THE ART OF THE RENAISSANCE AHST 3315

Syllabus: The Art of the Renaissance

THE ART OF THE RENAISSANCE AHST 3315 PROF. MARK ROSEN

Course Information AHST 3315 Section: 001 MW 10–11:15 am Fall 2017 Professor Contact Information Prof. Mark Rosen Phone: 972-883-2367 Email: [email protected] Office: ATC 2.702 Office hours: Monday, 12–1 pm TA: Francesca Brunetti Email: [email protected] Office: JO 5.602 Office hours: Wednesday, 1–2 pm Course Pre-requisites, Co-requisites, and/or Other Restrictions Prerequisites: The introductory Art History survey (AHST 1303 and 1304) or AP Art History in High School; AHST 2331 or ARTS 1301 are also acceptable. Course Description This course covers the development of art in Italy from the late Gothic period through the Counter Reformation, or (in other words) from Giotto to Vasari. The seminar meetings will serve as both an introduction to the major artists of the period as well as to the functions, themes, and patronage behind their most significant works. Among the artists and architects discussed will be


Giotto, Masaccio, Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, Donatello, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, and Vasari. We will also discuss the relevant ancient and medieval background that Renaissance art and architecture grew from. The course will not be just a survey of major works of art, but also of the history and culture of the major centers of Italian art (Florence, Venice, Rome, and Milan) and the reason its art and architecture took the forms it did. Student Learning Objectives/Outcomes • Students will analyze and evaluate Italian Renaissance artworks beyond considerations of style and authorship, understanding their creation in the context of the religious, political, and social concerns of the period • Students will grasp and respond to the interdisciplinary ways that historical texts, artworks, and performances can be understood, described, and evaluated. • Students will gain an understanding of historical works of art that they can carry with them beyond this class to studying or evaluating artworks from other periods and cultures. Required Textbooks and Materials Note: all three of the required textbooks have been published in multiple editions in the past. It isn’t essential that you buy the current one (especially if you can save a lot of money buying an earlier edition), but the page numbers listed in the syllabus are for the most recent edition. Frederick Hartt and David G. Wilkins, History of Italian Renaissance Art, 7th edition (NY: Prentice Hall, 2011). [NOTE: The 6th edition is also fine.] Giorgio Vasari, The Lives of the Artists, trans. Julia Conway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998). There are other acceptable editions that you can use (most notably the Penguin edition translated by George Bull). Michael Baxandall, Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy, 2d edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). You can also use the first edition. There will be other readings on our course reserve page. Readings should be done before each class meeting. Some readings will be discussed during the lecture and it is expected that students will be prepared to participate in the discussion and be familiar with the works. Papers and Assignments You will have two exams (one midterm and a cumulative final), 3 smaller quizzes, and two writing assignments: a short (3-page) reading response on Baxandall’s book (due Sept. 27) and a longer assignment of 7 pages involving visual analysis and image curation (due Nov. 13).


Assignments & Academic Calendar

Class Topic Reading

Aug. 21 Introduction

Aug. 23 Overview of Italian Politics and Culture

Hartt/Wilkins, Ch. 1 (pp. 17-38).

Aug. 28 The Piazza, the Palace, and the Cathedral

Hartt/Wilkins, Ch. 2 (pp. 41-71)

Aug. 30 Churches and Chapels Hartt/Wilkins, Chs. 3-4 (pp. 73–135) Vasari, Lives of Cimabue, Duccio, Giotto, Simone Martini

Sept. 4 No class—Labor Day

Sept. 6 Giotto and the Arena Chapel Hartt/Wilkins, Ch. 5 (pp. 137–156) Cennino Cennini, The Craftsman’s Handbook, trans. Daniel V. Thompson, Jr. (New York, 1954), 1–16, 36–39, 42–52

Sept. 11 The Baptistery Doors Competition; Alberti and Single-Point Perspective

Hartt/Wilkins, Chs. 6-7 (pp. 159-201). Vasari, Lives of Lorenzo Ghiberti, Filippo Brunelleschi, and L. B. Alberti

Sept. 13 Perspective, Masaccio’s Trinity, and Ghiberti’s Second Set of Doors

Hartt/Wilkins, Chs. 8-9 (pp. 203–261) Vasari, Lives of Paolo Uccello, Masaccio, and Fra Angelico Amy R. Bloch, “The Jacob and Esau Panel: Perspective, Vision, and Memory,” in Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise (Cambridge, 2016), 131 – 157.

