The Italian Renaissance : new perspectives of man and his world

Transcription

1 The Italian Renaissance : new perspectives of man and his world Start date 23 October 2015 End date 25 October 2015 Venue Madingley Hall Madingley Cambridge Tutors Dr Anna Bristow and Shirley Course code 1516NRX023 Smith Director of Programmes For further information on this course, please contact Emma Jennings Clare Kerr, Public Programmes Co-ordinator , clare.kerr@ice.cam.ac.uk To book See: or telephone Tutor biographies Anna Bristow graduated at Bocconi University (Milan) in modern languages and literature. She obtained her PhD (CNAA) in linguistics and history and was lector in MML Faculty at Cambridge University. She joined the Faculty of Humanities at CCAT as lecturer in Italian and European philosophy and literature. Anna has considerable teaching experience having taught a wide range of subjects (linguistics, European literature, Italian language, women studies) to undergraduates and postgraduates including adults. Passionate about teaching, she firmly believes in sharing with students the pleasure of exploring individual responses and ideas arising from guided textual analysis. Above all she encourages students to look for continuity of ideas and sensibilities in the texts studied. Shirley Smith graduated from the University of East Anglia with a First Class Honours in the History of Art and winner of the Dissertation Prize, specialising in the Italian and Northern Renaissance. A part-time lecturer at the University of East Anglia and with the Institute of Continuing Education of the University of Cambridge, she runs Certificate and Residential Weekend courses and Day Schools. A great advocate of interdisciplinary learning, she has co-ordinated with lecturers in Music and Literature in her Renaissance courses. She also lectures to various Arts Societies and has guided study tours in Italy. She was Tutor in residence for the Durer exhibition at the Sainsbury Centre.

2 Course programme Friday 23 October 2015 Please plan to arrive between 16:30 and 18:30. You can meet other course members in the bar which opens at 18:15. Tea and coffee making facilities are available in the study bedrooms. 19:00 Dinner 20:30 22:00 Man the measure of all things 22:00 Terrace bar open for informal discussion Saturday 24 October :30 Breakfast 09:00 10:30 The scape and scope of cities (Anna Bristow) 10:30 Coffee 11:00 12:30 Staging the city (Shirley Smith) 13:00 Lunch 14:00 16:00 Free 16:00 Tea 16:30 18:00 The land: God s creation for the use of man (Anna Bristow) 18:00 18:30 Free 18:30 Dinner 20:00 21:30 The art of landscape: scenery and symbolism (Shirley Smith) 21:30 Terrace bar open for informal discussion Sunday 25 October :30 Breakfast 09:00 10:30 The sea: traders, crusaders and pirates (Anna Bristow) 10:30 Coffee 11:00 12:30 New horizons (Shirley Smith) 12:45 Lunch The course will disperse after lunch

3 Course syllabus Aims: 1. To gain a more accurate and perceptive understanding of the Italian Renaissance and the influence of antiquity on the concept of man and his world. 2. To respond to key contemporary visual images and documents revealing the way people lived in their specific environments: the city, the countryside and the sea within the context of 13th-16th centuries Italy. 3. To be aware of the change in the perception of man and his world in Italian art of the period and its relevance to the society which commissioned it. 4. Encourage students to evaluate the relevance of the Italian Renaissance perspectives to our times. Content: The course deals with the rise of a new perception of the importance of man within the political, economic, social environment and how this was reflected in the art and literature of the period (13th- 16th centuries). With the aid of contemporary original documents the course focuses on the political, economic and social organisation of the City-State of Florence and of the maritime Republic of Venice seen as primary examples of Italian independent states, whilst the visual sessions examine the change in Italian art in the response of man to his world and his position in that world. The importance of literary, architectural and art treatises and their relevance to the patrons who commissioned these works is also discussed. Presentation of the course: Questions and discussion are encouraged throughout the weekend and there will also be time for general discussion at the end of the session on New Horizons on Sunday morning. Students are provided with a booklet containing all the material referred to in the course. Outcomes: As a result of the course, within the constraints of the time available, students should be able to: 1. Understand the intimate connection between the Renaissance artistic and literary output and the political, economic forces underpinning it. 2. Be aware of the main historical events and the way these shaped the lives of individuals mainly in Florentine and Venetian societies. 3. Gain a greater insight into the ways in which Italian Renaissance man responded visually to his world. 4. Perceive the relevance of the Italian renaissance to modern sensibility.

4 Reading and resources list Listed below are a number of texts that might be of interest for future reference, but do not need to be bought (or consulted) for the course. Author Title Publisher and date Waley, Daniel The Italian City-Republics Longman, 1988 Onians, John Bearers of Meaning CUP, 1988 Starn Randolph & Braziller George Ambrogio Lorenzetti: the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena New York, 1994 Cafritz, Robert, et al. Place of Delight: the Pastoral Landscape National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1989 Clark, Kenneth Landscape into Art John Murray, 1966 Turner, Richard The Vision of Landscape in Renaissance Italy Princeton UP, 1974 Kidwell-Gerald Carol Sannazaro & Arcadia Duckworth, 1993 Muir, Edward Civil Rituals in Renaissance Venice Princeton UP, 1981 F Fortini Brown, Patricia Venetian Narrative Painting in the Age of Carpaccio Yale UP, 1994 Caroline, Campbell & Alan Chong Bellini and the East National Gallery, 2005 Leon Battista, Alberti The Ten Books of Architecture Dover Publications, 1986 Kemp, Martin (ed) Leonardo on Painting Yale UP, 1989 Wiesner-Hanks E Merry Early Modern Europe ( ) CUP, 2013 Crowley, Roger City of Fortune Faber & Faber, 2011 Abulafia, David The Great Sea Penguin, 2012 Schevill, Ferdinand Medieval & Renaissance Florence Harper, 1961 Ross, James Bruce & McLaughlin Mary The Renaissance Reader Penguin, 1958

5 Brucker Gene (ed.) Two Memoirs of Renaissance Florence Harper, 1967 Brucker Gene (ed.) The Society of Renaissance Florence Harper, 1971 Note Students of the Institute of Continuing Education are entitled to 20% discount on books published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) which are purchased at the Press bookshop, 1 Trinity Street, Cambridge (Mon-Sat 9am 5:30pm, Sun 11am 5pm). A letter or confirming acceptance on to a current Institute course should be taken as evidence of enrolment. Information correct as of: 17 December 2014