Course teached as: B006313 - STORIA DELL'ARTE MEDIEVALE (MINIATURA) Second Cycle Degree in HISTORY OF ART
Teaching Language
Italian
Course Content
The course is in two modules: A) Fundamentals of History of Medieval Illumination (13 September - 22 October 2021); B) An exercise in philology: Lorenzo Monaco and the school of the Angels between late Gothic and Renaissance (25 October-3 December 2021).
Module A:O. Pächt, La miniatura medioevale, Torino, 1987 (o ristampe successive), pp. 45-95 (L’iniziale), 129-153 (L'illustrazione della Bibbia) (ed. or. in lingua tedesca O. Pächt, Buchmalerei des Mittelalters. Eine Einführung, a cura di D. Thoss e U. Jenni, München 1984).
G. Zanichelli, I soggetti dei libri liturgici miniati (VI-XIII), in L’arte medievale nel contesto (300-1300), a cura di P. Piva, A. Cadei, Milano, 2006, pp. 245-276.
J. Alexander, I miniatori medievali e il loro metodo di lavoro, Modena 2003 (ed. inglese London 1992), pp. 55-81, 111-173.
Module B:M. Levi D’Ancona, I corali dell’ospedale di Santa Maria Nuova, Firenze 2003.
Lorenzo Monaco. Dalla tradizione giottesca al Rinascimento, cat. a cura di D. Parenti, A. Tartuferi, Firenze 2006.
Learning Objectives
The course aims to provide tools and basic knowledge for the study of the history of illumination. General topics relating to the history of criticism, artistic techniques, book types and the relationship between text and image will be illustrated according to a diachronic criterion.
Prerequisites
The course is aimed at students in the first year of the Master of Science in Art History, the prerequisites are those related to access to the degree course.
Teaching Methods
Lectures according to the program that will be presented at the beginning of the course, accompanied by Power Point presentations. The active participation of students during the lessons will be appreciated. There will be exercises by students, as part of the course timetable. Students will be asked to autonomously read some texts that will be discussed during the exam.
Further information
The program could be modified according to the health emergency for Covi-19.
Office hours: every Friday from 2 pm (office or via GMeet).
Type of Assessment
Class attendance is mandatory. The final test will consist of an interview on the topics covered in class and discussion of the bibliography.
Course program
The course is in two modules: A) Fundamentals of History of Medieval Illumination (13 September - 22 October 2021); B) An exercise in philology: Lorenzo Monaco and the school of the Angels between late Gothic and Renaissance (25 October-3 December 2021). Module A) replaces the teaching of Sources for the History of Art of the degree course in Archival and Librarian Sciences. Students of this latter degree course who prefer to follow Module B and take the related exam can do so. Students of the degree course in Art History who intend to take a 6 credits exam can choose between Module A and Module B indifferently.
The course contents will be presented in lectures, accompanied by Power Point presentations. The exam program will be supplemented by readings intended to be analyzed independently by the students and which will be discussed during the final test.
Timetable of lessons: Monday, Tuesday 16-18.
Module A.
At the origins of the history of illumination in Italy: collecting illuminations between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Archival research and the edition of sources. Between historical criticism and connoisseurship: the studies of Paolo D’Ancona, Adolfo Venturi and Pietro Toesca.
Questions of method: The initial decorated between late antiquity and early medieval times in Otto Pacht's studies. The study of models for the archaeological reconstruction of the lost (Kurt Weitzmann) and for the construction of a classification system (E. B. Garrison). The illumination for the reconstruction of the regional artistic schools in the historical-artistic studies: Pietro Toesca and Roberto Longhi.
The illuminated book in the Middle Ages: materials and technique; sources and material evidence. Tools and lexicon for a correct codicological and formal description.
Places and methods of production and conservation: from monasteries to specialized shops, libraries.
Text and image relationship according to different kinds of books: the Bible from late antiquity to the Renaissance, books for the liturgy (Gospels and Lectionaries, Sacramentary and Missal, Psalter, Antiphonaries and Graduals), books for study (biblical exegesis, law), the literature.
Literature
O. Pächt, La miniatura medioevale, Torino, 1987 (o ristampe successive), pp. 45-95 (L’iniziale), 129-153 (L'illustrazione della Bibbia) (ed. or. in lingua tedesca O. Pächt, Buchmalerei des Mittelalters. Eine Einführung, a cura di D. Thoss e U. Jenni, München 1984).
G. Zanichelli, I soggetti dei libri liturgici miniati (VI-XIII), in L’arte medievale nel contesto (300-1300), a cura di P. Piva, A. Cadei, Milano, 2006, pp. 245-276.
J. Alexander, I miniatori medievali e il loro metodo di lavoro, Modena 2003 (ed. inglese London 1992), pp. 55-81, 111-173.
Module B.
An exercise in philology: Lorenzo Monaco and the “scuola degli Angeli” between late Gothic and Renaissance.
The course is dedicated to the analysis of one of the most representative liturgical series of late Gothic Florentine illumination, created for the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova by Lorenzo Monaco and his collaborators, including Bartolomeo di Fruosino. The volumes now kept at the Museo Nazionale del Bargello and the Museo di San Marco will be subject to an in-depth stylistic analysis, aimed at distinguishing the role of the main artist and his collaborators, also with the support of the information contained in the hospital documents.
Literature
M. Levi D’Ancona, I corali dell’ospedale di Santa Maria Nuova, Firenze 2003.
Lorenzo Monaco. Dalla tradizione giottesca al Rinascimento, cat. a cura di D. Parenti, A. Tartuferi, Firenze 2006.
NB: for both modules the complete bibliography will be presented at the beginning of the course.