Sept. 18 Quiz 1 The Florentine Duomo

Baxandall, 1–70

Sept. 20 The Orsanmichele Competition

Hartt/Wilkins, Ch. 11 (pp. 263–293) Vasari, Life of Donatello


Sept. 25 Quattrocento Palace Design Hartt/Wilkins, Ch. 12 (pp. 295–317) Baxandall, 70-153

Sept. 27 Early Renaissance Portraiture Writing assignment on Baxandall due

Hartt/Wilkins, Ch. 13 (pp. 319-357) Vasari, Lives of Castagno/Veneziano and Filippo Lippi

Oct. 2 Mantegna and Mantua

Hartt/Wilkins, Ch. 15 (pp. 389–440) Vasari, Life of Andrea Mantegna

Oct. 4 Botticelli and Mythological Subjects

Hartt/Wilkins, Ch. 14 (pp. 359–387) Vasari, Life of Botticelli Aby Warburg, “Sandro Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Spring: An Examination of Concepts of Antiquity in the Italian Early Renaissance,” in The Renewal of Pagan Antiquity, trans. David Britt (Los Angeles, 1999), 86–156.

Oct. 9 Midterm

Oct. 11 No class

Oct. 16 Leonardo da Vinci—Early Career

Vasari, Lives of Ghirlandaio, Verrocchio, and Leonardo da Vinci Excerpts from Leonardo on Painting, ed. Martin Kemp (New Haven, 1989), 13–24, 37–46, 70–84, 193–205

Oct. 18 The Last Supper and Leonardo in Milan

Mary D. Garrard, “Leonardo da Vinci: Female Portraits, Female Nature,” in The Expanding Discourse, eds. Norma Broude and Mary D. Garrard (New York, 1992), 58–85.

Oct. 23 Late Quattrocento Sculpture; Michelangelo vs. Leonardo

Hartt/Wilkins, Ch. 16 (pp. 443–485)

Oct. 25 Early Renaissance Rome Hartt/Wilkins, Ch. 17 (pp. 487–541)

Oct. 30 Quiz 2 The Sistine Chapel walls

Vasari, Life of Michelangelo (first half)

Nov. 1 The Sistine Chapel vault and The Last Judgment

Vasari, Life of Michelangelo (second half)

Nov. 6 Raphael at the Vatican Vasari, Life of Raphael


Nov. 8 What is Mannerism? Hartt/Wilkins, Ch. 18 (pp. 543–589)

Nov. 13 Titian, part 1 Long paper due

Vasari, Lives of Giorgione and Titian

Nov. 15 Quiz 3 Titian, part 2

Hartt/Wilkins, Ch. 19 (pp. 591–647)

Nov. 20-22

No class--Thanksgiving

Nov. 27 Vasari and the Maniera

Vasari, Preface to the Lives, Preface to Part Two, Preface to Part Three Hartt/Wilkins, Ch. 20 (pp. 649–691)

Nov. 29 After Michelangelo: Late-Sixteenth Century Sculpture

Benvenuto Cellini, selection from Autobiography, trans. George Bull (London, 1956), 312–367

Dec. 4 Self-Portraiture

Dec. 6 Final exam review

Date TBA

Final exam

Grading Policy Short Paper: 10% Long Paper: 25% Quizzes: 15% (5% each) Midterm Exam: 15% Final Exam: 25% Attendance and participation: 10% Course & Instructor Policies

• Office hours are meant for the benefit of you students, so use them! They can be used to discuss class materials, assignments, and questions arising from the readings, or other issues you’d like to ask about. If you can’t come to the scheduled hours, you can make an appointment with the Professor or the TA at some other time.

• We can be reached by email and will make efforts to respond in a timely manner, but we’re not on call at all hours; use email sparingly, please. Use our emails on the front of this syllabus rather than sending it through the eLearning link; eLearning can be unreliable at times.

• Please send emails to us from your UTD accounts. Even if we receive email from some other account of yours, we reply to the official university account, so check that one regularly.


• All major assignments must be completed to successfully pass the class (you can’t skip the first paper and still expect to get a B+).

• No written assignments will be accepted via email. • Late assignments will be marked down substantially. • Please turn off your phone and refrain from texting in class. It’s a drag for everyone. • Class begins at 10 am. If you must come in late, try to be as quiet as possible. • You may have no more than three unexcused absences—beyond that, you will get a zero for your

participation grade.

These descriptions and timelines are subject to change at the discretion of the Professor.

THE ART OF THE RENAISSANCE AHST 3315

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