 Art in the Age of Dante and Giotto: Late Medieval Art in Italy  ARH 363/EUS 347  Fall 2011 

Professor: Dr. Ann Johns Meeting place and time: MWF 12:00-12:50, DFA 2.204 Unique Numbers: 20415(ARH), 36298 (EUS) Contact Information: [email protected], office 471-1936 (it is easier to contact me via email) Office Hours: DFA 2.520, MWF 10:00-11:45 and by appointment Mailbox: DFA 2.526

(Drawing of Giotto’s lost Navicella, St. Peter’s)

 Course Objectives:

“In painting Cimabue thought he held the field, and now it’s Giotto they acclaim— the former only keeps a shadowed fame.” --Dante, Purgatorio, Canto XI, 97-99, c. 1308

“To move now from the ancients to new things (ad nova)...I know two new/outstanding painters (novi pictores)...Giotto, a Florentine citizen whose reputation is very great among the moderns (modernos), and Simone [Martini] of Siena. --Petrarch, Letters on Familiar Matters I- VIII , c. 1360

“[Giotto] was a man of such outstanding genius that there was nothing in the whole of creation that he could not depict with this stylus, pen, or brush. And so faithful did he remain to Nature…that whatever he depicted had the appearance, not of a reproduction, but of the thing itself.”

1

--Boccaccio, Decameron, 6th day, 5th story, c. 1350

The later Middle Ages in Italy (1200-1400) produced some of the most important monuments and works in the history of Western Art. Artists such as Giotto, Duccio, Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, and Arnolfo di Cambio were energized by new artistic influences and supported by the emerging merchant classes of Italian city-states. In fact, these artists and their patrons created works so different from the art of their immediate past that scholars have had a difficult time naming this furiously creative moment in the history of art. Is this art, contemporary with the great age of the courts in northern Europe, “Gothic” in nature? Is this “proto-Renaissance” period a precursor to the “real” Florentine Renaissance of the 15th century? We will examine these central questions at both the beginning and at the end of the semester, but between, we’ll see artists such as Duccio explore new modes and uses of narrative in art, we’ll see Giotto bring an unprecedented level of emotion, naturalism, and gravitas to his painting, and we’ll see Nicola Pisano and his son, Giovanni, merge the dominant sculptural modes of the Gothic style and Classicism into something uniquely Italian. We will focus on the key artists and artistic centers of central Italy—Florence, Siena, Rome, Assisi, and Pisa, with brief forays into both southern Italy (Capua and Naples) and northern Italy (Padua and Verona).

Nicola Pisano’s Siena pulpit, Arrival of the Magi

There is no prerequisite, but you will be able to make more sense out of the material if you’ve had some art history, architectural history, Italian history, and/or European history of the era. If you have concerns, please contact me early in the course. It is my hope that this class will be a collaborative effort. Throughout the course, I hope and expect to hear your impressions, insights, and questions about these extraordinary objects and structures. This means you should come to class having done the readings and prepared to talk!

 Required Readings:

Our required textbooks are two “classic” (i.e. older) studies of the era: Giotto: The Arena Chapel Frescoes (ed. James Stubblebine, Norton Critical Studies in Art History, 1979) and Millard Meiss’ Painting in Florence and Siena after the Black Death (Princeton, 1951). Just as a warning, the Coop usually under-orders textbooks, so make sure you get your copies soon! There will also be a copy of these books on reserve in the Fine Arts Library (FAL).

2

In addition, there will be a number of other required readings posted on Blackboard. The readings, and the discussion of the readings, are the heart of this class, and consequently, I have put less emphasis on both exams and writing. You will be responsible for all class and reading material on exams. As you will see, below, it is critical that you come to class prepared and having done the readings, so that you can participate in classroom discussions (part of your grade).

There are no good textbooks for the subject material of this class, but the first few chapters of most any book on the Italian Renaissance usually will often discuss some of the later material covered in this course. Perhaps the best is Paoletti and Radke’s Art in Renaissance Italy, but there are other good textbooks (Hartt and Wilkins, History of Italian Renaissance Art, Laurie Schneider Adams, Italian Renaissance Art, etc.). There are also less useful textbooks on medieval art that might come in handy, such as James Snyder’s Medieval Art and Marilyn Stokstad’s Medieval Art.

Here are a few (marginally) useful websites: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/iptg/hd_iptg.htm http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/ http://www.giottoagliscrovegni.it/eng/home.html http://www.ducciodibuoninsegna.org/ http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/07/11/050711fa_fact http://www.opapisa.it/ http://www.duomofirenze.it/index-eng.htm

You have almost unlimited electronic resources through our Library. A particularly useful resource is Oxford Art Online, which you need to access through UT Direct (https://login.ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.oxfordartonline.com%2f).

