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E-Mail: SStone@CSUB.edu

The civilization of the Renaissance (means "rebirth") in Italy was the basis from which the modern modes of society in Europe and the Americas developed. Renaissance Italians sought to create a new society in which belief in Christianity was tempered by the revival of concepts borrowed from the pagan culture of Classical Antiquity. In art the Italian Renaissance broke away from the hieratic formalism characteristic of the Medieval styles of European art, and sought to imitate nature, spurred on by the example of Classical art. Beyond the imitation of nature Renaissance art and society generally sought balance, order and deep spirituality. These are the qualities of Renaissance art which move us today, since they are universal values.

Renaissance Italy produced some of the greatest artists in world history: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Donatello are only a few of the names that still hold magic today. This course will examine the development of Italian art and architecture from ca. 1300 to ca. 1600, discussing the work of the major artists and architects in this period, as well as art as an expression of Renaissance values.

Grading for the course will be based on a three tests (each worth 20% of the final grade), a book review (worth 10% of the final grade), a research paper (worth 20%), and classroom participation (worth 10%). The format of the examinations will be as follows: 10 slide identifications (worth 40 points), and an essay selected from two possible topics (worth 40 points). Each test will be allocated one hour.

Each student will research an important topic in Renaissance art,

Either on the career of an important artist or architect, or a thematic topic. This will result in a paper of approximately 10-12 pages in length. As part of the research, each student will write a 3-4 page book review of an important source for the research paper.

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The required text for this course is J. Paoletti and G. Radke, Art in Renaissance Italy . Students are strongly advised to purchase their own copy, since they are responsible for the content and for the illustrations in the text.

1. To learn how to analyze an artistic composition in terms of its "language" of visual symbolism, and to understand that, when this language is understood, one can interpret these symbols (or "motifs") in terms of universal human values and/or individual cultural needs. The basic analytic methods learned in this course can be applied to any work of art, because they can be used to "read" a work of art and sort its composition into meaningful categories. For example, an artist may demonstrate the hierarchy of the individuals depicted through placement of the figures and

the arrangement of poses within the overall composition of a painting. Those figures in the center of the picture, and those figures facing frontally will be seen as the most important by any onlooker. Once these artistic methods are understood, another work of art which uses similar compositional methods may easily be read in terms of its depiction of status.

2. To understand the fundamental importance of visual imagery in a largely non-literate society, and how visual imagery may serve to instruct its audience as to cultural values and norms. Throughout the period covered by Art 384, the visual arts were far more important for the instruction of cultural values than they are today. As a result of this cultural importance, its "language" was far more fixed than in our primarily aesthetic and /or metaphoric art of today. Each student must learn the differences between religious and secular imagery, and understand why the evolution of secular art indicates cultural sophistication.

3. To become familiar with different modes of art. Each student should learn the meaning and application of basic stylistic categories used in classifying art such as Realistic, Naturalistic, Expressionistic, and Conceptual, as well as how each affects the content (meaning) of works of art.

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4. To understand changes in artistic styles, both in terms of continuing human development and as expressions of the artistic requirements of diverse cultures. For example, the student should learn why the Italians of the Renaissance evolved a naturalistic style which reinterpreted the naturalism of Classical art, and why their society rejected the conceptual style of the Middle Ages which allowed a far more obvious expression of spiritual values.

5. To recognize masterpieces of art which exemplify the visual culture of the period covered by the course. This will allow the student to create a historical framework of visual monuments with which to evaluate and classify works of art of the same cultures and periods that are encountered after he or she has completed the course. In addition, the student should learn the names of major artists (i.e. Raphael), architects (i.e. Brunelleschi), rulers and patrons (i.e. Pope Julius II, Cosimo de Medici), and cultural figures (i.e. Baldassare Castiglione) whose achievements effected the directions taken by the visual arts during their period.

6. To understand the major social and historical forces which conditioned the art of each period and/or culture studied. For example, the art of the Late Renaissance was imbued with a deep pessimism. This reflects the (disastrous) interference of northern Europe in Italian politics (notably the Sack of Rome of 1527), and beginnings and success of the Reformation.

7. To understand the interrelationship of the visual arts and other areas in the humanities. This is vital to the understanding of Italian Renaissance art, which illustrates contemporary societal values.

April 3: Introduction to the course. The visual culture of the Renaissance. Materials and methods of Italian Renaissance art. Short film on Making an Altarpiece .

Reading: Paoletti and Radke pp. 13-41.

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April 5: Italy in the 1200s: a passel of city states. Painting in central Italy and Rome in the late 13^th century. The Pisani and 13^th century sculpture. Late Medieval architecture in Italy.

Reading: Paoletti and Radke pp. 42-79.

April 10: Giotto in Padua. Giotto and his followers in Florence to 1350.

Reading: Paoletti and Radke pp. 81-96.

April 12: Sienese painting in the first half of the Trecento . Art in Naples and Milan in the first half of the 14^th.

Reading: Paoletti and Radke pp. 98-121.

April 17: Art Milan, Padua and Venice to 1390. Florence and Pisa 1340-1390.

Reading: Paoletti and Radke pp. 122-155.

April 19: Milan and Naples in the early 15^th century: expansionist court art. Venice 1390-1430. Review.

Reading: Paoletti and Radke pp. 157-175.

April 24: Test One (60 minutes). Public sculpture in Florence 1400-1430.

Reading: Paoletti and Radke pp. 176-186.

April 26: Brunelleschi and architecture. Painting in Florence and Siena to 1430. Masaccio. The Siena Baptistry Font. Jacopo della Quercia. Paper Prospectus due.

