The Center will be hosting a series of three events about Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli, focusing especially on his illustrations of Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, which were commissioned by a member of the Medici family.

Here are all the details:

“Botticelli’s Secret” (Oct. 3, 11:30 AM)

Date/Time: Tuesday, October 3, 2023, at 11:30 AM
Location: The Center for Italian Studies, Frank Melville Jr. Memorial Library, room E4340
Presenter: Joseph Luzzi (Bard College); Respondent: Sara Lipton (Stony Brook University)
Title: Botticelli’s Secret: The Lost Drawings and the Rediscovery of the Renaissance
Additional event: Opening of the Exhibition Botticelli in Hell, curated by José Gabriel Alegría (Stony Brook University)
Description: Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli was commissioned by the Medici family to illustrate the 100 cantos of Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy. In his presentation, Joseph Luzzi will explore the mysteries surrounding Botticelli’s lost Dante drawings, and explain not only how and why Botticelli became iconic, but why we still need his work―and the spirit of the Renaissance―today.
Bio: Joseph Luzzi (PhD, Yale) is the Asher B. Edelman Professor of Literature and Faculty Member in Italian Studies at Bard College. His most recent book is Botticelli’s Secret: The Lost Drawings and the Rediscovery of the Renaissance (2022).

“Transforming Artistry” (Oct. 4, 1 PM)

Date/Time: Wednesday, October 4, at 1 PM
Location: The Center for Italian Studies, Frank Melville Jr. Memorial Library, room E4340
Presenter: Emanuele Lugli (Stanford University); Respondent: Karen Lloyd (Stony Brook University)
Title: Transforming Artistry: Sandro Botticelli and the Painting of Hair
Description: Sandro Botticelli reimagined hair as a potent and transformative force capable of forging connections that had a profound impact on the creation of art.
Bio: Emanuele Lugli (Stanford University) is an art and cultural historian specializing in late medieval and early modern Italian painting, trade, and fashion. He recently published Knots: The Violence of Desire in Renaissance Florence.

“Botticelli in Hell” (Oct. 5, 2:30 PM)

Date/Time: Thursday, October 5, at 2:30 PM
Location: HUM 1006
Presenter: José Gabriel Alegría (Stony Brook University); Respondent: Loredana Polezzi (Stony Brook University)
Title: Botticelli in Hell: Drawing as an art form in Botticelli’s illustrations for Dante’s Inferno
Description: Botticelli’s illustrations of the Divine Comedy give us unique insight into the Renaissance understanding of Dante’s text. The Map of Hell (La mappa dell’Inferno) preserved at the Vatican Library outlined the whole structure of the work in a single image, and might be the most detailed map of hell ever done.
Bio: José Gabriel Alegría is an artist and Art Historian from Perú, currently doing his PhD in Hispanic Languages and Literature at Stony Brook University.