News Flash! Art historians claim to have identified two bronze statuettes as by the hand of Michelangelo! in this current events episode, Jason attempts to examine the hard evidence for this claim, but discovers there isn't any...

Jean Antoine Houdon was the greatest portrait sculptor in European history. The fidelity to nature he maintained in his work was an inspiration for the Realists of the 19th century and each generation which came after - all the more amazing when we consider that Houdon was a product of the Rococo and the Old Regime!

The idea of looking towards Greek art for inspiration wasn't exactly new in the late 18th Century with artists such as Canova and David. Artists had been doing it constantly, and for centuries. And yet, the name we give the dominant style of that period - Neoclassicism - seems to imply there was. What was so 'Neo' about Neoclassicism? Listen to the podcast and join the Enlightened.

Exactly how and when did the focus of European art move from Florence and Rome, to Paris? This episode explores the rise of the French academic system and the forerunners of the Ecole Des Beaux-Arts and the Paris Salon under the absolute monarchy of Louis XIV.

Bernini Part Two! We discuss how Bernini sought to combine color, sculpture light and architecture into a single, unified, and total work of art. But Bernini went beyond even that, by creating what can be described as 'layered realities' within several of his works resulting in some of the richest and most complex sculptures ever created.

Apollo and Daphne, Pluto and Persephone, The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa... Never has a single sculptor produced as many absolute masterpieces as Gianlorenzo Bernini. In this first of a two-part episode, Jason discusses Bernini's biography and his important early works which initiated the Baroque Era of sculpture.

Following up on the Elgin Marbles debate, Jason explores the nature of public art, and whether or if a work of art can cease to be. How fragmented, altered, abused, displaced, and appropriated can a sculpture be before it is a relic, rather than a sculpture?

Taking a break over the holidays, Jason gives a reading of Oscar Wilde's classic short story. Happy Holidays Everyone!

News and Notes! Current events covered in this episode include the lastest chapter in the 2 century old controversy surrounding the elgin marbles, a group of statuary taken from the Parthenon in Greece and brought to England. Also, information on TRAC, or The Representaional Art Conference, taking place in 2015.

Whether it's at a university degree program or in a small private atelier, most figurative sculptors today train at schools, rather than as apprentices to professional sculptors. But what was the first art school in Europe? why was it created? Your host Jason Arkles details the history of the rise of the academy as a way to train artists in a more varied, eclectic, and intellectually challenging program than traditional apprenticeships allowed.