90603 - Contexts and Meanings of Medieval Art (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, students will have acquired knowledge of Medieval Art from the 5th to the 15th century. Students will also improve the skills and methodologies necessary to read specific art cases at a geographic, historical and cultural level. The course will focus on the artists (architects, painters, sculptors, miniaturists, etc.) who, working in specific geographical contexts, give rise to the regional figurative traditions and their reciprocal influences.

Course contents

CONTESTS AND MEANING OF THE MEDIEVAL ART

The Exam Hystory of Art B is composed of two courses: History of the Miniature (prof. Lollini) and Contexts and Meanings of Medieval Art (prof. Massaccesi). Modern Art B is an integrated examination of 12 CFU (6 CFU+6 CFU) for which the verification and evaluation of the preparation follow the procedures laid down for an integrated examination, i.e. they must be taken in the same examination session and the students must therefore register simultaneously for both examinations.

The course intends to investigate the arts through themes able to read in a transversal and synchronic way the spatial contexts of the works of art in their context (VI-XV century). For this reason the course is divided into two parts.

The first part (I) will focus on the study of spaces and their furnishings: form and function of works of art (paintings, frescoes, illuminated books) in relation to the liturgy, architecture, accesses and pilgrimage routes.

The second part (II) will focus on the spatial and decorative restitution of some medieval Bolognese monuments: San Vittore, the cathedral of San Pietro, San Giacomo Maggiore.

Readings/Bibliography

Students who will attend classes must study:

they will have to study, in addition to the personal notes of the lessons one of the following texts: Federico Marazzi, Le città dei monaci. Storia degli spazi che avvicinano a Dio, Milan 2015; La cattedrale scolpita. Il Romanico in San Pietro a Bologna, edited by M. Medica, Bologna 2003, pp. 49-184; Arredi liturgici e architettura, edit by Carlo Quintavalle, Milan 2007; Paolo Piva, Lo spazio liturgico: architettura, arredo, iconografia, in L’arte medievale nel contesto. 300-1300. Funzioni, Iconografia, Tecniche, edited by Paolo Piava, Milano 2006, pp. 141-180; Bruno Boerner, Cattedrali gotiche e portali scolpiti. Le connessioni contestuali del culto delle reliquie, in Arte medievale. Le vie dello spazio liturgico, edited by Paolo Piva, Milan 2012, pp. 219-247; Giuseppa Zanichelli, Codici e arredo liturgico nel Medioevo, in Arredi liturgici e architettura, edited by Quintavalle, Milan 2007, pp. 86-98. Clario di Fabio, In petra e in ligno. Pluralità di competenze e osmosi di stile nei cantieri francesi del primo Duecento: il crocifisso detto Saint-Savre della cattedrale di Amiens, in Medioevo: le officine, edited by Caro Arturo Quintavalle, Milan 2010, pp. 312-328.

Imago Splendida. Capolavori di scultura lignea a Bologna da Romanico al Duecento, catalogo della mostra, a cura di M. Medica, L. Mor, Milano 2019.

Other alternative bibliographic material will be provided in class.

Students who will not attend classes:

will have to study the following text: Arredi liturgici e architettura, edited by Carlo Arturo Quintavalle, Milan 2007; and another one of the list below: Fabio Massaccesi, Il corridore della chiesa agostiniana di San Giacomo Maggiore a Bologna: prime ipotesi ricostruttive, in Zeitschritft für Kunstgeschischte, 2014, pp. 1-26; Marcello Angheben, Scultura romanica e liturgia, in Arte medievale. Le vie dello spazio liturgico, edited by Paolo Piva, Milan 2012, pp. 147-190; Jean Pierre Caillet, L’arredo dell’altare, in L’arte medievale nel contesto. 300-1300. Funzioni, Iconografia, Tecniche, edited by Paolo Piva, Milano 2006, pp. 181-203; Clario di Fabio, In petra e in ligno. Pluralità di competenze e osmosi di stile nei cantieri francesi del primo Duecento: il crocifisso detto Saint-Savre della cattedrale di Amiens, in Medioevo: le officine, edited by Caro Arturo Quintavalle, Milan 2010, pp. 312-328; Imago Splendida. Capolavori di scultura lignea a Bologna da Romanico al Duecento, catalogo della mostra, a cura di M. Medica, L. Mor, Milano 2019.

Teaching methods

LecturesWe will also try to organize outdoor visits.

Assessment methods

Oral examination, with three questions on points I and II of the program. For students who will have attended classes, questions will be based on specific topics about issues and bibliography discussed during lessons (I), and on stylistic identification, and both formal and iconographic analysis of materials studied in classes (II). For students who will have not attended classes, the exam will be based on questions connected with subjects and topics included in the above mentioned texts.

Teaching tools

Powerpoints and Omeka

Office hours

See the website of Fabio Massaccesi