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"These Arts, in their highest province, are not addressed to the gross senses, but to the desires of the mind, to that spark of divinity which we have within." —Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1786
No era of artistic achievement is as renowned as the Renaissance, and no country holds a higher place in that period than Italy. The supreme works created in Florence, Rome, Venice, and other Italian cities by such masters as Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titian have never been equaled and have established a canon of beauty that pervades Western culture to this day.
To view these works is to enter a world that is incomparably rich, filled with emotion and drama that is palpable, though sometimes mysterious to our modern sensibility.
To study these works with an expert is to penetrate that mystery and gain a new appreciation for how these masterpieces were created and what they meant to the artists and people of the time.
Experience the Vision of Great Art with an Expert Guide
Professor William Kloss is your guide through this visual feast in an artist-centered survey that explores hundreds of different paintings and sculptures by scores of different artists.
An Independent Art Historian, scholar, and curator, Professor Kloss is a frequent lecturer for the Smithsonian Institution’s seminar and travel program. He has served on the Committee for the Preservation of the White House by presidential appointment since 1990, and he is the author of several books and exhibition catalogs.
Commenting on Kloss’s eloquent writing, The Washington Post marveled that "his pointed and persuasive perceptions are not easily resisted."
