ARH f331J (77135): Art and Experience in Central Italy: Art and Pilgrimage in Medieval and Renaissance Italy: Siena, Toscana, Summer 2019

SYLLABUS Dr. Ann Johns, Distinguished Senior Lecturer, Department of Art and Art History Spring 2019 Office Hours: DFA 2.520, T /TH 2-3 and by appointment; email: [email protected]

Course Description:

Fra Angelico (?), Thebaid, tempera on panel, Uffizi, Florence

“Midway in our life's journey, I went astray from the straight road and woke to find myself alone in a dark wood” ----Dante, Inferno, Canto I 1-3 (transl. John Ciardi), c. 1310

“Give me my scallop-shell of quiet, my staff of faith to walk upon, my scrip of joy, immortal diet, my bottle of salvation, my gown of glory, hope’s true gage, and thus I’ll take my pilgrimage.” ----Sir Walter Raleigh, The Passionate Man’s Pilgrimage, c. 1603

In this course, we will explore the notion of pilgrimage in the art and architecture of central Italy, through reading, discussion, site visits, presentations, and post-field trip analyses. Why did people travel in the Middle Ages and Renaissance? How were these journeys reflected in art and architecture, whether as portable objects (small devotional altarpieces, for example), reliquaries (from the small and practical to the large and elaborate), illustrated books and manuscripts, narratives of journeys, pilgrimage churches and hospices (such as the Ospedale of Santa Maria della Scala in Siena), or large scale paintings of experienced or spiritual travel, such as Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Good and Bad Government frescoes in Siena and in Benozzo Gozzoli’s Journey of the Magi frescoes in the Medici Palace? And how different was the medieval pilgrim, collecting her religious tokens along a pilgrimage route, from today’s cultural “pilgrim”, who might collect T-shirts, post-cards, or even countries themselves? Italy has long been a destination for travelers of every ilk: foreign merchants, religious pilgrims, travelers in seek of adventure, and cultural enthusiasts. In the middle ages and Renaissance, the economies of Siena, Florence, Rome and Venice were greatly enriched by both religious pilgrims and lay travelers, resulting in the spectacular development of art and architecture that we know today. We will use the issue of travel and pilgrimage as a prism with which we can focus our explorations of Italian art, both famous and obscure.

Left to right: Caravaggio’s Madonna di Loreto, Sant’Agostino, Rome; San Biagio, Renaissance pilgrimage church, Montepulciano; Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Good Government in the Countryside, detail, fresco, Siena; the Madonna delle Grazie, reconfigured by Bernini in the Chigi chapel, Duomo, Siena.

1 Global Cultures flag: This course carries the Global Cultures flag. Global Cultures courses are designed to increase your familiarity with cultural groups outside the United States. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from assignments covering the practices, beliefs, and histories of at least one non-U.S. cultural group, past or present.

Visual and Performing Arts Credit (VAPA): This course may be used to fulfill the visual and performing arts component of the university core curriculum and addresses the following four core objectives established by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board: communication skills, critical thinking skills, teamwork, and social responsibility.

Reading: All of your readings will be available in the class packet. This packet will include materials for both the studio and the art history class, and thus it is mandatory. You will purchase this at our third meeting. You must also purchase the MANDATORY field trip course packet, containing maps, plans, and important information for our various field trips. You will also purchase this at our third meeting in the spring.

Grading: See the separate handouts for explanations of the following assignments. All handouts and assignments will also be posted on the class Canvas site.

Quiz: 10% (due date: Thursday, 6/6) FIVE Short Reading Responses: each 5%, for a total of 25% (due date: the day we discuss them them) On-site Presentation: 20% (finish by Thursday, 6/20) Participation and Attendance: 20% Group Project: 25% (due date: Friday, 7/5, but these dates are very much subject to change)

Unexcused absences or tardiness to classes or other appointments will greatly affect your grade. An unexcused absence or tardiness to a field trip will HUGELY and NEGATIVELY affect your grade.

We will use +/- system of grades. 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 If you show up, participate, work hard, and have a good attitude, you will get a good grade. In other words, it is your “A” to lose.

Classes: Our class will (most likely) meet in a classroom at the University of Siena from 9-12. However, most days, we will work onsite throughout the city of Siena. Classes meet on the days listed, below.

Office Hours: I’m around all the time. Call or text me at 339-186-1085 to set up another time and place to meet, or email me.

Please note that for class and program-related issues, I’d like to meet at a reasonable time. But if there is an emergency, please call me AT ANY TIME, including on my U.S. line (512-797-8029)!!! Or call Eli or Hannah!

Learning Differences and Disabilities: 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 or assignment, if you have the official University paperwork, and we will accommodate your special needs.

2 Copyright issues: The materials used in this class, including, but not limited to, exams, quizzes, and homework assignments are copyright protected works. Any unauthorized copying of the class materials is a violation of federal law and may result in disciplinary actions being taken against the student. The sharing of class materials without the specific, express approval of the instructor may be a violation of the University's Student Honor Code and an act of academic dishonesty, which could result in further disciplinary action. This includes, among other things, uploading class materials to websites for the purpose of sharing those materials with other current/future students.