 Studying Strategies:

A number of study guides, plans, etc. will be available throughout the semester, and all handouts will be posted on Blackboard. All of our readings will be posted on Blackboard, and all images for which you will be responsible can be found on DASe (under JOHNS ART AGE DANTE GIOTTO I and II). I strongly suggest that you begin organizing your notes (class and reading) and begin learning the images we cover throughout the semester, and not wait until the day before each exam. There is no way that you will be able to remember all of this material unless you study the images as we learn about them. If you have questions or issues, please feel free to contact me via email or office visits.

In this class, it is very important that you do the reading, and this is reflected in you assignments. The reading is not always “thrilling”, but it’s necessary for a fuller understanding of how art and artists developed during this critical juncture in Western art. I will expect you to have digested the main points of reading for both class discussions and exams; you will be recording your summaries and insights in a reading journal (see below for details). Remember to read for the main points; don’t get bogged down by the myriad of small details that constitute a scholarly article or book. I will explain this further when we discuss the reading journal, reading responses, and other assignments.

3

All your digital image reserves will be located on DASe, UT’s digital image data base (more below). Look at these images often; experience has proven that you CANNOT absorb all of these images in one (or 2 or 3) nights. Most of us need some time to accumulate our “image banks”, so start early. Make flash cards. Look at your book. Consult your notes. Look at the images on DASe (see below). Create your own image data base on DASe (I’ll show you how in class). Form study groups. Learning to look at art and architecture is a skill, just like learning a language or mastering calculus. For some of you, this material will all come easily; for others, it will be a struggle. Start your studies early on. There is a very high correlation between following these study strategies and receiving a good grade. I will be giving you extra credit opportunities to go along with the two exams.

Please remember that there is no standard textbook for this class. You will miss important information if you skip class, which is why we have an attendance requirement.

 Image Data Base (DASe) and Blackboard:

The images for which you will be responsible can be found on UT’s DASe data base: https://dase.laits.utexas.edu/. The images are divided into 2 collections, one for each of the exams (JOHNS ART AGE DANTE GIOTTO I and II). Detailed instructions are posted on the course Blackboard site. These are the images that I will show on your exams, and many of them are also included in the reading. You can also take class notes directly onto the DASe data base. We will review the DASe site in class. If a key image is not included on the DASE data base, I will post it as a powerpoint or jpeg onto Blackboard.

I will also post lecture powerpoints on Blackboard, shortly before class; this has proven to be a useful way to take notes. I guarantee that glancing at the powerpoint is no substitute for coming to class, as I include very little written information (“metadata”) on each image, other than title, artist, and date, so do not assume that the posted powerpoint is a substitute for class. Students have found these posted powerpoints useful for reviewing the information covered in a given day’s class. Please note that if students abuse this by spending time on Facebook, etc., I will no longer allow laptops in class.

4

Pisa Duomo Complex, c. 1900

 Grading:

There will be two exams in this course (Exam I=25%, Exam II=25%). Each exam will consist of 2 parts: short answer IDs and one longer essay question. Only the images in the DASe sets will be used during the 2 exams.

The exams will not stress simple identification, and therefore you will not have to memorize vast amounts of material (although some memorization will be necessary). Instead, the exams will be an opportunity for you to synthesize the material and demonstrate your grasp of the overall concepts. You will be allowed one 3”x5” index card (both sides, and no larger than 3”x5” unless you wish to have 10 points deducted from your exam!), handwritten, that you can use on the exams. These cards will be collected with your exams. I do this to reduce exam anxiety, but I also want you to focus on the larger issues and not sweat the spelling of long Italian names. I will hand out a practice test closer to the first exam, and we will discuss both studying strategies and potential essay questions closer to each exam. THERE WILL BE NO MAKE-UP EXAMS—punto e basta (no exceptions)!

In addition, you will keep a journal in which you record notes, observations, and summaries of the readings. This journal will be worth 15% of your grade, and you may turn in handwritten (NEAT, PLEASE!) or word-processed notes. I will be collecting your journal notes 2 or 3 times over the course of the semester, so make sure you keep up.

You will write a short reading response for each of the 2 books we will read (5% each). We will discuss these assignments later in the semester. You will also have a short assignment (formal and materials analysis) due early in the semester, based on observations made on works at the Blanton museum. We will be visiting the Blanton on September 7 and 9—half the class each time.

In addition to the 2 exams and the assignments, you will each work on a small group project (3-4 people) for 10% of your grade. Each group will be responsible for leading class discussion for a given reading (see below for readings and dates) for the days labeled “DISCUSSION”. This will involve a short introductory powerpoint, explanation, and analysis of the reading, and the group will 5

also be responsible for devising a series of questions for class discussion. Each group will need to meet with me ahead of time to discuss their presentation. There will be 2 groups per discussion day, so we’ll discuss your group’s reading for half the class.

