Something Beautiful

What does darkness feel like? How do art and science encounter the unknown? What can we learn from disaster? In episode two, we'll wander through these questions, guided by Rembrandt, the Scientific Revolution, the Titanic, Max Beckmann, Edward Hopper, and echolocation.

Images: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1bc_N-2ydHUPIAvOM1vUgMGZGaeKN-9UazejpFWZyRaQ/edit?usp=share_link

Music by Calum Justice (@inkpistol)

Cover art by Xander Somogyi (www.xandersomogyi.com)

This episode is a Cross Country Media production.

How can we think about the "before" and "after" of a work of art? What is the work that images do? How are images haunted by their makers, their receivers, and the circumstances of their making? This episode asks these questions through a strange constellation of events: from the founding of the Roman Republic, to Renaissance era Flemish painting, to the photography of Francesca Woodman, to the Battle of Pavia.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Content warning: mentions of rape and sexual assault⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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Music credits: Calum Justice (@inkpistol)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Cover art: Xander Somogyi (www.xandersomogyi.com)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

This episode is a Cross Country Media production.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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References:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

For more on the myth of Lucretia:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

• Livy’s account in The History of Rome, Book 1: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0151%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D58

• Cassius Dio’s account in Roman History: https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/2*.html
  

For more on the myth of Europa:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

• Professor Sharon Kinew’s beautiful essay on Titian’s The Rape of Europa: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/726864
• https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/idea-of-europe/myths-of-europa-from-classical-antiquity-to-the-enlightenment/4471501752200ADB8EE5D9F1E0F01B76
  

For more on Joos van Cleve’s Lucretia:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

• https://www.famsf.org/artworks/lucretia
  

For more on Harold Rosenberg:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

• Read The Tradition of the New, a collection of Rosenberg's essays from 1959.

For more on Francesca Woodman:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

• Read Peggy Phelan’s essay, “Francesca Woodman’s Photography: Death and the Image One More Time” at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/339640

• To see more of her work: https://woodmanfoundation.org/francesca/works
  

For more on the Battle of Pavia tapestries:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

• See https://www.famsf.org/exhibitions/battle-pavia-tapestries
• Watch Thomas Campbell’s lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5QZo7Q5xHU
  

For more on the 1527 Sack of Rome:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

• https://ehne.fr/en/encyclopedia/themes/european-humanism/europe-wars-religion/a-prelude-wars-religion-sack-rome-1527
  

will you be tuning in for more?