V43.9005.001 Zaloga
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NEW YORK UNIVERSITY IN FLORENCE Fall 2010 V43.9005.001 Renaissance Art Instructor: Jane Zaloga ( [email protected] ) Room: British Institute Library Office Hours: Monday after class or by appointment M 9:00-10:30, AND W 9:00-10:30 OR W 10:30-12:00 Description This course will introduce you to Renaissance Art from the period ca. 1280-1700. In this period, a dynamic artistic culture emphasized intense creativity while, paradoxically, remaining deeply rooted in tradition. Guided by an evolving practice and theory, artists transformed their activity from craft into intellectual discipline. Taking advantage of your semester in Florence, we will focus primarily on Italian art and architecture and its relation to that of other European centers. We will use the city of Florence itself as our classroom as we study the development of Renaissance Art in context during this dramatic period. We will study paintings, sculpture, and architecture of this period from a variety of perspectives. We will examine aesthetic and stylistic qualities, explore issues of social, political and economic contexts, as well as investigate the function of art, a concern that was critical to artistic production of the period. As the works we will study are often still in their original physical settings, we will have a unique opportunity to experience the works as their original viewers did and as their creators intended. By looking at the works of art and architecture from such multiple vantage points, you will hopefully come to a richer understanding of the masterpieces of Renaissance Art. Methodology The course will meet twice a week. On Mondays, we will all meet from 9:00 until 10:30 at the British Institute Library for a slide lecture in the classroom. On Wednesdays, we will have a site visit, meeting directly at Florentine churches and museums, as noted on the course schedule. For these Wednesday site visits, the first section will meet from 9:00 until 10:30; the second section will meet from 10:30 until 12:00. The format of the class meetings will include lectures and discussion. Requirements Class Participation and Attendance (10%) and Grading Attendance at and participation in all class meetings and field trips are required. More than two absences will result in a lowering of your grade. Students who miss class for any reason are responsible for completing site visits on their own, and for obtaining class notes, handouts, assignments, and any information about class changes. NYU in Florence provides you with a museum card, which grants you free, unlimited admission to many of the state museums. It is required for every site visit for this class that you bring this card AND another form of photo identification. Failure to do so will require that you pay for your own admission to the museum. You will often have to use this card for your looking assignments as well. Looking Assignments (20%) Over the course of the semester, you are asked to do several outside looking assignments. These assignments are to consist of a series of notes, observations, and sketches, collected in a study journal, which will be turned in twice over the course of the semester. Papers (20%) Two 5-page papers will be assigned, each worth 10% of your grade. Hard copies of papers, printed and stapled, must be turned in at the beginning of class on the due date. NO LATE HARD COPIES WILL BE ACCEPTED. Examinations: Mid-Term (25%) and Final (25%) A mid-term and a final will be given as noted on the course schedule. Exams will consist of a combination of slide identifications, short answers, definitions, multiple choice, and/or essays. Readings : The required texts are Frederick Hartt and David G. Wilkins, History of Italian Renaissance Art , seventh ed. and Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Artists, vol. I, Penguin edition , both of which may be purchased at the PAPERBACK EXCHANGE in Via delle Oche 4/r. Additional required readings, as noted on the syllabus, are available on-line and/or on reserve in the NYU in Florence library. All readings should be completed before each class so that you may fully participate in discussions. Additional short readings may be assigned over the course of the semester. V43.9005.001 Fall 2010 Renaissance Art Course Schedule Week 1 Florentine Art at the Dawn of the Renaissance 9.6 Lecture: Introduction to Course/ “Il più bello che si pùo:” Competition and Rivalry in the Late Middle Ages 9.8 Site Visit: Piazza Signoria and Santa Croce (meet under the Loggia dei Lanzi in Piazza Signoria) 9.10 (Friday) Site Visit: Visit to Villa La Pietra collection (meet in front of door to Villa La Pietra) Looking: #1 Baptistery (4.00 euro entrance fee), San Miniato al Monte Reading: Hartt-Wilkins (HW), read Chapters 1 & 2 Vasari, read Intro. & Prefaces to Part 1, 2, and 3 Gombrich, Introduction Week 2 Painting and