Art History And Museum Studies (early Modern And Modern) 2024/2025

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University of Rome Tor Vergata

Art History and Museum Studies (Early Modern and Modern)

CFU: 6

Professor Guendalina Serafinelli

Dipartimento di Storia, Patrimonio culturale, Formazione e Società
Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata
Via Columbia 1 – 00133 ROMA

Building B, floor 4, room 18

E-mail: guendalina.serafinelli@uniroma2.it

Class Schedule: From 24 February to 28 March

Monday 15-17 P3; Thursday 15-17 P3; Friday 15-17 T18

Facebook page of the course: (subscribe in order to download the PPTs of the course) https://www.facebook.com/groups/527017729551839

 

Attending students: to be considered an attending-students, you must attend at least 9 classes out of 15.

 

Description:

At the crossing between art history and museum studies, this course is designed to give the students the basic historical-critical knowledge for the understanding and appreciation of cultural heritage from a range of outlooks. Starting from the practice of collecting and display during the Early Modern period, the course is designed as an introduction to the history of museums in Italy, their evolution and associated functions. The course also explores the relationship between museum and exhibitions, heritage attractions and tourism, the use of technology and digital media.

 

Schedule	Topics
24 Feb	Introduction to the course
27 Feb	The Studiolo
28 Feb	The Studiolo and classwork
3 March	Wunderkammer
6 March	Wunderkammer and classwork
7 March	Collecting and Display
10 March	Collecting and Display
13 March	Collecting Sculptures: The Capitoline and the Vatican Museums
14 March	The Museum’s functions
17 March	Case study: The Barberini Palace
20 March	The role of Exhibitions. Case study: Patronage and Devotion. A Focus on Six Roman Baroque Paintings
21 March	Case study: Patronage and Devotion. A Focus on Six Roman Baroque Paintings
24 March	Midterm
27 March	Midterm
28 March	Midterm

 

MIDTERM (Group work): ONLY for attending students.

Attending students: to be considered an attending-students, you must attend at least 9 classes out of 15.

 

·         Depending on the number of attending students, the class will be divided into groups of 5 students.

·         The Professor will assign each group a museum from the list below.

·         You will work with your team to deliver a (TBD)-minutes presentation in class.

·         You should visit the museum first with your group.

·         The presentation consists in organizing a guided tour of the museum in question for a specific target segment (audience: students, children, retirees, scholars, businesswomen, pilgrims, etc.).

·         The group will be presenting a PPT providing the following information:

o   Historical background of the museum in question.

o   A selection of artworks (to be described), specifically chosen for your target segment (audience).

o   Explain you marketing strategy to engage each target segment (audience) you have identified.

 

List of the Museums:

Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica di Palazzo Barberini

Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica di Palazzo Corsini

Galleria Borghese

Galleria Spada

Galleria Colonna

Galleria Doria-Pamphilj

Pinacoteca Capitolina

Pinacoteca Vaticana

Museo di Palazzo Braschi

 

FINAL EXAM: Attending students ONLY (to be taken individually: not as a group!)

Attending students: to be considered an attending-students, you must attend at least 9 classes out of 15.

 

1)      You will be delving into your Midterm project, presenting once again the following information:

o   Historical background of the museum in question.

o   A selection of artworks (to be described), specifically chosen for your target segment (audience).

o   Explain you marketing strategy to engage each target segment (audience) you have identified.

2)      Add to your presentation the following:

o   Peruse and describe the website of “your” museum.

o   Describe how “your” museum uses social media to communicate and engage with existing or potential visitors.

o   Explain how can “your” museum use social media more effectively.

 

Readings:

-          The contents of the slides are part of the program.

 

-          Findlen, Paula, “The Museum: its classical etymology and renaissance genealogy”. Journal of the History of Collections. 1 (1): 59–78, 1989, (download: https://pages.ucsd.edu/~bgoldfarb/cogn150s12/reading/FINDLEN-the-Museum.pdf).

 

-          Peruse the website: https://smarthistory.org/the-case-for-museums/

Read in particular: “A brief history of the art museum”: https://smarthistory.org/a-brief-history-of-the-art-museum/; “Art Museums and (Art) Objects”: https://smarthistory.org/art-museums-objects

 

-          The Origins of Museums. The Cabinet of Curiosities in Sixteenth-and-Seventeenth-Century, Oliver Impey and Arthur MacGregor (eds), Oxford 1985, three chapters at choice (the book can be virtually borrowed from Internet Archive - you should only sign up and click on the “borrow” button) https://archive.org/details/originsofmuseums0000unse/page/n7/mode/2up?view=theater .

 

 

 

FINAL EXAM: Non-attending students ONLY

-          No Midterm for non-attending students.

 

-          Findlen, Paula, “The Museum: its classical etymology and renaissance genealogy”. Journal of the History of Collections. 1 (1): 59–78, 1989 (download: https://pages.ucsd.edu/~bgoldfarb/cogn150s12/reading/FINDLEN-the-Museum.pdf).

 

-Peruse the website: https://smarthistory.org/the-case-for-museums/

Read in particular: “A brief history of the art museum”: https://smarthistory.org/a-brief-history-of-the-art-museum/; “Art Museums and (Art) Objects”: https://smarthistory.org/art-museums-objects/

 

-          The Origins of Museums. The Cabinet of Curiosities in Sixteenth-and-Seventeenth-Century, Oliver Impey and Arthur MacGregor (eds), Oxford 1985, three chapters at choice: (the book can be virtually borrowed from Internet Archive - you should only sign up and click on the “borrow” button) https://archive.org/details/originsofmuseums0000unse/page/n7/mode/2up?view=theater

 

-          A guide of one of the following museums at choice: Galleria Borghese, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica di Palazzo Barberini, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica di Palazzo Corsini; Galleria Doria-Pamphilj. Browse the related website.

 

-          Giovan Battista Fidanza, and Guendalina Serafinelli, Patronage and devotion: a focus on six Roman Baroque paintings, London 2022.

 

 

 

Web Sites for general familiarity with professional organizations and resources

· AAM American Association of Museums: (for general resource and ref.) http://www.aam-us.org

· ICOM International Council of Museums (for general resource and ref.) http://icom.museum/

 

Further suggested readings (not mandatory):

Maria Teresa Florio, Il Museo nella storia. Dallo studiolo alla raccolta pubblica (second edition), Milan 2018.

Maria Vittoria Marini Clarelli, Che cos’è un museo (nuova edizione), Rome 2021.

Nicolette Mandarano, Musei e Media Digitali, ed. Rome 2022.

Christopher White, Museum and Heritage Tourism. Theory, Practice and People, New York 2023.

Rhiannon Mason, Alistair Robinson, and Emma Coffield, Museum and Gallery Studies. The Basics, New York 2018.