are rest of the episodes?”, they are on our website as part of our membership program. The post Where are rest of the episodes? appeared first on The Renaissance Times ..read more

Leonardo’s earliest surviving work of art is a landscape sketch of Vinci in his notebook dating from 1473 when he was 21 years old. The earliest surviving painting is BAPTISM OF CHRIST, a collaboration with his old master, Verrocchio (as seen in Marketing The Messiah). On this episode, we go deep on both works of art, looking at what made Leonardo da Vinci different from his contemporaries. Oh dear! This page contains Member's Only content... and you aren't logged in! Sucks to be you, seriously, because the content you are missing is really funny. And clever. And probably very, very sexy. S ..read more

When King Manuel of Portugal evicted the Jews in 1497, he didn’t actually want them to leave. He wanted them to convert to Christianity. When, instead, they chose to leave, he tried to stop them – by seizing their children and forcibly converting them. Rather than see their children raised as Christians, many Jews killed their own kids and then committed suicide. The Jews who did convert didn’t get it any easier, either. As in Spain, they were subjected to violence and then, finally, the Inquisition came to Portugal. It’s just your basic Christian terrorism. Oh dear! This page contains Member ..read more

During his 20 years in Milan, Leonardo, the laziest genius ever, only finished three lousy paintings…. aaaaaand two of them are murals. Only one is in a frame – VIRGIN OF THE ROCKS. He liked it so much, he painted it again, 25 years later. Well…. There’s a little more to the story, actually. Oh dear! This page contains Member's Only content... and you aren't logged in! Sucks to be you, seriously, because the content you are missing is really funny. And clever. And probably very, very sexy. So sign up now and your life will be improved substantially. The post #137 – Get Your Rocks Off – Leo ..read more

In his sermons in early 1491, Savonarola attacked the people and priests who thought of Christianity as a merely ceremonial religion. He also criticised how ignorant the people were of the doctrines of Christianity, ‘thieving priests’ who sold lucrative posts and Church offices to the wealthy, and he claimed the clerics and people were all sodomites and attacked the oppression of the poor, by unjust taxation.       The post #97 – Savonarola Part 4 appeared first on The Renaissance Times ..read more

In 1487 Savonarola left Florence for a new assignment in Bologna, to continue his studies toward a degree of master of sacred theology while teaching juniors. But apparently it didn’t go well. He wasn’t given his masters and his academic career was terminated. For the next few years he was sent around Italy to preach. He finally gets reassigned BACK to San Marco in Florence. Probably at the request of Lorenzo, on the recommendation of Pico della Mirandola, the self-proclaimed smartest motherfucker in the world. Now that he has the blessing and interest of Lorenzo and Pico, he’s in an entirely ..read more

Savonarola starts his preaching career but it doesn’t go very well. One person who *is* impressed though is a young Pico della Mirandola. That would have far-reaching consequences. He also wrote a book – On Politics and Government (De politica et regno) – basically his Mein Kampf. If only Lorenzo read it, Florence may have been spared the things to come. To give his preaching a bit more oompf, Savo starts to throw in an old favourite – The ESCHATON.     The post #95 – Savonarola Part 2 appeared first on The Renaissance Times ..read more

When Giuliano de Medici gets murdered in the Duomo during the Pazzi Conspiracy of 1478, Booty was probably there. What should a Florentine painter paint after the Pope had your best friend killed during a church service in a cathedral? No more Madonnas and Baby Jesuses. It’s time for Booty to paint his ultimate masterpiece – The Birth Of Venus.     The post #93 – Sandro Botticelli 5 appeared first on The Renaissance Times ..read more

Botticelli’s first painting of a non-religious subject was Fortitude, 1470. It’s considered his first masterpiece. He then explored other stories like The Return of Judith to Bethulia from the Old Testament and St Sebastian, an early Christian saint and martyr, his first truly SEXY painting. He then turned to the stories from Greco-Roman antiquity and the poetry of his friend Poliziano for inspiration, leading his way to painting his own version of Apelles’ ‘Aphrodite Anadyomene‘, The Birth Of Venus.     The post #92 – Sandro Botticelli 4 appeared first on The Renaissance Times ..read more