THE ART OF THE RENAISSANCE,

Transcription

1 THE ART OF THE RENAISSANCE, PROF. MARK ROSEN Course Information AHST 3315 Section: 001 Spring 2011 Tuesday, 4 6:45 pm Professor Contact Information Office: JO mark.rosen@utdallas.edu Office phone: Office hours: Thursday, 1 2 pm or by appointment Course Pre-requisites, Co-requisites, and/or Other Restrictions Prerequisites: The introductory Art History survey (AHST 1303 and 1304) or AP Art History in High School; AHST 2331 or ARTS 1301 are also acceptable. Course Description This course covers the development of Italian art from the late Gothic period through the Counter Reformation, or (in other words) from Giotto to Tintoretto. The lectures will serve as both an introduction to the major artists of the period as well as to the functions, themes, and patronage behind their most significant works. We will focus on the major urban centers (Florence, Venice, Rome, Siena) as well as some of the Italian courts (Mantua, Milan), each of which had its own distinctive artistic tradition and system of patronage. Among the artists and architects discussed will be Giotto, Masaccio, Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Andrea Mantegna Michelangelo, Raphael, Parmigianino, and Titian. We will also discuss the relevant ancient and Syllabus: The Art of the Renaissance Page 1

2 medieval background that Renaissance art and architecture grew from. Unlike the central textbook (Hartt/Wilkins), the lectures will not move through the material exclusively chronologically but rather follow more thematic subjects. The course will not be just a survey of major works of art, but also of the culture that created them and the reasons that Italian art and architecture took the forms it did. Although this is a lecture class, we will often have discussion as a group based not only on the images we re looking at but also on the reading, so it s important to keep up. After each week, I will post the images from the lectures on elearning. Many of these images are also in the textbook, although not everything we see in class will also be in the book. Student Learning Objectives/Outcomes Students will analyze and evaluate Italian Renaissance artworks beyond considerations of style and authorship, understanding their creation in the context of the religious, political, and social concerns of the period Students will develop their skills of visual analysis by writing a paper comparing several Renaissance artworks. Students will gain an understanding of historical works of art that they can carry with them beyond this class to studying or evaluating artworks from other periods and cultures. Required Textbooks and Materials Note: all three of the required textbooks have been published in multiple editions in the past. It isn t essential that you buy the current one (especially if you can save a lot of money buying an earlier edition), but the page numbers listed in the syllabus are for the most recent edition. Frederick Hartt and David G. Wilkins, History of Italian Renaissance Art, 7 th edition (NY: Prentice Hall, 2011). [NOTE: The 6 th edition is also fine.] Giorgio Vasari, The Lives of the Artists, trans. Julia Conway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998). There are other acceptable editions that you can use (most notably the Penguin edition translated by George Bull). Michael Baxandall, Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy, 2d edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). You can also use the first edition. Readings should be done before each class meeting. Some readings will be discussed during the lecture and it is expected that students will be prepared to participate in the discussion and be familiar with the works. Papers and Assignments You will have three exams (two midterms and a cumulative final) and two writing assignments: a short (2-page) reading response on Baxandall s book (due Mar. 1) and a visual analysis of 6 pages (due Apr. 19). For the paper, you will have a choice of topics to write about; each asks you to compare works of art from different time periods. On March 1, you will also do a short in-class presentation with two or three other students, presenting an artwork to the group. Syllabus: The Art of the Renaissance Page 2

3 Assignments & Academic Calendar Class Topic Reading 11 Jan. Introduction: Approaching Renaissance Art 18 Jan. Overview of Italian Politics and Culture Hartt/Wilkins, Ch. 1 2 (pp ). Life in the City: The Piazza, the Palace, and the Cathedral 25 Jan. Devotional Practices, Ritual Art: The Church and the Chapel 1 Feb. Art as a Window: Humanism and Developments in Quattrocento Art Discussion section 8 Feb. Public Art, Public Rivalries: Monumental Sculpture, Civic Palaces, and the Nature of Artistic Competition in Florence Midterm review Hartt/Wilkins, Ch. 3 5 (pp ). Vasari, Lives of Giotto, Simone Martini, Duccio Hartt/Wilkins, Ch. 6 8 (pp ). Vasari, Lives of Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Alberti Hartt/Wilkins, Ch (pp ). Vasari, Lives of Uccello, Masaccio, Brunelleschi, Donatello, and Castagno/Veneziano Baxandall, Feb. Quattrocento Portraiture FIRST MIDTERM EXAM Hartt/Wilkins, Ch (pp ). Vasari, Life of Leonardo da Vinci Baxandall, Feb. The Domestic World: Quattrocento Palaces and their Decoration Presentation Preparation 1 Mar. SHORT GROUP PRESENTATIONS Hartt/Wilkins, Ch (pp ). Vasari, Life of Sandro Botticelli Baxandall, Two-page reading response on Baxandall due 8 Mar. The Call of the Ancient World: Renaissance Rome Hartt/Wilkins, Ch (pp ) 15 Mar. Spring Break No class Syllabus: The Art of the Renaissance Page 3