the Discovery of Perspective 9.13 Lecture: Giotto and the Art of the Trecento 9.15 Site Visit: Spanish Chapel and Santa Maria Novella (meet in front of church of Santa Maria Novella) Looking: #2 Uffizi (paper #1 assigned; due via email 4 Oct; hard copy 6 Oct ) Recommended, not required: Brancacci Chapel (€4.00; reservation recommended) 9.17 (Friday) Lecture: Masaccio and Quattrocento Painting (in regular classroom) Reading: HW, read Chapters 3, 4 & 5 (to p. 148); Chapters 8 & 9 Vasari, Life of Giotto and Life of Masaccio Gombrich, postscript (“Approaches to Art History”) (CP) Week 3 Quattrocento Sculpture: The Antique and the Origins of the Renaissance 9.20 Lecture: Donatello and the Rebirth of Monumental Sculpture 9.22 Site Visit: Bargello Museum (meet at Bargello, corner of Via Ghibellina and Via del Proconsolo) Looking: #3 Orsanmichele Reading: HW, read Chapter 7; Ch. 10 (pp. 249-261); Ch. 13 (pp. 327-330); Ch. 16 (p.471-473) Vasari, Life of Donatello Sat. Both sections REQUIRED 1-DAY FIELD STUDY TRIP TO SIENA 9.25 Read: HW, review Chap. 2 (pp.57-64); read Ch. 4; Ch. 7 (pp.196-201) Looking: #4 (TBA) Week 4 Quattrocento Architecture: Proportion and Measure 9.27 Lecture: Brunelleschi and Early Quattrocento Architecture 9.28, Tuesday Required Lecture :Style and Costume: Bronzino's Portraits of Women 6 PM Janet Cox-Rearick, Distinguished Professor Emerita, History of Art, The Graduate Center, CUNY, NY 9.29 Site Visit: Cupola and San Lorenzo Section 002 (9:00) meet on steps of Duomo Section 003 (10:30) meet in front of Church of San Lorenzo Looking: #4 Hospital of the Innocents Reading: HW, read Chapter 6; Chapter 10 (pp. 239-249); Chapter 12 Vasari, Life of Brunelleschi Renaissance Art Course Schedule, continued Week 5 Beyond the Alps: Flemish and Florentine Painters and Patrons 10.4 Paper #1 due Lecture: Flemish and Florentine Painters and Patrons 10.6 Paper #1 due Site Visit: Uffizi Gallery (meet at reserved entrance of the Uffizi) Looking: #5 Uffizi Gallery (paper #2 assigned; due via email 22 Nov; hard copy 24 Nov ) Reading: HW, read Chapter 11; Chapter 13 Gombrich, Chapter 12 (235-245); Chapter 14 Ruda, “Flemish Painting...” and Harbison, “Realism and Symbolism...” (JSTOR) Week 6 Art and Science 10.11 Lecture: Leonardo da Vinci: Artist and Scientist 10.13 Site Visit: Sant’Apollonia and San Marco (meet in Piazza San Marco) Looking: #6 Ognissanti OR San Salvi Reading: HW, read Chapter 16; review Chapter 9 (pp. 222-231) & Ch. 11 (pp. 262, 271-278) Vasari, Life of Leonardo Gombrich, Chapter 17 Week 7 MID-TERM EXAM WEEK 10.18 Lecture: MID-TERM EXAM - Looking Assignments due (Part I - #1-5) 10.20 Site Visit: Museo dell’Opera del Duomo (meet in front of museum, behind Duomo) Looking: NONE Reading: Review readings for mid-term exam; for site visit (MOD) - HW: read Chapter 10 (pp. 249-261); Chap. 20 (pp. 658-659) Week 8 MID-TERM BREAK - No class 10.25-10.27 Week 9 The High Renaissance: Michelangelo 11.1 National Holiday - NO CLASS 11.3 Site Visit: Accademia Gallery (meet at reserved entrance to the Accademia Gallery) Looking: NONE Recommended, not required: Casa Buonarroti Reading: HW, read Ch. 16 (pp. 469-480); Ch. 17 (pp. 503-521) Vasari, Life of Michelangelo (1 st part - through and including Sistine Chapel) Fri 11.05 W 9:00 REQUIRED 1-DAY FIELD STUDY TRIP TO ROME Sat 11.06 W 10:30 REQUIRED 1-DAY FIELD STUDY TRIP TO ROME Read: HW, Ch.14 (pp. 369-387); Ch. 17; Ch.20 (pp. 648-658; 683-691) Gombrich, Chapter 19 (to p. 397) and Chapter 21 Week 10 The High Renaissance 11.8 Lecture: Michelangelo 11.10 Site Visit: New Sacristy and Laurentian Library (meet BEHIND church of S. Lorenzo) Looking: #7 TBA Reading: HW, review previous readings on Michelangelo; read Chapter 18 (pp. 543-554) Vasari, Life of Michelangelo (2nd half); Life of Raphael Renaissance Art Course Schedule, continued Week 11 The High Renaissance in Venice 11.15 Lecture: Colorito and the Art of Venice 11.17 Site Visit: Palatine Gallery of Pitti Palace (meet near ticket window of Pitti Palace) Looking: #8 Uffizi Reading: HW, read Chapter 15; Chapter 19; Chapter 16 (pp. 480-485) Vasari, Life of Titian Week 12 The “Maniera” and Court Art 11.22 Paper #2 due Lecture: Absolute Rulers and “Mannerist” Style 11.24 Paper #2 due Site Visit: Bronzino Exhibition, Palazzo Strozzi (meet in courtyard of Palazzo Strozzi) Looking: #9 Capponi Chapel of Santa Felicità Reading: HW, read Ch. 18 (pp. 555-589); Ch. 20 (pp. 660-681) Gombrich, Chapter 18 (371-385); Vasari, Life of Andrea del Sarto - available at: (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/vasari/vasari-lives.html ) Cellini, Autobiography - available at: http://www.fullbooks.com/The-Autobiography-of-Benvenuto-Cellini8.html Week 13 The Age of the Baroque 11.29 Lecture: A New Vision: 17 th Century Changes 12.1 Site Visit: Uffizi Gallery (meet at the reserved entrance to the Uffizi Gallery) Looking: #10 Piazza Signoria Reading: HW, read Chapter 20 (pp.