72170 - STORIA E CRITICA DELL'ARTE BIZANTINA

Learning outcomes

At the end of this course students should be able to analyze a work of art from an esthetic, stylistic and iconographic point of view and to place it in the most appropriate historical and cultural context. Moreover, students should be aware of the historiographical discussion arisen from a specific work of art as well as of their own critical opinion on the subject.

Course contents

The course is structured in two parts, including a series of general lectures and seminar lectures on specific topics. The first part will give an overview of art, from its late antique antecedents - starting from the foundation of Constantinople (330) - to the conquest of the capital by the Ottoman Turks (1453). It will focus on visual arts - overcoming today-inefficient distinctions between major and minor arts, but including sculpture, painting and objects. It will be shown that Byzantine artifacts reflected the historical development of thought and taste in the Eastern Roman Empire, not only in Constantinople but also in faraway areas, where Byzantine art found extraordinary acceptance and further growth. Starting with a reflection on the value of works of art and of images in Byzantium, monuments and artifacts will be observed as sources, replete with meaning, and as cultural evidence, with its specific ways of communication and expression.
The seminar lectures will move from a reflection on Hans Belting's Likeness and Presence (Build und Kult. Eine Gesschichte des Bildes vor dem Zeitalter der Kunst, Munich, 1993) to the analysis of specific topics of interest, which were fundamental to Byzantine art and/or have arisen a vivid scholarly debate. The discussion of the scholarship will be contextualised with reference to the academic tradition that generated it. In particular, the seminar lectures will centre on the analysis of determined typologies of sacred images and cult objects, aiming at revealing the structure of thought behind those and their understanding in relation to the specific culture in which they originated.

Readings/Bibliography

"STORIA E CRITICA DELL'ARTE BIZANTINA" 12 cfu

 Reading list - for every student:
- C. Barsanti, M. della Valle, R. Flaminio, A. Guiglia, A. Iacobini, A. Paribeni, S. Pasi, S. Pedone, Introduzione all'Arte Bizantina. IV-XV secolo, Roma, CLEUP, 2012: that can be found at CopyArty (Via Angelo Mariani, 22/A) or on the web pages AMS Campus - Materiali Didattici dell'Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna.
- H. Belting, Likeness and Presence. A History of the Image Before the Era of Art, Chicago, 1994, pp. 1-281, 330-342.
Further readings will be provided during the course.

Additional readings (for students who have not attended the lectures):

 
- B. V. Pentcheva, Icone e potere: la madre di Dio a Bisanzio, Milano, Jaca Book, 2010;

- P. Florenskij, Le porte regali. Saggio sull'icona, Piccola biblioteca Adelphi 44, Milano, 1977.

 

"STORIA E CRITICA DELL'ARTE BIZANTINA I " 6 cfu

Reading list - for every student:

- C. Barsanti, M. della Valle, R. Flaminio, A. Guiglia, A. Iacobini, A. Paribeni, S. Pasi, S. Pedone, Introduzione all'Arte Bizantina. IV-XV secolo, Roma, CLEUP, 2012: that can be found at CopyArty (Via Angelo Mariani, 22/A) or on the web pages AMS Campus - Materiali Didattici dell'Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna.

Additional readings (for students who have not attended the lectures):

- Hans Belting, Il culto delle immagini. Storia dell'icona dall'età imperiale all'alto medioevo, Milano, Carocci, 2004.

Teaching methods

Generally, lectures will take place in class with the aid of visual materials. Occasionally lectures may take place in situ, with a direct discussion of certain works of art.

Assessment methods

The final examination will verify the fulfillment of the following learning objectives: - Deep knowledge of the topics discussed and of the methodological approach shown during the lectures. - Ability to use critical tools when examining a given image - Ability to understand our own critical opinion in relation to the historiographical debate. This ability is based on the assumption that our critical opinion is inevitably conditioned by our cultural views.
The exam will be exclusively in the form of an oral examination, which is evaluated in %30. It will focus on the readings, starting from the analysis of the images discussed. For this reason, students are expected to bring their books on the day of the exam.

Office hours

See the website of Maria Cristina Carile