aCademiC Catalog 2013-2014 - Lorenzo de Medici

School of Creative Arts FLORENCE
attention will be dedicated to the relationship of the figure
to the surrounding space (figure/ground relationships), and
other projects will suggest unusual points-of-view, such as
a particularly foreshortened form, focus, and detail. The
technique of tratteggio will be emphasized for shading in order
to obtain the effect of chiaroscuro found in historical drawings.
Evaluation will focus on specific drawing techniques found in
the Renaissance with technical and stylistic considerations, and
a portfolio of anatomical drawings and portions of copies done
with tratteggio. Homework to improve manual dexterity and
exploration of technical ability is required.
Archaeology Workshop
RES 193 F; Dual listed: CLA 193 F / ANT 193 F
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 45
This course combines an introduction to archaeology with
hands-on work on 2500 year-old archaeological finds in LdM’s
Archaeology Lab. These finds have recently been unearthed
in central Italy in the archaic settlement of Accesa, under the
scientific direction of the University of Florence, and in the
Hellenistic necropolis of Bosco della Riserva, near Tuscania,
where an excavation project is being conducted by LdM
Students will learn what happens to the finds once they leave
their recovery contexts and arrive in Florence: here, under the
expert guidance of the instructors, students will be involved
in the fundamental activities of restoration, conservation,
documentation,study and storage of the finds. This course
will also give students a general survey of the evolution of
the discipline of archaeology over time and it will introduce
them to the ancient Etruscan civilization, which forms such an
important part of Italy’s culture and heritage. Students will also
have the opportunity to sign up to the summer workshop in
Tuscania which operates directly at one of the archaeological
sites.
Florence and Southern Italy Restoration
Workshop (Summer only)
RES 225 F
Cr: 6; Contact hrs: 90
The course comprises three weeks in Florence and a field week
in southern Italy. Students gain knowledge and practical skills
concerning historical painting and restoration techniques,
working with original polychrome wooden sculptures and
mural paintings. In Florence participants learn the original
fresco techniques, from the mixing of fresco mortar (intonaco)
to its application on support, and the use of pigments. Each
participant makes a sinopia (preliminary underdrawing for
fresco) and completes a small fresco on a terracotta support.
Restoration techniques are pursued, including the detachment
of the participant’s own fresco from its support, a wall painting
conservation method. Participants work with original works of
art from the 16th to 17th centuries as they learn how to use the
principal modern painting restoration techniques. The course
surveys historical oil and tempera painting techniques, aided
by museum visits, and students learn to recognize the century
in which paintings were created. During the field workshop
week students work in the main church of Rocca Imperiale near
Cosenza in Calabria, southern Italy. This town near the Taranto
Gulf, an important ancient Greek settlement and a notable
archaeological area, is also famous for its medieval fortress.
Students apply appropriate materials and conservation and
restoration techniques to authentic works of art. Following
diagnostic study of the artwork in order to understand dating
and conservation conditions, students concentrate on cleaning
and consolidating the artwork. Next students learn to use
different products for the restoration of the surface layers. As
the last step students work on the pictorial layer and may do
some painting.
Florence and Chianti Restoration Workshop
(Summer only)
RES 226 F
Cr: 6; Contact hrs: 90
In this course, held partly in Florence and partly in the Chianti,
participants gain knowledge and practical skills concerning
historical painting and restoration techniques. During the
three weeks in Florence participants learn the original fresco
techniques, from the mixing of fresco mortar (intonaco), its
application on support, to the use of pigments. Each participant
makes a sinopia (preliminary underdrawing for fresco) and
completes a small fresco on a terracotta support. Restoration
techniques are pursued, in part through the detachment of
the participant’s own fresco from its support, a wall painting
conservation method. Participants work with original works of
art from the 16th to 17th centuries as they learn how to use
the principal modern painting restoration techniques to bring
period paintings back to their original states. The course also
briefly surveys the historical techniques used for making oil
and tempera paintings, and students learn to recognize the
century in which paintings were created. Museum visits help
to explain techniques used in class. During the field workshop
week participants will work in the town of San Gusmè in the
Chianti region between Florence and Siena. Participants will
ripristinate the original polychromatic surfaces of important
16th-century altars in the principal church. They will remove
the pigments of the preceding restoration of about a century
ago, with scalpels, eliminating the chromatic distortion of this
overpainting. Participants then proceed to reconstruct the
work with colored stucco and tempera, with a final wax stratum
to render the beautiful original effect.
Theory of Conservation
RES 230 F
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 45
This course will discuss the techniques used in paintings
on panel and on canvas, fresco, and polychrome wooden
sculpture in order for the student to become acquainted with
the actual historical materials and the conservation methods
used on each of these. Practical demonstrations using real
materials (pigments, glue, resin, plaster, canvas) will also help
illustrate theoretical dimensions of this topic. Classes will also
consider the ethics and issues encountered throughout the
field of restoration and its history. These concepts will also be
discussed during museum visits in Florence and will be used
in class for discussion. Examination and discussion of a work
of art are important elements before, during, and after every
intervention. Lectures will examine various fresco techniques
found throughout art history and specific examples of fresco
restoration applied to these works. We will visit Santa Croce
and the Brancacci Chapel to illustrate the technique and the
restoration used on specific works. The restoration of paintings,
both on panel and canvas, will be discussed using visual images
and, most importantly, museum visits, for a better understanding
of techniques. For example a visit to the Bargello will highlight
the collection of polychrome wooden sculpture and the various
restoration techniques found on this medium. The course will
conclude with the students’ own opinions on restoration as a
profession and will examine the various responsibilities that
an art conservator encounters when working with art history’s
most precious documentation.
Historical Painting Lab I
RES 245 F
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 90
The history of painting techniques used throughout the ages
is an important part of the conservator’s role in recognizing
how a work of art is made and what materials were used
(fresco, tempera, oil, etc.). Students will make small panels
using various samples so that they may become more familiar
with techniques used for the paintings they restore. Cennino
Cennini’s The Craftsman’s Handbook will be used as a textbook
for these ancient procedures to be done from scratch: egg
tempera, self-made oil paints, the gesso-colletta primer for
canvas and panels, gold gilding, decorative arts, etc. Maximum
care is to be put into these partial ‘copies’ in order for them to
be part of the conservation student’s portfolio.
Science for Conservators I
RES 250 F
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 45
This course will provide conservation students with essential
up-to-date tools for a more scientific approach to restoration
practice. It will outline the basic concepts of chemistry in
order to integrate a more in-depth knowledge of the materials
and techniques used in the profession. The course covers the
general function of molecules, chemical bonding and chemical
equations, with an introduction to the materials found more
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LdM Academic Catalog 2013-2014