Art and Architecture in Italy C.1250-C.1360 (U00934)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : ACE-3-HItal1250

This course concentrates on the work of mainly Tuscan artists in Rome, Naples, Siena and Florence. It considers their achievements in creating a new expressive vocabulary in painting, sculpture and architecture. It will discuss whether this 'revival' in these arts, later identified by Lorenzo Ghiberti, in the fifteenth, and Giorgio Vasari, in the sixteenth centuries, was the result of self-conscious aspiration on the part of such sculptors as Nicola and Giovanni Pisano and Arnolfo di Cambio and such painters as Giotto, Duccio, Simone Martini and the Lorenzetti, or the result of changes in the religious, social and intellectual climate of the time. These changes include such issues as: the influence on art and architecture of the Franciscans and Dominicans; the effect on the patronage of art and architecture of political ideas which dominated the period, such as the Guelph-Ghibelline allegiance and the development of individual city-states like Siena and Florence; the interest in the science of optics, on the part of both artists and theologians, which may well have influenced new ways of visualizing and representing both the world about us and the transcendent world beyond. In both the matter of creative expression and the cultural environment within which it flourished, the traditions against which this 'revival' took place will also be considered. These include: the art and architecture of Antiquity, of Romanesque Italy, of Byzantium and of the, so-called, Gothic Northern Europe. The period brought to light works of such surpassing artistic achievement Giovanni Pisano's sculpture for the Cathedral in Siena, Giotto's Arena Chapel frescoes in Padua, Duccio's Maesta and Ambrogio Lorenzetti's "Good and Bad Government" fresco in Siena. These works, amongst others, will be the principal focus of attention within a wider discussion of the art and architecture of a period often regarded as seminal for the later full flowering of the Italian Renaissance.

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : History of Art 2, or Architectural History 2A & 2B

Subject Areas

Home subject area

History of Art, (School of Arts, Culture and Environment, Schedule A)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 3rd year

? Delivery Period : Not being delivered

? Contact Teaching Time : 3 hour(s) per week for 11 weeks

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

This course is not a survey. By focussing on specific issues, artists and works, it intends to prepare students to deal with up-to-date scholarly discussion. To this end, essays are designed to encourage students to formulate their own questions on topics and artists, so as to develop an informed and critical approach to the study of history. The tutorials are more structured, as the topics complement the lectures, but the same methods of historical enquiry are expected.
Students are directed to base their reading and research as far as possible on primary sources such as contemporary documentation and description. The early historiography of the period is approached through texts such as Ghiberti's 'Commentaries' and Vasari's 'Lives'. The use of secondary sources and recent scholarly discussion is continually referred back to this early historical material. A reading knowledge of Italian is useful, but, as much of the written material is in translation, it is not essential. Much of the primary material consists of surviving works, therefore students are encouraged to look very closely at these, to ask pertinent questions about them and to analyse them in relation to the religious, historical, scientific and artistic tenor of the time. However, they are also encouraged to formulate and describe their own response to the works which are in many cases of the highest artistic and aesthetic quality.
The intended learning outcomes of the course are, therefore: to provide a sound visual and historical knowledge of this seminal period; to encourage the use of primary historical evidence as a methodological discipline; to combine these to pose new questions about the art and architecture in the broader social context of its time in order to develop original lines of thought and research. It is hoped that these outcomes will provide a sound basis for further study, and that they might, by comparison, be a yardstick for assessing the artistic culture of today.