On Sept. 23, join Lisa Festa, a Georgian Court University associate professor of art history, as she presents a multimedia lecture about famed Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo (1475– 1564).
Enjoy traditional music paired with a multicourse Italian dinner, followed by Festa’s lecture. This event will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the North Dining Room on the university’s Lakewood campus.
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was a sculptor, painter, architect and poet who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art, according to a press release from the university. He was one of the founders of the High Renaissance and, in his later years, one of the principal exponents of mannerism. Michelangelo’s output in every field during his long life was prodigious; when the sheer volume of correspondence, sketches and reminiscences that survive is taken into account, he is the best-documented artist of the 16th century.
Two of his best-known works are sculptures he created before the age of 30: the Pietà (1498-99) and David (1501-04). The Pietà, which depicts the body of Jesus on the lap of his mother Mary after the Crucifixion, balances the Renaissance ideals of classical beauty with naturalism.
David, a standing male nude of the Biblical hero David, was placed in a public square outside the Palazzo della Signoria, the seat of civic government in Florence, where it came to represent the defense of civil liberties. It stood there until 1873, when it was moved to a museum for protection.
Michelangelo also created two of the most influential works in fresco in the history of Western art: the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling and The Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.
He was appointed architect of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, and helped design its dome, one of his last major works before dying in 1564 at the age of 88.
Tickets for the Sept. 23 event are $37 per person, which includes dinner and the lecture. Reservations are required and can be made by contacting the Office of Conferences and Special Events at 732-987-2263 or by sending an email to Georgia Court at [email protected].