I will give you more information on each of these assignments later in the semester.

LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE MARKED DOWN **ONE** GRADE A DAY. (By one grade, I mean from an A to an A-, for example)

Please note that as of Fall Semester 2009, UT will now use the +/- system of grading, which is as follows:

A (4.00) = 94-100; A- (3.67) = 90-93; B+ (3.33) = 87-89; B (3.00) = 84-86; B- (2.67) = 80-83; C+ (2.33) = 77-79; C (2.00) = 74-76; C- (1.67) = 70-73; D+ (1.33) = 67-69; D (1.00) = 64-66; D- (0.67) = 60-63; F (0.00) = 0-59

 Attendance:

Students are allowed 3 unexcused absences (there will be sporadic attendance sheets). It is virtually impossible to get an “A” or “B” in this class unless you attend quite faithfully, as we do not use a single textbook. On the other hand, if you attend, participate, do the readings and assignments, and study for the exams, you should quite easily earn an “A” or “B”. Important religious holidays, serious illnesses, or true family crises are, of course, perfectly valid reasons for missing class.

It is particularly important that you attend the discussion classes, and I will most certainly pass around an attendance sheet those days. You will be expected to participate in class discussions and ask intelligent questions of your colleagues.

 Academic Honesty:

Any type of cheating, plagiarism, collusion (except group projects, of course), etc., is grounds for an immediate “F” in the course, and often expulsion from the University. Besides being, ultimately, harmful to the student who cheats, it is extremely unfair to fellow students, and time-consuming and disheartening for the professor. It is absurdly easy to determine whether a student has plagiarized all or some of a paper, thanks to Google. I attempt to create courses in which students neither want to nor can cheat. Specific to the course, this means you cannot “divide and conquer” in terms of your reading journal! Each person must make her or his own observations.

Please note that if I do find evidence of plagiarism, I will immediately report it to the Office of the Dean of Students. This is a very disheartening exercise for me, so do your own work.

 Learning Differences and Disabilities:

6

The University of Texas at Austin provides, upon request, appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-6259, 471-6441 TTY. Please inform me privately, well in advance of any exam, if you have the official University paperwork, and I will accommodate your special needs.

LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE MARKED DOWN **ONE** GRADE A DAY

THERE WILL BE NO MAKE-UP EXAMS

ALSO, THERE IS NO FINAL EXAM!!!!!!

 RECAP 

Exam I: 25% Exam II: 25% Blanton Formal Analysis: 5% Group discussion project: 10% Reading journal: 15% Reading based essays: 10% (5% each) Participation: 10%

 CALENDAR OF UNITS, ASSIGNMENTS, AND EXAMS  (Subject to Change)

(Reading Assignments due the day they are listed)

** = Assignment due *** = Exam scheduled

August 24 (W): Review of the Syllabus and Introduction

August 26 (F): Early Medieval Art in Italy: popes, monks, and emperors Reading: Davies, et al., Janson’s History of Art, 240-257.

August 29 (M): Romanesque Art and Architecture in Italy Reading: Snyder, Medieval Art, 313-333.

August 31 (W): Frescoes and large scale crucifixes in the Duecento

7

Reading: Hartt and Wilkins, History of Italian Renaissance Art, 41-52.

September 2 (F): Icons and altarpieces in the Duecento Reading: Corrie, “The Political Meaning of Coppo di Marcovaldo’s Madonna and Child in Siena,” 61-75.

September 5 (M): Labor Day (La festa del lavoro)

September 7 (W): Blanton Museum (half the class)

September 9 (F): Blanton Museum (half the class)

September 12 (M): Nicola Pisano, Frederick II, Southern Italy, and the Classical revival Reading: Moskowitz, Italian Gothic Sculpture, 15-31.

September 14 (W): The pulpits: Nicola and Giovanni Pisano Reading: Ames-Lewis, Tuscan Marble Carving 1250-1350, 67-81, 103-119. September 16 (F): Arnolfo di Cambio and the Classical style Reading: Moskowitz, Italian Gothic Sculpture, 48-61.

September 19 (M): Tomb sculpture in Italy Reading: Moskowitz, Italian Gothic Sculpture, 114-119, 273-285.

September 21 (W): DISCUSSION #1: Classicism and the Gothic style in Tuscan sculpture Reading: Angiola, “Nicola Pisano, Federigo Visconti, and the Classical Style in Pisa,” 1-27; Lubbock, Storytelling in Christian Art from Giotto to Donatello, 84-113.

