Thank you! I'm very well - but I've been busy writing books and so haven't had a chance to post something new. More soon - I hope!

Thank you - glad you enjoyed it.

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.

Many thanks!

I don't mean to be critical - I love the connections you make such as Petrarch in exile like his father, or Petrarch trying to save classics from the flames!

I think the idea that Petrarch was the first to be nostalgic for the classical period is refuted by the fact that the older Dante, to pluck one example, also longed for the return of the Golden Age, and idolised pagan poets such as Virgil.

When you say Petrarch's Laura died of the plague - it isn't certain Laura existed, much less that she died of the plague. Any connection with Laura de Noves is purely speculative.

Thanks for your comments. Regarding his false modesty, I don’t think he was being entirely disingenuous when he fretted about whether his name and his works would survive. He was haunted throughout his life by the loss of books and knowledge from the ancient world - and I think he feared a similar fate for himself. Acclaim in his lifetime was one thing, in posterity quite another.

Thank you! I've been writing books rather than recording films over the past two years. But hopefully more to come in the next year!

Yes - Greek sculptors created their incredibly lifelike works through an inspection of the living human form. No corpses or scalpels were involved. In the 4th century BC Greek physicians working in Alexandria - Herophilus and Erasistratus - performed anatomies (even vivisections, it seems). But the practice was short-lived, and it was concerned with medicine rather than art.

Yes - the master would be in charge of the overall design, but at least some of the execution would be left to the team of painters, including apprentices. We’re used to thinking of paintings as the products of lone artists, but during the Middle Ages and Renaissance virtually all paintings - no matter how small - were workshop productions that involved collaboration and the work of many hands. But there was always someone - Michelangelo, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Leonardo da Vinci - who called the shots.

Thank you - and good luck with your exams!

Thank you!

One talking point could be why these scholars at this particular point in time-the early 1400s-became interested in the Ancient World. What motivated them to seek out the wisdom of the Ancient Greeks and Romans? The answer (you could argue) would have to do with political and cultural events of the previous century: the plague, the wars, the divisions with the Church, and everything else that made them believe (for good reason) that they were living in a failed society that did not live up to the high standards of the Ancient World. They wished to find in the writings of the Ancients a kind of playbook for a more just, efficient and free society.
Good luck with the assignment, and with your course!

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.

Very good suggestion. I hope to do a few more videos in the next few months - and one on Florence's uniqueness, and the reasons for its artistic and intellectual preeminence, would be a pleasure to work on. So watch this space!

Great to hear. Enjoy Assisi - and the book!

The short answer is that the Jews were annoying the Venetians for the simple reason that they were not Christians. No doubt some resentment was down to economic reasons too, since a number of members of the Jewish community were affluent-and they were affluent because they catered to the Christians’ (especially the poorer Christians’) need for credit. As I say in the talk, the Christians needed the financial services that the Jews offered, but they didn’t want the Jews themselves in their midst. As for the ‘blood libels’-the accounts about Jews using the blood of murdered Christian children to make matzah-they were as absurd and as ignorantly fabricated as the recent claims about a sinister cabal among the ‘global elite’ harvesting adrenochrome from children’s blood. I suspect many Venetians were as sceptical about blood libels as the vast majority of us are about things such as Pizzagate.

Thank you - you're very welcome!

Thank you!

Thank you - glad you enjoyed it.

Thank you so much - I'm glad you enjoyed it!

My pleasure! 😊

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

What a wonderful experience that will be - congratulations! There will be so much to see and learn about. Enjoy your studies!

Thank you, Gina. Yes, the one in St. Petersburg - apparently very spectacular - was laid out in the early 1700s on orders of Peter the Great. It's now a shadow of its former greatness. There's a good write-up on it here: gwfreriks.medium.com/escape-to-the-secret-italian-garden-in-st-petersburg-2b16c0ab55f9

@@rossking3163 Wonderful! Very informative. Thank you so much for replying!

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.

Thank you, Mim!

Thank you! You're very welcome.

Thank you!

Thank you - I'm so glad you enjoyed it. It's a subject and a history very dear to my heart.

Thank you! Yes, I always try to sneak in a plug for the book!

Wonderful - thank you!