4 22 Mar. From Genesis to Revelation: The Sistine Chapel Vasari, Life of Michelangelo 29 Mar. Pictorial Legitimacy: Halls of State Vasari, Lives of Mantegna and Raphael 5 Apr. Sacred Drama: The Last Supper as Theme SECOND MIDTERM EXAM 12 Apr. After Perfection : Mannerism and the Problem of Late Sixteenth Century Art 19 Apr. Biography through Art: The Life of Titian PAPER DUE 26 Apr. Later Renaissance Portraiture and Self- Portraiture Vasari, Lives of Andrea del Verrocchio and Giorgione Hartt/Wilkins, Ch. 18 (pp ) Vasari, Preface to the Lives, Preface to Part 2, Preface to Part 3 Hartt/Wilkins, Ch. 19 (pp ). Vasari, Life of Titian Hartt/Wilkins, Ch 20. (pp ) Final exam review (bring questions) 10 May Final Exam Grading Policy First Paper (1 Mar.): 10% Second Paper (19 Apr.): 20% Midterm 1 (15 Feb.): 10% Midterm 2 (5 Apr.): 10% Cumulative Final: 30% In-Class Presentation (1 March): 10% Attendance and Participation: 10% Course & Instructor Policies Office hours are meant for the benefit of you students, so use them! They can be used to discuss class materials, assignments, and questions arising from the readings, or other issues you d like to discuss. If you can t make it to the scheduled hours, you can make an appointment with me at some other time. I can be reached by and will make efforts to respond in a timely manner, but I m not on call at all hours; use sparingly, please. All major assignments must be completed to successfully pass the class (you can t skip the first paper and still expect to get a B+). No written assignments will be accepted via if for some reason you can t make it to class, bring a hard copy to my office as soon as possible. Late assignments will be marked down substantially. Please turn off your phone and refrain from texting in class. It s a drag for everyone. Syllabus: The Art of the Renaissance Page 4

5 Class begins at 4 pm each week. If you must come in late, try to be as quiet as possible. Since we only meet once a week and we will be covering so much material each class, you may have no more than two unexcused absences if you have more than that, you will get a zero for your participation grade. Accessing Course Image Presentations via elearning After each week, the instructor will post the image presentations seen in lecture. These are created via a piece of software called the ArtStor Offline Image Viewer (ArtStor is a huge database of images that students can access online; the OIV is a program like PowerPoint that is used in lecture to present those images). In order to view the presentations, students will need to download the Offline Image Viewer to run them. Follow the numbered instructions below to install the software. Then download the image presentations from the Image Presentations folder on the course s elearning homepage. If you have any trouble, contact the McDermott Library Ask-a-Librarian Service ( or Jennifer Gordon, UTD s ARTstor administrator (jennifer.gordon@utdallas.edu, ). You can also consult the Troubleshooting ARTstor tips at Getting Started with ARTstor: Set Up a Personal Account 1. Go to ARTstor at Note that if you are off-campus, you will be prompted to enter your UTD-ID and last name to log in. 2. Click on the GO button in the ENTER THE ARTSTOR DIGITAL LIBRARY box, in the upper-right corner of the screen. 3. You will now need to create a personal account on ARTstor. You will only have to do this one time. 4. Look for the LOG IN TO ARTstor box, in the upper-right corner of the screen. 5. Click the link that says, NOT REGISTERED? 6. Enter your address and a password of your choice, and click SUBMIT. How to Install the OIV Software (you can skip this step if you don t want to download the entire presentation) 1. Log in to your personal ARTstor account. 2. Now click on the TOOLS menu, from the on-screen ARTstor toolbar (inside the grayshaded area along the top of the screen). 3. Click on DOWNLOAD OFFLINE PRESENTATION TOOL (OIV). 4. Click on ACCEPT. 5. Choose either the Mac or Windows version of the OIV, and click DOWNLOAD. 6. Save the file to your desktop, or in another folder you can locate easily. 7. Go to your desktop and open the OIV setup folder. a. If you are using Windows, the folder will be labeled OIV_3.1_Win_Install.zip. b. If you are using a Mac, the folder will be called OIV_3.1.2_Mac_Install.zip. 8. Now click on the file called oiv_setup, and proceed with the installation. These descriptions and timelines are subject to change at the discretion of the Professor. Syllabus: The Art of the Renaissance Page 5