September 23 (F): Rome in the later Middle Ages Reading: Paoletti and Radke, Art in Renaissance Italy, 56-66.

September 26 (M): Rome: Cavallini and Torriti Reading: Hetherington, “Artistic Style and Patronage in Late Medieval Rome,” 4-10.

September 28 (W): Monastic Architecture in Italy Reading: Braunfels, Monasteries of Western Europe, 125-152.

September 30 (F): Assisi: the Founding, the Lower Church, and the decoration of the Apse Reading: Stubblebine, “Cimabue's Frescoes of the Virgin at Assisi,” 330-333; Poeschke, Italian Frescoes; the Age of Giotto, 40-59. * * * * * * * * * * **Formal and Material Analysis Due in class**

October 3 (M): Assisi: the OT and NT frescoes in the upper church Reading: Poeschke, Italian Frescoes; the Age of Giotto, 60-68; White, Art and Architecture in Italy 1250-1400, 199-224.

8

October 5 (W): Assisi: the St. Francis cycle Reading: Stubblebine, Assisi and the Rise of Vernacular Art, 1-15

October 7 (F): DISCUSSION: Assisi Reading: Houston, “(A)History and Allusion: Francis Mourned by Clare in the Upper Basilica of San Francesco,” 17-31; and Neff, “Lesser Brothers: Franciscan Mission and Identity at Assisi,” 676-706.

October 10 (M): ***EXAM I***

October 12 (W): Giotto: an overview and the early works Reading: Stubblebine, Giotto: The Arena Chapel Frescoes.

October 14 (F): Giotto and the Arena Chapel Reading: Stubblebine, Giotto: The Arena Chapel Frescoes.

October 17 (M): DISCUSSION: Giotto, the Arena Chapel, and artistic reputation Reading: Maginnis, “In Search of an Artist,” 10-31; Vasari, Lives of the Artists, 57-81.

October 19 (W): Later Giotto: the Bardi and Peruzzi Chapels Reading: Cook, “Giotto and the Figure of St. Francis,” 135-156.

October 21 (F): Giotto, school of Giotto, and Workshop production Reading: White, Art and Architecture in Italy 1250-1400, 398-422.

October 24 (M): DISCUSSION: Giotto and Assisi Reading: Offner, “Giotto, Non-Giotto,” in Stubblebine, 135-155; Zanardi, “Giotto and the St. Francis Cycle at Assisi,” 32-62. * * * * * * * * * * Reading Response #1 Due

October 26 (W): Siena: Duccio Reading: Norman, “’A noble panel’: Duccio’s Maestà,” 54-80.

October 28 (F): Siena: Simone Martini Reading: Gardner, “Saint Louis of Toulouse, Robert of Anjou and Simone Martini,” 12-33.

October 31 (M): Siena: Pietro Lorenzetti Reading: Hyman, Sienese Painting, 72-93.

November 2 (W): Siena: Ambrogio Lorenzetti Reading: Hyman, Sienese Painting, 94-121.

November 4 (F): DISCUSSION: Tradition and Innovation in Sienese Painting

9

Reading: Cole, “Old in New in Trecento Painting,” 229-248; Maginnis, Painting in the Age of Giotto, 64-78.

November 7 (M): Pisa Cathedral Complex Reading: Snyder, Medieval Art, 324-327.

November 9 (W): Siena Cathedral Complex Reading: Benton, “The design of Siena and Florence Duomos,” 128-143.

November 11 (F): Florence Cathedral Complex Reading: Benton, “The design of Siena and Florence Duomos,” 128-143.

November 14 (M): Orvieto Cathedral Complex Reading: Gillerman, “The Evolution of the Design of Orvieto Cathedral, ca. 1290-1310,” 300-321.

November 16 (W): DISCUSSION: Italian Cathedrals Reading: Trachtenberg, “Gothic/Italian ‘Gothic’: Toward a Redefinition,” 22- 37; Gillerman, “Cosmopolitanism and Campanilismo: Gothic and Romanesque in the Siena Duomo Façade,” 437-455.

November 18 (F): Post Plague Art Reading: Meiss, Painting in Florence and Siena After the Black Death.

November 21 (M): Post Plague Art Reading: Meiss, Painting in Florence and Siena After the Black Death.

Nov. 23/25 (W, F): Happy Thanksgiving (Buon Giorno del Ringraziamento)!

November 28 (M): DISCUSSION: Painting and the Black Death Reading: Meiss and Judith Steinhoff, Sienese Painting After the Black Death, 9-26. * * * * * * * * * * Reading Response #2 Due

November 30 (W): Conclusions, catch-up, evaluations

December 2 (F): ***EXAM II***

10

Duccio’s Maestà (reconstruction)

11