Episode 150: Art, Ancient Rome, and Androids - The Weird World of Dr Peter Weller
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Who is Dr. Peter Weller and what makes him a Renaissance man?
Yeah, you're good to go. I want to ask you a question. So you're married? Oh, yes. Okay, Andrew and Stephanie are married.
Yesterday was our eight-year wedding anniversary.
Happy anniversary. Thank you. Now I want to tell you something very interesting about history since we're talking about history.
What is the significance of Giotto and the Cappella Scrovegni in art history?
Yes.
Okay, there's a piece of art that is really, and I can't overspeak it. You can't. Oversay it. I mean, there's an art historian that came along in the last five, 10 years who said this piece of art is the one piece of art that you can't impugn. And everybody from Rembrandt to Leonardo to Michelangelo to Picasso to Rothko. So they sourced this piece of art, and it's by a guy named Giotto. G-I-O-T-T-O.
Giotto.
Yeah, Giotto. And he does this chapel that's about 20 meters long.
Okay.
Called the Cappella Scrovegni. Scrovegni, like G-N is pronounced like million in Italian.
Okay.
Like G-L is the same way, yeah. Scrovegni and that Cappella Scrovegni or Scrovegni Chapel or Arena Chapel, and the reason why they call it Arena Chapel in English, because it's right by an old Roman arena in Padova. And Padua is a beautiful city, the second oldest civic university. Oh, I didn't know that. Most universities are part of abbeys, like Oxford and Sorbonne and so forth. The oldest civic university, that means essentially licensed by a civilian, like Frederick Robert Rose, is Bologna. And it's in situ the oldest university in the world. The second one is Padua, because some of these teachers and students – Bologna's like 1170s, 80s. Padua's 1220s. Okay. Is that old enough for you? Yeah. Okay. I think so.
So Padua is a very culturally sophisticated place, and it's part of my book.
Okay.
In this particular town, there's some astounding, game-changing art. that the art historians and the artists themselves know about and celebrate, except that the art movers and shakers of tourism don't talk about it so much because, you know, Paris has the Louvre and Florence has the Ninja Turtles, and that's all you want to know. And that's basically it. But in this particular city of Padua, one of maybe my favorite places to go, and it's only, like I say, 10 minutes out of... by train out of Venice, is this Cappella Scovigni. And in it is a 20 meter long, unbelievably a preponderance of gift, In a narrative of the story of Mary and Jesus in a movie.
Oh, how cool.
In fresco that goes around a room. Okay, it was started around 1302 and it's finished in 1305 on March the 25th. So yesterday was. Oh, my God.
You brought it back to our anniversary.
The 720th anniversary of the most important piece of Western art known. And by the way, not my opinion.
Wow.
Opinion of a whole lot of people. From Carlo Carra, the guy who invented cubism, to Picasso, to Rothko, to on and on and on it goes. Okay? Two great cinematographers now. It doesn't matter. I was sent there by a cinematographer. So on your anniversary. You also got the Capella Scroveni. So your homework is to go see Giotto. And people are listening to this if they hear this. A lot of people know who Giotto is. And they go, of course, it's Giotto. Okay, yours truly? I thought I was a smarty pants. I did not know who Giotto was. Okay, I just found out who he was right now. Yeah, but you didn't pretend. You weren't like the pretensioso. No, no, definitely not. Okay, listen.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
Who is Dr. Peter Weller and what makes him a Renaissance man?
1:30–1:42
2
What is the significance of Giotto and the Cappella Scrovegni in art history?
1:42–13:22
3
How did Peter Weller’s experiences with influential artists and cinematographers shape his passion for art?
13:22–2:12:39
4
What role does language learning play in Peter Weller’s life and how does he approach it?
2:12:39–2:19:44
Speakers
8 identifiedMore from History For Weirdos
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