CAZENOVIA — The Cazenovia Public Library will welcome Paolo Amadio to the community room on Jan. 8, at 6:30 p.m., to present the first of two programs on Italian Baroque art.
The first talk, titled “Caravaggio: Baroque Enigmatic Painter,” will explore the work of Michelangelo Merisi. Known as Caravaggio, the artist was a renowned yet controversial Italian painter of the late 1500s and early 1600s.
According to a press release announcing the event, Amadio plans to discuss Caravaggio’s unique artistic vision and some of his most intriguing paintings. He will also cover the painter’s “daring and defiant” life.
“Caravaggio’s life and death are still veiled in [mystery],” the press release states. “His passionate and fiery comportment made him a ‘troublemaker’ and gave him the label of ‘Pittore Maledetto,’ [meaning] ‘Damned Painter.’ He was the prototype of the artistic genius that lived his life to the extreme. Notwithstanding, his art transcends his outlandish temperament with his introspective, fresh, and profound symbolism. Caravaggio’s pictorial techniques became models for many Baroque pictorial schools, and his realism and cognitive use of ‘Chiaroscuro’ – light and darkness – is, even today, a source of awe-inspiring admiration.”
Amadio was born and raised in Rome, Italy, not far from where Caravaggio lived and worked.
He moved from Rome to Cazenovia in 1996 with his wife, Marilyn, and son, Jordan, who attended Cazenovia High School.
Professionally, Amadio’s background is in engineering and international business development. He retired from Lockheed Martin last year as director of international business development.
“I have a strong passion for Roman and Italian Baroque art, and this passion fosters my enthusiasm in wanting to share the intricacies and awe-inspiring stories associated with the works of Michelangelo Merisi (Caravaggio) and Gianlorenzo Bernini,” Amadio said. “In addition to being able to admire and experience in person these works of art and architecture, through the years I [have become] well-read in their life and artistic history, themes, and pictorial/sculptural techniques.”
Amadio’s second presentation, “Bernini: Baroque Genius Sculptor and Architect,” will be held on Jan. 22 at 6:30 p.m. Both programs are free and open to the public.
“I gave the same talks on Caravaggio and Bernini at the Cazenovia and Manlius Public Libraries in 2014,” Amadio said. “The sessions were very well attended, and there was a genuine general interest in the subject.”
For more information on the upcoming presentations, call the library at 315-655-9322 or visit cazenoviapubliclibrary.org.
