SMITHSONIAN LECTURES
Over the past few years, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC has invited me to give a number of slide lectures based upon the essays in Not Built in a Day. The titles of the individual lectures are shown in the links immediately below, which may be used to navigate to the individual descriptions of each lecture, also below. For further information about the lectures, send an e-mail inquiry to notbuiltinaday@verizon.net.
– George Sullivan
Michelangelo's Campidoglio: Romes Most Underappreciated Architectural Masterpiece
Borromini's Rome: The Baroque at Its Best
Roman Holiday: An Introduction to the Architecture of Rome
Rome's Via Pia: A Hidden Gem of a Street
Michelangelo in Rome: An Architectural Journey
Hidden Gems: An Architectural Stroll Through Rome
Exploring the Architecture of Rome
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MICHELANGELO'S CAMPIDOGLIO:
ROME'S MOST UNDERAPPRECIATED ARCHITECTURAL MASTERPIECE
[One-hour lecture delivered at the Baltimore Arts Seminar Group 9/17/19]
Almost everyone who visits Rome visits the Piazza del Campidoglio, atop the Capitoline Hill beside the ancient Roman Forum. And most of those visitors know that the Campidoglio was designed in the 1500s by none other than Michelangelo, painter of the Sistine Chapel ceiling and the greatest sculptor of his era. What most people don't know is that Michelangelo was also one of the greatest architects who ever lived, and that the Campidoglio is one of the greatest pieces of European architecture ever constructed. His complex design rejected High Renaissance precedent and set architecture down a new path; its revolutionary details included features that had never been seen before in the history of architecture. George Sullivan's extensively illustrated lecture analyzes the Campidoglio in detail, exploring its architectural concepts and explaining its revolutionary place in architectural history.
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BORROMINI'S ROME: THE BAROQUE AT ITS BEST
[Two-hour lecture (with break) delivered at the Smithsonian 5/1/18]
The city of Rome is famous for its seventeenth-century Baroque architecture, and no Roman Baroque architect was more imaginative and original than Francesco Borromini. Building on the architectural legacy of his revered predecessor Michelangelo, Borromini employed the classical vocabulary of the High Renaissance to create a new Baroque architectural language that was uniquely inventive, deeply personal, instantly recognizable, and incomparably beautiful.
In a richly illustrated program, independent scholar and Rome expert George Sullivan examines Borromini's architecture in detail, discussing all of his major commissions in the city. He gives special focus to Borromini's two greatest works, the tiny gem-like churches of S. Ivo della Sapienze and S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, which jointly receive an in-depth visual analysis that describes and explains exactly what makes Borromini's buildings so special.
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ROMAN HOLIDAY: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ARCHITECTURE OF ROME
WITH SPECIAL GUEST GUIDES AUDREY HEPBURN AND GREGORY PECK
[Day-long seminar (four hour-long lectures with breaks) delivered at the Smithsonian 6/10/17]
Few Hollywood movies are more beloved than Roman Holiday, William Wyler's 1953 romantic comedy that was filmed entirely on location in the city of Rome. Using extensive clips from the movie, George Sullivan's lectures follow Audrey Hepburn and her costar Gregory Peck around the city, stopping at each of Rome's famous sights to describe in detail and explain in depth the architecture on view. The Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Roman Forum, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Campidoglio, the Castel Sant' Angelo, the Mouth of Truth, the Victor Emmanuel Monument – Roman Holiday visits them all, and more. What better company could you possibly want as you spend a day exploring the architecture of one of the world's greatest cities?
First Hour: The Princess Escapes
Visiting Rome for the first time and chafing at all the restrictions imposed by her royal handlers, Princess Anne goes on the lam instead of to bed, ditching her retinue and finding her late-night way into the company of Joe Bradley, an American reporter in need of a scoop. Along the way: St. Peter's Square, the Roman Forum and the Basilica of Maxentius (with short detours to the Baths of Caracalla and S. Maria degli Angeli), the Trevi Fountain.
Second Hour: The Princess on the Loose
The next day, Joe and a photographer friend escort the Princess – who thinks she has not been recognized – around Rome, taking surreptitious photographs as they explore the city. Along the way: the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, the Theater of Marcellus, the Colosseum.
Third Hour: The Wild Ride and the Police Station
A motorbike ride runs amok and causes a minor riot, with everyone ending up at the Police Station. Along the way: the Victor Emmanuel Monument, Il Gesù (with short detours to S. Giovanni in Laterano and S. Agostino), the Campidoglio (with a short detour to the Palazzo Farnese), the Piazza Bocca della Verità (including the Temple of Hercules Victor, the Temple of Portunus, the Arch of Janus, and the Casa Crescenzi), S. Maria in Cosmedin (including the Mouth of Truth).
Fourth Hour: Dancing, Capture, and Goodbye
Later in the evening, Joe and the Princess go dancing, but she is recognized and retrieved by her handlers; the next day, at an audience with the press, the Princess says a poignant goodbye to Joe and Rome. Along the way: the Castel Sant' Angelo, and extra excursions to the Tempietto, St. Peter's, and the Piazza Navona.
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ROME'S VIA PIA: A HIDDEN GEM OF A STREET
[Two-hour lecture (with break) delivered at the Smithsonian 9/24/15]
In a richly illustrated evening, independent scholar and Rome expert George Sullivan explores the architectural glories of a single Roman street. The long, straight "Via Pia" – now the Via del Quirinale and the Via Venti Settembre – was laid out by Pope Pius IV in the early 1560s. It runs along the crest of the Quirinal Hill from the center of town all the way to the ancient city walls, but since it leads away from the city's main attractions it is little visited by tourists.
