27276 - Laboratory (1) (G.B)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the workshop students will be autonomous in creating a research path or an intellectual work using the specifically acquired tools. They will be able to work with an autonomously organized mode of operation, they will have a capacity for self-criticism and they will be able to learn from the contact with other people.

They will have achieved methodological rigour, and they will be accurate and precise.

Course contents

Methodology of iconographic sources

Iconography: an auxiliary science of History (6 cfu = crediti formative universitari)

The workshop aims to provide an auxiliary analysis of the historical phase to which the represented object belongs, through the study of miniatures, mosaics, sculptures and paintings of the Late Antique and Medieval period. Particular attention will be devoted to the data that led to that thematic, iconographic and stylistic choice, in order to accustom students to searching and studying iconographic texts and fill the gaps of written sources.

The workshop sets out a seminar approach, in order to handle autonomously the guided research on accredited databases or on databases created on purpose and made available by the person responsible for the workshop. The first nine lessons will be dedicated to the presentation of some important issues of the visual Middle Ages, analysed through power points that will be discussed and enriched by the researches carried out on the accredited databases.

The mosaic of the Otranto’s cathedral will be studied during the second part of the workshop (six lessons). It is a privileged mirror of a certain historical period – Norman Apulia, governed by William I of Sicily, called the Bad – and it is the synthesis of a cultural universe including themes and patterns coming from different cultural traditions (Christian, Jewish and Islamic). This mosaic, commissioned by the archbishop Gionata and realized by the priest Pantaleone between 1163 and 1165, is full of amazing iconographic themes, and it will be the starting point of individual and group exercises based on several iconographic themes.

Lesson 1: presentation of the main digital databases and of the accredited websites for iconographical researches (Alinari, Scala, Gallica, Metropolitan Museum, British Library, etc.); exercises.

Lesson 2: THE COMMON GOOD – analysis of the issue; exercises on databases.

Lesson 3: THE DEVIL – analysis of the issue; exercises on databases.

Lesson 4: FOOD – analysis of the issue; exercises on databases.

Lesson 5: EASTERN FALCONRY – analysis of the issue; exercises on databases.

Lesson 6: WESTERN FALCONRY – analysis of the issue; exercises on databases.

Lesson 7: LANDSCAPE – analysis of the issue; exercises on databases.

Lesson 8: FAMILY – FAMILY BONDS – analysis of the issue; exercises on databases.

Lesson 9: CITY AND TOWERS – analysis of the issue; exercises on databases.

Lesson 10-15: Otranto – analysis of the issue; exercises on databases.

Readings/Bibliography

Il bene comune: forme di governo e gerarchie sociali nel basso Medioevo, Atti del 48. Convegno storico internazionale, Todi, 9-12 ottobre 2011, Spoleto : Fondazione Centro italiano di studi sull'alto Medioevo, 2012.
Il diavolo nel Medioevo, Atti del 49. Convegno storico internazionale, Todi, 14-17 ottobre 2012, Spoleto: Fondazione Centro italiano di studi sull'Alto Medioevo, 2013.
L. Pasquini, Diavoli e inferni nel Medioevo. Origine e sviluppo delle immagini dal VI al XV secolo, Padova, Poligrafo, 2015
L'alimentazione nell'alto Medioevo: pratiche, simboli, ideologie, Spoleto, 9-14 aprile 2015, Spoleto, Fondazione Centro italiano di studi sull'alto Medioevo, 2016.
Paesaggi, comunità, villaggi medievali, Atti del Convegno internazionale di studio, Bologna, 14-16 gennaio 2010, ed. by Paola Galetti, Spoleto, Fondazione Centro italiano studi sull'alto Medioevo, 2012.
C. A.Willemsen, L'enigma di Otranto. Il mosaico pavimentale del presbitero Pantaleone nella Cattedrale, Galatina, Congedo, 1980.
M. Fasano, L. Pasquini, G. Barba, Otranto, il mosaico, il viaggio di Seth. Ricerche per il documentario di creazione Il viaggio di Seth ad Otranto, introduction by Franco Cardini, Bologna, Sattva Films, 2009.

Teaching methods

FRONTAL LECTURES

Assessment methods

Attending students will write a paper or create a power point presentation outlining a research path to the main issues analysed during lessons and in the bibliographic resources.

Attending students will write a paper or create a power point presentation based on the frontal lectures and on the texts in the bibliography.

Non-attending students will have towrite a paper or create a power point presentation about the themes treated in the program's texts.

The assessment will concentrate particularly on the skill displayed by the student in handling the sources and material in the exam bibliography and his ability to find and use information and examples to illustrate and correlate the various themes and problems addressed in the course.

The assessment will thus examine the student's:

- factual knowledge of the subject;
- ability to summarise and analyse themes and concepts;
- familiarity with the terminology associated with the subject and his ability to use it effectively.

Top marks will be awarded to a student displaying an overall understanding of the topics discussed during the lectures, combined with a critical approach to the material and a confident and effective use of the appropriate terminology.

Average marks will be awarded to a student who has memorized the main points of the material and is able to summarise them satisfactorily and provide an effective critical commentary, while failing to display a complete command of the appropriate terminology.

A student will be deemed to have failed the exam if he displays significant errors in his understanding and failure to grasp the overall outlines of the subject, together with a poor command of the appropriate terminology.

Teaching tools

Exercitations on specific tools will be provided; explanatory paths will be created, aimed to realizing power point presentations or papers (for individual or group works) on themes chosen by students.

Office hours

See the website of Francesca Roversi Monaco