Early Modern Art Lm A+b 2023/2024

High Renaissance in Florence and Rome 

Course description (a.a. 2023/2024)

The course is aimed at studying the birth of the High Renaissance and its development in Florence and Rome.

1.     The first part of the course will provide a general overview of the Italian Renaissance: main schools, patronage, training of artists, literary sources. Then, it will analyze the artists who worked in Florence and Rome during the latter part of XV century (especially Leonardo, Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Cosimo Rosselli, Luca Signorelli, Perugino, Pinturicchio and Filippino Lippi). 

Textbooks:

 S.J. Campbell, Michael W. Cole, A New History of Italian Renaissance Art, London 2012, pp. 234-255, 275-283, 291-305, 313-323.

F. Hartt and D.Wilkins, History of Italian Renaissance Art, London, 1994, pp. 323-371.

J.T. Paoletti, G.M. Radke, Art in Renaissance Italy, London 1997, pp. 294-326.

Selected Bibliography:

A. Nesselrath, The painters of Lorenzo the Magnificent in the Chapel of Pope Sixtus IV in Rome, in The Fifteenth Century frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City State 2004, pp. 39-69.

G.L. Geiger, Filippino Lippi’s Carafa Chapel. Renaissance art in Rome, Kirksville 1986, pp. 10-54.

C. Frosinini, The Adoration of the Magi and the geography of Leonardo, in The restoration of Leonardo da Vinci’s Adorazione of the Magi. Rediscovering a Masterpiece, edited by M. Ciatti and C. Frosinini, Firenze 2021, pp. 23-50.

M. Hirst, Michelangelo. The achievement of the fame, New Haven and London, 2011, pp. 1- 41.

Readings:

J.T. Paoletti, G.M. Radke, Art in Renaissance Italy, London 1997, pp. 14-37. 

F. Hartt and D.Wilkins, History of Italian Renaissance Art, London, 1994, pp. 33-42.

C. Frosinini, Artist’s Workshops in Fifteenth-Century Florence, in Botticelli and Renaissance Florence. Masterworks from the Uffizi, edited by C. Frosinini, R. McGarry, Minneapolis, 2022, pp. 24-43.

2.     The second part of the course will focus on the art in Florence in the early XVI century, particularly on the work of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Fra Bartolomeo.

Textbooks:

S.J. Campbell, Michael W. Cole, A New History of Italian Renaissance Art, London 2012, pp. 326-342.

F. Hartt and D.Wilkins, History of Italian Renaissance Art, London, 1994, pp. 430-478.

T. Paoletti, G.M. Radke, Art in Renaissance Italy, London 1997, pp. 326-332.

Selected Bibliography:

G. Vasari, The Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects [1568], New York 1963, pp. 151-155.

M. Hirst, Michelangelo. The achievement of the fame, New Haven and London, 2011, pp. 42-60.

K. Oberhuber, Raphael. The paintings, Milan 1999, pp. 43-83.

F. Zöllner, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519).  The Complete Painting and Drawings, Köln 2019, pp. 147-192.

C. Fischer, Pursuit of Magnificence. The Life and Times of a Religious Artist, in Fra Bartolommeo. The Divine Renaissance, catalogue of the exhibition (Rotterdam 15.10.2016- 15.01.2017) edited by A.J. Elen and C. Fischer, Rotterdam 2016, pp. 11-19.

A.J. Elen, The Early Years of Baccio della Porta, in Fra Bartolommeo. The Divine Renaissance, catalogue of the exhibition (Rotterdam 15.10.2016- 15.01.2017) edited by A.J. Elen and C. Fischer, Rotterdam 2016, pp. 58-69, 74-89.

Readings:

A. Aceto, Raphael: A chronology, in Raphael. The drawings, catalogue of the exhibition (Oxford, 1 June – 3 September 2017), Asmolean Museum University of Oxford, 2017, pp. 13-21.

D. Ekserdjian, T. Henry, Raphael, The Universal Artist, in Raphael, catalogue of the exhibition (London, 09.04-31.07.2022), edited by D. Ekserdjian, T. Henry, London 2022, pp. 13-35.

3.     The third and final section of the course will be devoted to the activity of Michelangelo and Raphael in Rome and the early works painted by Andrea del Sarto, Rosso and Pontormo in Florence.

Textbooks:

S.J. Campbell, Michael W. Cole, A New History of Italian Renaissance Art, London 2012, pp. 346-361, 372-381, 385-402.

F. Hartt and D.Wilkins, History of Italian Renaissance Art, London, 1994, pp. 479-557.

T. Paoletti, G.M. Radke, Art in Renaissance Italy, London 1997, pp. 339-354; 332-335.

Selected Bibliography:

C. De Tolnay, Michelangelo Buonarroti. The Sistine Ceiling, Princeton, 1945, II, pp. 3-23.

M. Hirst, Observation on Drawings for the Sistine Ceiling, in The Sistine Chapel. A glorious restoration, New York 1994, pp. 8-25.

F. Mancinelli, The Problem of Michelangelo’s Assistants, in The Sistine Chapel. A glorious restoration, New York 1994, pp. 47-79.

Raphael. Painter and Architect in Rome, edited by F. Benelli, S. Ginzburg, Roma 2020, pp. 7-11, 18-69, 72-80.

Pontormo e Rosso Fiorentino. Diverging paths of Mannerism, catalogue of the exhibition (Firenze 08.03-20.07.2014) edited by C. Falciani, A. Natali, Firenze 2014, pp. 30-41, 76-81.

C. Fischer, After the Visit to Venice, in Fra Bartolommeo. The Divine Renaissance, catalogue of the exhibition (Rotterdam 15.10.2016- 15.01.2017) edited by A.J. Elen and C. Fischer, Rotterdam 2016, pp. 122-127.

C. Fischer, The Years of Glory, in Fra Bartolommeo. The Divine Renaissance, catalogue of the exhibition (Rotterdam 15.10.2016- 15.01.2017) edited by A.J. Elen and C. Fischer, Rotterdam 2016, pp. 136-155.

Readings

G. Colalucci, The Technique of the Sistine Ceiling Frescoes, in The Sistine Chapel. A glorious restoration, New York 1994, pp. 26-35.

J. Shearman, The Functions of Michelangelo’s Color, in The Sistine Chapel. A glorious restoration, New York 1994, pp. 80-89.

All the bibliography will be made available to the students in pdf format. Other didactic materials will be provided during the lessons, including ppts of the lectures.

The course will include some visits to museums and churches in Rome.

Final assessment

Examination for attending students:

The exam will be divided into two parts:

-       A short written paper on a work of art

-       A final oral exam based on the topics presented during the course.

Students who have not attended the course will take the final oral examination based on the bibliography with the addition of the following essay:

J. Shearman, A more engaged spectator, in Only connect … Art and the Spectator in the Italian Renaissance, Princeton 1992, pp. 10-56.

Non-attending students are invited to contact the lecturer by e-mail for further information.

Prerequisites

Basic knowledge of the Italian Art History of the XV-XVI centuries; basic familiarity in the description of the iconography and stylistic features of a work of art.

Learning outcomes

Understanding of the development of Renaissance art in Florence and Rome; knowledge of the main literary sources; familiarity with the most important artists of the period and the cultural environment in which they worked; ability to observe a work of art and to recognize its subject and its style; acquaintance with Roman and Florentine masterpieces of the High Renaissance; ability to write an essay including the most relevant aspects of a work of art.