Among architecture buffs, however, it is famous for its four small gem-like Baroque churches, which together create an architectural ensemble unsurpassed in originality and beauty. S. Andrea al Quirinale and S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane exquisitely exemplify the very different architectural styles of rivals Gianlorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini. Carlo Maderno's immensely inventive facade for S. Susanna marks the beginning of the High Baroque era in Roman architecture. S. Maria della Vittoria contains Bernini's greatest sculptural tour-de-force, The Ecstasy of St. Theresa, displayed in an extraordinary chapel that the sculptor himself designed to show off his work to maximum advantage.
In addition to these incomparable churches, Sullivan explores a number of other sights along the way, including the Largo Magnanapoli, the Fontana dell' Acqua Felice, the British Embassy, the church of S. Bernardo alle Terme, and Michelangelo's famously quixotic Porta Pia. Come along and experience a Rome that most visitors miss.
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MICHELANGELO IN ROME: AN ARCHITECTURAL JOURNEY
[Two-hour lecture (with break) delivered at the Smithsonian 9/15/14]
Everyone is familiar with Michelangelo the sculptor and Michelangelo the painter, but Michelangelo the architect is far less well-known. Yet his influence on the history of architecture was no less profound than his influence on sculpture and painting, and the innovative works he designed in Rome made him not only the father of the Baroque style of architecture but the father of modern city planning as well. George Sullivan's richly illustrated lecture examines all of Michelangelo's important Roman architectural projects (including the church of S. Maria degli Angeli, the Sforza Chapel in S. Maria Maggiore, the Palazzo Farnese, the Porta Pia, and the dome and exterior of St. Peter's), with special emphasis on the Piazza del Campidoglio, the revolutionary complex of buildings atop the Capitoline Hill that created a new architectural era.
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HIDDEN GEMS: AN ARCHITECTURAL STROLL THROUGH ROME
[Two-hour lecture (with break) delivered at the Smithsonian 11/21/13]
Every visitor to Rome seeks out the Spanish Steps, but how may sightseers search out the extraordinary garden entrance to the Palazzo Zuccari, just down the block? Everyone goes to the Pantheon, but how many people notice the exceptional carved capitals at the little church of S. Eustachio, a stone's throw away? Michelangelo's Campidoglio is a seminal and justly famous piece of architecture, but what about the captivating little mock-medieval rooftop village across the way? George Sullivan's illustrated tour of Rome's hidden gems explores some twenty-five sights that are usually overlooked – the lesser-known attractions that often fall through the cracks in the rush from famous monument to famous monument. Smaller churches such as S. Marco and the Ss. Sacramento Oratory, side-street remnants from antiquity such as the Baths of Agrippa and the Tarpeian Rock, architectural oddities such as the doorway of the Palazzo Stati-Maccarani and the dome of S. Ivo: these are the sights that most tourists miss, and that add so much to the Roman experience when they are searched out and savored.
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AN EVENING IN ANCIENT ROME
[Two-hour lecture (with break) delivered at the Smithsonian 4/7/09]
Any Washingtonian familiar with Union Station who enters the great hall of the ancient Baths of Diocletian in Rome will be struck by an obvious similarity between the two buildings. The Baths of Diocletian were the largest and most sumptuous of the imperial Roman baths, all of them unprecedented in scope and size. American architects of the early 20th century loved the baths' huge scale and steamrolling power, and frankly modeled their new railroad stations on the famous Roman buildings.
In addition to visiting the Baths of Diocletian, author George Sullivan's armchair tour of ancient Rome explores many well-known sites, including the Pantheon, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Trajan's Market, and the Baths of Caracalla. The lecture also describes some less familiar attractions, including the Stadium of Domitian, the temple remains at S. Nicola in Carcere, the Porticus of Octavia, the Porta Pinciana, the Porta Maggiore, and the inner-city Appian Way. Sullivan examines both the revolutionary character of Roman architecture and its influence on the architecture of later eras, with special emphasis on detained visual analysis that brings the buildings alive as architecture and as history.
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EXPLORING THE ARCHITECTURE OF ROME
[Series of five weekly hour-long lectures delivered at the Smithsonian 7/12/07-8/9/07]
Rome's long history makes it the most architecturally varied city in Europe; first-rate examples of almost every Western architectural style can be found within its ancient walls. This lavishly illustrated series looks at these epochal stylistic changes through the prism of Rome's most important building; detailed visual analysis explains why so many of these buildings are considered architectural masterpieces.
Lecture 1: The Architecture of Antiquity: A City Built by Giants
After almost 2,000 years, the Pantheon, Colosseum, and Arch of Constantine remain standing, symbols of an architecture unprecedented in its size, power, and originality.
Lecture 2: Renaissance Rebirth: The Reinvention of Classicism
The Renaissance introduced a new style of classicism that went far beyond ancient models, as exemplified by the Palazzo della Cancelleria, the cloister at S. Maria della Pace, and Bramante's extraordinary Tempietto.
Lecture 3: Experiments of Mannerism: Michelangelo, Architect of Genius
Mannerism began with tentative experiments, such as Antonio da Sangallo's Palazzo del Banco di S. Spirito and Giulio Romano's Palazzo Stati-Macarani, and ended with Michelangelo's revolutionary designs for the Campidoglio.
Lecture 4: Splendors of the Baroque: Bernini, Borromini, and the Architecture of Panache
The small, exquisite churches of the Baroque era, such as Bernini's S. Andrea al Quirinale and Borromini's S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, led to those two great Roman set pieces, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps.
Lecture 5: The Rome of Today: The Advent of Modernism
Nineteenth-century homages to past styles, including the notorious Victor Emmanuel Monument, ultimately gave way to bold 20th-century experiments in glass and stell such as the Palazzo Passarelli.
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