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Siena Study Center: Art History

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Siena Study Center: Art History UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS – SIENA PROGRAM HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE SIENESE ART INSTRUCTOR: FEDERICA FISCALETTI [email protected] CELL. +39 347 37 51 800 COURSE DESCRIPTION This course will trace the development of Sienese art through visual, historical, and critical analyses. Siena has a history steeped in art, religion and politics that makes it a fascinating place to study (and in which to live). Sienese artists were pivotal in shaping medieval and Renaissance Italian painting, sculpture and architecture. From the mid-13th century until the fall of the Sienese Republic to Florence in 1555, Siena experienced its own ‘renaissance’. Particular emphasis will be given to the ‘golden age’ of the Sienese Gothic (Duccio, Simone Martini, etc.) and to the special relationship that the city held (and still holds) with the Virgin Mary and its myriad of saints and blesseds (Saint Catherine of Siena, San Bernardino, the Blessed Agostino Novello, to name but a few). The course will also explore 15th and 16th century Florentine art, focusing on some of the most important paintings and sculptures …..carried out by great Renaissance artists such as Masaccio, Botticelli, Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Lectures will be accompanied by PowerPoint presentations; on-site lectures and discussions will take place throughout the term. OVERALL GOALS OF THE COURSE Together with learning about developments in Sienese art from the 13th to 16th centuries, students will gain experience in visual analysis (style, iconography, etc.) and develop critical thinking through group discussions and presentations. GRADE BREAKDOWN 20% Attendance and Participation 25% Midterm Exam (in-class exam with slides identifications and multiple choice test) 25% Final Exam (in-class exam with slides identifications, multiple choice test, short essays) 30% Final Oral presentation (on-site presentation, each student will be asked to discuss a work of art in terms of style, iconography, historical context, comparative analysis). --------------------------------------------------------------- 100% Grade 1 REQUIRED READINGS - Course Reader - Handouts CLASS HOURS CLASS TOPICS Presentation of the program, syllabus and course reader distributed. Siena and its origins. The Etruscans, Roman Saena Julia, western and eastern Roman Empire, barbarian invasions in Italy, Lombards in Siena and the via Francigena (growth of the city). Mediums and techniques in art: architecture, sculpture, paintings. Initial considerations about ancient forms of art in Italy: Byzantine icons and the influence of byzantine style in Siena. Romanesque and Gothic style. Sienese and Florentine painters, Duccio, Cimabue, Giotto (13th – 14th c..). Sculptors in Siena, Nicola and Giovanni Pisano (13th – 14th c.) VISIT: Crypt and Cathedral Museum The Nine Rulers of Siena (1287 – 1355). 14th century Sienese painters working for the Commune: Simone Martini and Ambrogio Lorenzetti. Space, depth, landscapes. The new Gothic style in paintings, sacred and profane subjects, frescoe cycles. Memmo di Filippuccio in San Gimignano. Visit: San Gimignano Visit: Palazzo Pubblico 1348: the Black Death. Artists at work in Siena in the second half of the 14th century. Introduction to the Renaissance period: Florence and the new Humanistic culture. The early quattrocento masters, Brunelleschi, Donatello, Masaccio, perspective and observation of nature…. 15th-16th century works of art in the Cathedral of Siena: marble decorated floor, Piccolomini Altar and Library, Donatello and Michelangelo. 2 VISIT: Siena Cathedral MIDTERM FLORENCE, walking tour Sienese 15th century works of art: frescoes in the Baptistery, Pellegrinaio’s cycle of paintings, Fonte Gaia, Logge del Papa and della Mercanzia, Piccolomini Palace. Florentine High Renaissance masters: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael. Prep lesson for Florence walking tour. Visit: Baptistery and Santa Maria della Scala. Mannerism, early 16th century reaction to High Renaissance perfection. Florentine and Sienese artists: Rosso Fiorentino, Pontormo, Domenico di Pace il Beccafumi, Giovanni Antonio Bazzi il Sodoma. Fall of the Sienese Republic, Siena becomes part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany (1555). Prep lesson for Uffizi Gallery. Visit: Uffizi Gallery, Florence. Visit: Siena Painting Gallery Recap and group discussion for the final exam, FINAL WRITTEN AND ORAL EXAM RESOURCES Students are encouraged to use the local libraries. The Biblioteca Comunale degli Intronati (Via della Sapienza 3, http://www.bibliotecasiena.it/) holds many sources in English. The following volumes are in the Biblioteca Comunale. ADDITIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY 3 ** Christiansen, Keith, Laurence B. Kanter and Carl Brandon Strehlke, Painting in Renaissance Siena 1420-1500 (New York: Harry N. Abrams; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988) { SA A 0095; 7 A 01680; 7 A 02015} ** Maginnis, H. J. B., The World of the Early Sienese Painter (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State Press, 2001) { SA A 0478} ** Meiss, Millard, Painting in Florence and Siena after the Black Death (Princeton: Princeton University ress, 1951) { SA B 0879; 7 B 00217; SA A 0260} ** Norman, Diana, Siena and the Virgin: Art and Politics in a Late Medieval City State )New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999) { SA A 0455; 7 A 02839; APT 0290} ** Os, H. W. van, Sienese Altarpieces, 1215-1460: Form, Content, Function, trans. by Michael Hoyle, 2 vols (Groningen: Egbert Forsten, 1988) { 7 B 02680; SA B 0261; SA B 0262; 7 B 02681} ** Panofsky, Erwin, Studies in Iconology: Humanistic Themes in the Art of the Renaissance (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1962) {7 B 00174} 4 .
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