Reading: Paoletti and Radke pp. 186-213.

May 1: Renaissance painting, architecture and sculpture of the mid-15th century in Florence and Rome.

Reading: Paoletti and Radke pp. 214-245.

May 3: Courtly art in mid-15^th century Italy, Venice to the end of the 15^th century.

Reading: Paoletti and Radke pp. 246-280.

May 8: Art in Urbino, Mantua, and Florence in the late Quattrocento .

Art in Rome in the late 15th.

Reading: Paoletti and Radke pp. 281-311.

1) Giotto: d'Arcais, Giotto ; Eimerl, The World of Giotto , Smart, The Dawn of Italian Painting, 1250-1400 ; White, Art and Architecture in Italy, 1250-1400 3

Ghiberti: Finn The Florence Baptistry Doors ; Krautheimer, Ghiberti.

Masaccio: Spike, Masaccio

Donatello: Bennett and Wilkins, Donatello ; Poeschke, Donatello ; Pope-Hennessy, Donatello .

Fra Angelico: Dior-Huberman, Fra Angelico ; Pope-Hennesssy, Fra Angelico .

Piero della Francesca: Bertelli, Piero della Francesca ; Cole, Piero della Francesca .

Castagno: Horster, Andrea del Castagno .

Mantegna: Lightbown, Masaccio ; Martineau, Andrea Mantegna .

Giovanni Bellini: Goffen, Giovanni Bellini ; Robertson, Giovanni Bellini ; Humphrey, The Altarpiece in Renaissance Venice .

Botticelli: Ettlinger, Botticelli ; Lightbown, Botticelli .

Leonardo: Bramley, Leonardo, the Artist and the Man ; Gould, Leonardo ; Kemp, Leonardo da Vinci .

Raphael: Ettlinger, Raphael ; Jones and Penny, Raphael ; Pope-Hennessy, Raphael ; Freedberg, Painting in Italy, 1500-1600

Michelangelo, in general: Hibbard, Michelangelo ; Murray, Michelangelo ; de Tolnay, The Art and Thought of Michelangelo ., Hartt, Michelangelo.

Michelangelo, painting: Mariani, Michelangleo the Painter .

Michelangelo, sculpture: Baldini, The Sculpture of Michelangelo ; Hartt, Michelangelo: the Complete Sculpture .

Giorgione: Pignatti, Giorgione , Anderson, Giorgione.

Titian: Cole, Titian and Venetian Painting; Hope, Titian ; Rosand, Titian: His World and Legacy ; Various, Titian: Prince of Painters ; Humphrey, The Altarpiece in Renaissance Venice ; Huse and Wolters, The Art of Renaissance Venice ; Freedberg, Painting in Italy, 1500-1600 .

2) Brunelleschi: Saalman, Filippo Brunelleschi: the Buildings .

Alberti: Kelly, Leon Battista Alberti .

Bramante: Bruschi, Bramante .

Michelangelo: Ackerman, The Architecture of Michelangelo ; Argan and Contordi, Michelangelo the Architect .

Palladio: Ackerman, Palladio ; Boucher, Andrea Palladio ; Taverner, Palladio and Palladianism .

3) Mannerism: Hauser,Mannerism ; Shearman, Mannerism ; Nigro, Pontormo ; Gould Parmigianino .

4) Catholic Church and 16th century art: Goffen, Piety and Painting in Renaissance Venice ; Freedberg, Painting in Italy, 1500-1600

5) Renaissance theories of art: Blunt, Artistic Theory in Italy, 1450-1600 ; Summers, The Judgement of Sense ; Jorzombek, On Leon Battista Alberti: his literary and Aesthetic Theories .

6) Italian Renaissance art in Renaissance society: Burke, Culture and Society in Renaissance Italy ; Cole, Italian Art, 1250-1550: The Relation of Renaissance Art to Life and Society ; Shearman, Only Connect: Art and the Spectator in the Italian Renaissance .

Write a paper of at least ten (10) typed, double-spaced pages, following extensive research in the Library, on one of the following topics. If the suggested topics are unsatisfactory, students are free to develop a topic of their own choosing, but they must discuss its feasibility with the instructor to gain his approval before undertaking the topic. Papers will be graded on content, clarity and style. Unless otherwise cleared with the instructor, papers will marked down one letter grade per day late. It is due June 7.

1) Discuss the artistic career of one of the following artists, with attention to his importance and influence on the development of Italian Renaissance style, and the ways in which his works represent Renaissance values: Giotto, Ghiberti, Masaccio, Donatello, Fra Angelico, Piero della Francesca, Castagno, Mantegna, Giovanni Bellini, Botticelli, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo (painting or sculpture, not both), Titian, Giorgione, Pontormo, Parmigianino, Corregio.

2) Discuss the career of one of the following architects, with attention to his importance and influence on the development of Renaissance style, and the ways in which his work represents Renaissance values: Brunelleschi, Alberti, Bramante, Michelangelo, Palladio.

3) Examine the Mannerist crisis of the 1520s and 1530s in painting or architecture in Florence and Rome. Attention should be paid to the origins of Mannerism, its nature and to the reasons for its emergence.

4) Discuss the changing attitudes of the Catholic Church towards Renaissance art in the 16th century. Particular attention should be paid to the differences between the High Renaissance and the Counter-Reformation.

5) Discuss the evolution of, nature of and the changes in Renaissance theories of art.

6) Discuss the role of and intent of Italian Renaissance art in Renaissance society.