Schedule of Classes, Readings, and Excursions (subject to all manner of changes once we get to Italy) (*=reading that can be used for a reading response)

Week of Monday, May 27 May 27 (M): Arrive Rome (Depart US Sunday, May 26) Check in at Hotel Navona; orientation; group dinner 5/28 (T)): Class: Rome: Ancient Day Visit: Pantheon, Campidoglio, Forum, Colosseum 5/29 (W): Class: Rome: Medieval Day Visit: Santa Maria in Trastevere, Santa Cecilia in Trastevere; Reading: *Birch, Debra J., “Introduction and Sources” and “The Cult of Saints and Pilgrimage to Rome.” In Pilgrimage to Rome in the Middle Ages, pp. 1-37. Woodbridge, GB: The Boydell Press, 2000. Also, please make sure that you’ve read/reviewed the following (not a reading response option): Paoletti, John, and Radke, Gary. Art in Renaissance Italy, 3rd ed. New York, 2005, 12-45. 5/30 (Th): Class: Rome: Renaissance Day Visit: the Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s 5/31 (F): Class: Rome: Baroque Day: Caravaggio and Bernini Visit: Il Gesù, San Luigi dei Francesi, S.M. del Popolo, Galleria Borghese, S.M. della Vittoria 6/1 (Sa): Rome: Free Day 6/2 (Su): Siena: by rail: Get settled, brief walking tour, welcome dinner

Week of Monday, June 3 6/3 (M): Class: introduction and review: the conditions of making art Reading: *Baxandall, Michael. Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy (Oxford University Press, 1988), 1-27. (also, make sure you’ve reviewed Paoletti and Radke) 6/4 (T): Class: Saints, cults, and politics in Siena Visit: The Palazzo Pubblico Reading: *Corrie, Rebecca W., “Images of the Virgin and Power in Late-Duecento Siena.” In Art and Politics in Late Medieval and Renaissance Siena (Timothy B. Smith and Judith B. Steinhoff, eds.), Ashgate, 2012, 83-95. 6/5 (W): Class: Saints, body parts, and pilgrimage Visit: San Domenico and Fonte Branda Reading: *Bornstein, Daniel, “The Uses of the Body: The Church and the Cult of Santa Margherita da Cortona,” Church History (v. 2, 1993), 163-177. 6/6 (Th): Class: Quiz; pre-Florence orientation 6/7 (F): Class: Florence (Firenze) by rail. Walking tour of the city. Visit: San Miniato al Monte, Via dei Bardi, Ponte Vecchio, Palazzo Vecchio, Orsanmichele, the Duomo complex (exterior) 6/8-9 (Sa, Su): free

3 Week of Monday, June 10 6/10 (M): Class: Pilgrims and votive offerings Visit: Duomo, crypt, and baptistery Reading: *Norman, Diana. "The Cathedral." In Siena and the Virgin. New Haven and London, 1999, 20-43. 6/11 (T): Class: The Culture of the Virgin Mary in Pilgrimage Visit: Duomo museum Reading: *Maniura, Robert, “Persuading the Absent Saint: Image and performance in Marian Devotion,” Critical Inquiry (v. 35, 2009), 629-654. 6/12 (W): Class: Local Saints and Pilgrimage: San Bernardino Visit: Oratorio of San Bernardino and San Francesco 6/13 (Th): Class: Reliquaries, icons, and churches Reading: *Cornelison, Sally J., “Art Imitates Architecture: The Saint Philip Reliquary in Renaissance Florence,” Art Bulletin (v. 86, 2004), 642-658. 6/14 (F): Class: Florence (Firenze) by rail. Visit: San Marco, Santissima Annunziata, the Duomo Museum, Brunelleschi’s Dome. 6/15 (Sa) to 6/16 (Su): free

Week of Monday, June 17 6/17 (M): Class: The Hospital and Pilgrimage Visit: Ospedale di Santa Maria della Scala Reading: *Nevola, F.J.D. "’Per Ornato Della Città’: Siena's Strada Romana and Fifteenth- Century Urban Renewal." The Art Bulletin (82, 2000), 26-50. 6/18 (T): Class: Pilgrimage and Ritual Visit: Pinacoteca Nazionale 6/19 (W): Class: choose projects, work on projects 6/20 (Th): Class: Florence by rail Visit: Santa Croce, Uffizi 6/21 (F) to 6/23 (Su): free (FOUR DAY WEEKEND!!!)

Week of Monday, June 24 6/24 (M): Free 6/25 (T): Return from long weekend 6/26 (W): Class: Work on Projects 6/27 (Th): Class: The Architecture of Pilgrimage Reading: *Hollis, Edward, “The Santa Casa of Loreto: The Wondrous Flitting of the Holy House”, in The Secret Lives of Buildings: From the Ruins of the Parthenon to the Vegas Strip in thirteen stories (New York, 2009), 79-101. 6/28 (F): Class: Pienza and Monte Oliveto Maggiore by bus Visit: Cappella della Madonna di Vitaleta, Pienza, San Biagio, Monte Oliveto Maggiore 6/29 (Sa) to 6/30 (Su): free

Week of Monday, July 1 7/1 (M): Class: Work on Projects 7/2 (T): Palio Day 7/3 (W): Class: Group Project Presentations; prepare for exhibition 7/4 (Th): Class: Group Project Presentations; prepare for exhibition 7/5 (F): Student Exhibition 7/6 (Sa): Check out and/or depart for U.S.

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