Great Patrons of the Italian Renaissance

Great Patrons of the Italian Renaissance: From Lorenzo the Magnificent to Pope Julius II Turbulent lives and unparalleled cultural achievements characterize the most celebrated art patrons of the Italian Renaissance. The ruling elites not only shaped the political landscape of the Italian city states, but permitted the greatest artists of the time to create extraordinarily ambitious artistic commissions. In this lecture we will explore the Medici of Florence, notably Lorenzo the Magnificent, humanist scholar and patron of Michelangelo among many others. We will also examine Ludovico Sforza of Milan, patron of Leonardo da Vinci, and conclude with a look at Pope Julius II, who oversaw the creation of some of the greatest masterworks of Michelangelo, Raphael and Bramante in High Renaissance Rome. This lecture is presented by the SFU Liberal Arts & 55+ Program . Lecturer Efrat El-Hanany is a faculty member in the Art History and Women and Gender Studies departments at Capilano University. An art historian, she specializes in the visual culture of the Italian Renaissance with additional interests in traditions of Jewish art, contemporary art, and the art of China. She graduated from Hebrew University in Jerusalem with a BA in the history of art and East Asian studies and a BA in education. After several years' experience teaching and developing educational programs at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, she went on to earn an MA and a PhD from Indiana University. Her PhD dissertation, Beating the Devil: Images of the Madonna del Soccorso in Italian Renaissance Art (2006), focuses on issues of iconography, gender, and social and religious history. She has published on diverse topics, presented at numerous academic conferences, and taught for many years at various cultural institutions around Vancouver and beyond.