The Essay: Blood and Bronze

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The Essay: Blood and Bronze: Forging the Renaissance

25/03/2021

Forging the Renaissance

Blood and Bronze

BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, Blood and Bronze, Forging the Renaissance

Back in Florence, Cellini works for Cosimo de’ Medici and creates his greatest work.

Back in Florence, Cellini works for Cosimo de’ Medici. He creates his greatest work, a huge bronze statue of Perseus beheading Medusa.

Jerry Brotton is Professor of Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary University of London and wants us to take a fresh look at a period in European history usually associated with beauty, harmony and art. His approach contains a health warning: the Renaissance was a lot darker and violent than many of us have imagined. Retracing the life of Benvenuto Cellini through his shocking autobiography, Jerry reveals how this was a time of conflict as well as beauty, creativity as well as tyranny. 

Back in Florence, Cellini works for Cosimo de’ Medici. He makes his greatest work, a huge bronze statue of Perseus beheading Medusa. It becomes a defining image of the Renaissance and cements Cellini’s reputation. 

Reader Marco Gambino

Producer Mark Rickards

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Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Jerry Brotton's explores Benvenuto Cellini and a darker side to the Italian Renaissance.

Professor Jerry Brotton recreates the life and work of the charismatic Italian artist Benvenuto Cellini and reveals the darker side of the Renaissance.

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