aCademiC Catalog 2013-2014 - Lorenzo de Medici

exemplary. Factors including the rise of the mendicant orders,
the affirmation of the Comune or municipality, and private
wealth generated by the wool-trade and banking, directly
encouraged artistic patronage and changed the role of the
artist. While many civic and monastic commissions altered
the physical aspect of Florence in important ways, private
commissions in the form of palaces, chapels, and altarpieces
served spiritual as well as family needs. A premise of the course
is that in many cases artworks combine painting, sculpture and
even architecture, in ensembles. For this reason, many lessons
involve direct observation of works “in situ” in their unique
physical contexts.
Prerequisites: ART 180 Art History I, or equivalent
Artists in Italy Today
ART 310 F
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 45
This course examines the latest trends in the arts of
contemporary Italy through the direct experience of the work of
living artists. Has globalization abolished the barriers between
countries and continents? The so-called “globish” (globalized
artistic languages) has been replacing regional languages, on
the one hand leveling experiences, on the other allowing more
exchange and interaction between peoples of different and
distant geographical areas. How does the art world respond to
this process of globalization? How do today’s artists from Italy,
a country with such an important cultural heritage, position
themselves, maintaining their own individuality and regional
traits, while at the same time engaging with a global panorama
that tends to flatten differences? Students in this course will
analyze the work of important Italian artists today. They will
have the opportunity to become familiar with the strategies
and means they adopt: mixed media, video, digital art, as
well as the more traditional media of painting and sculpture.
Part of the course will include direct encounters with cuttingedge
contemporary artists who will personally illustrate their
tensions, aesthetics, and production. Meetings will take place
either in their studios or in class and are organized in order
to allow direct engagement with these leading figures of the
Italian and international art scene. This course is particularly
suitable for students interested in becoming artists and gallery
curators as well as those with an interest in the history of art.
Prerequisites: two Art History courses
Hidden Meanings in Renaissance Art
ART 320 F
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 45
This course introduces students to the richness and complexity
of Renaissance art, focusing mainly on iconography and
iconology. Students will learn how to understand major works
of Renaissance art (mainly paintings) within the context of
religious, classical and humanistic elements of 15th- and 16thcentury
culture. The course is based on a series of case studies
which are investigated weekly, and will include masterpieces
by Jan Van Eyck, Piero della Francesca, Sandro Botticelli,
Michelangelo and Holbein. The works chosen demonstrate how
the system of Renaissance figurative arts, full of symbols and
allegories, was meant to be understood by a learned public.
Each work will be analyzed with reference to the three levels of
meaning involved in an iconographic approach as defined by
Erwin Panofsky: primary or natural subject matter, secondary
or conventional, and intrinsic meaning or context.
Prerequisites: ART 180 Art History I, or ART 186 Art History II,
or equivalents
Renaissance Art at the Italian Courts
ART 330 F
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 45
This course explores all aspects of artistic activity at the major
Italian courts during the fifteenth century. This analysis will not
only be confined to an art historical approach, but will also
consider various aspects of court life - the chivalric tradition,
hunting, jousting, scholarship, and court festivals - which have
an influence on the visual arts. Comparisons will be made
with Northern European courts of the same period. The main
focus of attention will be Pisanello and the courts of Ferrara
and Mantua, Mantegna and the Gonzaga court in Mantua,
Francesco Cossa at the D’Este court in Ferrara, Piero della
Francesca and Laurana at the court of Federigo da Montefeltro
in Urbino, and Piero della Francesca and Alberti at the
Malatesta court in Rimini. The student will become familiar with
the special patronage conditions which dictated the nature of
Renaissance art at the princely courts of Italy. The student will
have a detailed knowledge of the work of five court artists and
a broader familiarity with three others.
High Renaissance and Mannerism
ART 340 F
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 45
This course traces the major trends of Italian art in the sixteenth
century. It is a period dominated by the achievements of
Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, and above all, Michelangelo.
These three artists are examined in great detail. This analysis
is not confined to their works of art, but also includes their
personalities and the social framework within which they
lived and worked. Great emphasis is therefore put on the dual
themes of patronage and the social position of the artist in
the period. The course also explores the complex and refined
style known as Mannerism - a style held to have emerged from
tendencies present in Michelangelo’s work. Students learn to
identify and examine in detail the works of the leading artists
of the period, and gain the ability to discuss High Renaissance
and Mannerist developments of major subjects and genres,
such as portraiture and the nude. In the host city students visit
various unique churches, galleries, residences, and squares
related to the period, and examine in person masterworks by
representative artists.
Prerequisites: ART 180 Art History I, or ART 186 Art History II,
or equivalent
Baroque Art
ART 350 F
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 45
This course covers the Baroque style in art and architecture,
with with particular emphasis on seventeenth-century Italy. This
consideration of Baroque art is not only limited to a stylistic
analysis but involves continual reference to the religious,
political, cultural and social framework of the period. The
social rise of the artist in the seventeenth century is illustrated
through the career of Bernini. Special focus is placed on major
artists including Carracci, Caravaggio, Bernini, Borromini,
Pietro da Cortona and their workshops, and on their role in the
development of a wider Italian and European artistic language.
Students will become familiar with the main characteristics
of the Baroque style and with key issues and trends and
issues, such as iconography and emblem culture, Naturalism,
Classicism, and Triumphalism.
Prerequisites: ART 180 Art History I, or ART 186 Art History II,
or equivalents
Images and Words
ART 355 F; Dual listed: CLT 355 F
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 45
In this interdisciplinary course different disciplines converge
to enhance students’ skills as readers of visual as well as
verbal texts. It aims to open up new ways of seeing and
perceiving works of art by exploring the relationship between
us (spectators and/or creators), images and words, involving
questions such as What is art? Where do we see art? How do
we look at art? What words do we use while talking about a
work of art, explaining and/or describing it? Can we “read”
images? Can we “see” stories? Students analyze a selection of
fundamental theoretical texts and produce close examinations
of visual and written works, including narrative prose and poetry.
Students have the opportunity to become active spectators
who, through activities of observing, reading, sketching and
writing, experience different modes of looking at art while
learning about art theory, art history, literature, museum culture
and sociology.
Prerequisites: Junior standing
Museum Experience
ART 360 F
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 135
The course entails individual work experience in a museum or
School of Arts & Sciences FLORENCE
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