87519 - Laboratory A (1) (LM) (G. A)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the workshop the student is able to organize and collect complex information in a coherent form, he can apply critical analysis methodologies on the visual arts. Can make appropriate use of the sources of information needed to deal with research in the various areas of the visual arts.

Course contents

The seminar aims to discuss some particularly significant moments of intersection between art and politics. Without any claim to completeness or exhaustiveness, its aim is to show how, starting from some specific aesthetic experiences or their critique, concepts and paradigms typical of political modernity have been developed. At the same time, it will be investigated how some "political" authors have used, criticized, crossed artistic experiences to renew their specific disciplinary languages.

The main themes of the meetings will be the following:

1. Introduction: Art, iconology and politics in the modern age
2. Iconology, art of government and reason of state.
3. Ambrogio Lorenzetti and the politics of art: the fresco of good government in Siena
4. Perspective, representation, to be represented: between Panofsky and Hobbes
5. Political iconology: the frontispieces of the Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
6. Behemoth, or multitude, people and civil war
7. Velasquez, Foucault and political art
8. Rousseau, and the political criticism of theatrical reasoning
9. David, Marat, the ancient Romans, the revolution and Marx
10. 10.Goya, the dream of reason, critique and enlightenment
11. Modernism, Modernity and criticism of modernity
12. Machinery and politics: from fascist aesthetics to the new man
13. Walter Benjamin, the work of art and violence
14. Leni Riefenstahl, National Socialism and Führerschaft
15. For the critique of the representation

Readings/Bibliography

1. Ernst H. Kantorowicz, La sovranità dell’artista, in Id., La sovranità dell’artista. Mito e immagine tra Medioevo e Rinascimento, Venezia, Marsilio, 1995, pp. 17-38. P. Schiera, Politica moderna e comunicazione: la dottrina per immagini, «Annali dell’istituto storico italo-germanico in Trento», XIX, 1993, pp. 233-242. Stuart Hall, The Work of Representation, in Stuart Hall (ed), Representation: Cultural Representations as Signifying Practices, London, Sage, 1997, pp. 13-73.
2. E. Panofsky, Iconologia e iconografia. Introduzione allo studio dell’arte nel Rinascimento, in Id., Il significato delle arti visive, Torino, Einaudi, 2010, pp. 32-57. C. Ginzburg, Rappresentazione. La parola, l’idea, la cosa, in Id., Occhiacci di legno. Nove riflessioni sulla distanza, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1998, 82-99. M. Ricciardi, Principi e ragion di Stato nella prima età moderna, in Il potere. Per la storia della filosofia politica moderna, a cura di G. Duso, Roma, Carocci, 1999, pp. 51-59.
3. P. Schiera, Il Buongoverno “melancolico” di Ambrogio Lorenzetti e la “costituzionale faziosità” della città, «Scienza & politica», 2006, pp. 93-108. Q. Skinner, Ambrogio Lorenzetti e la raffigurazione del governo virtuoso e Ambrogio Lorenzetti sul potere e sulla gloria delle repubbliche, entrambi in Q. Skinner, Virtù rinascimentali, Bologna, il Mulino, 2002, pp. 53-153. P. Boucheron, Scongiurare la paura. La forza politica delle immagini, Milano, Jaca Book, 2018.
4. E. Panofsky, La prospettiva come “forma simbolica”, in Id., La prospettiva come “forma simbolica” e altri scritti, Milano, Feltrinelli, pp. 37-117. T. Hobbes, Leviatano, Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1976, pp. 155-160; 169-180.
5. I frontespizi del Leviatano e la modernità politica [Considering: H. Bredekamp, Thomas Hobbes. Der Leviathan Das Urbild des modernen Staates und seine Gegenbilder, 1651–2001, Berlin, Akademie Verlag GmbH, 2012].
6. T. Hobbes, Behemoth, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1979, I Dialogo. G. Agamben, Stasis. La guerra civile come paradigma politico, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 2015. [Considering: H. Bredekamp, Der Behemoth. Metamorphosen des Anti-Leviathan, Berlin, Duncker und Humblot, 2016].
7. R. Brandt, Diego Velázquez: Las meninas o La familia de Felipe IV, in Id., Filosofia della pittura. Da Giorgione e Magritte, Milano, Bruno Mondadori, 2003, pp. 270-297. M. Foucault, Le parole e le cose. Un’archeologia delle scienze umane, Milano, Rizzoli, 1978, pp. 17-30.
8. J.J. Rousseau, Lettera sugli spettacoli, Palermo, Aestethica, 2013.
9. C. Ginzburg, David Marat. Arte politica religione, in Id., Paura reverenza terrore. Cinque saggi di iconografia politica, Milano, Adelphi, 2015, pp. 81-114. K. Marx, Il 18 brumaio di Luigi Bonaparte, in Id., Rivoluzione e reazione in Francia 1848-1850, Torino, Einaudi, 1976, 171-185.
10. 10.R. Brandt, Francisco Goya: Il sonno della ragione genera mostri, in R. Brandt, Filosofia della pittura. Da Giorgione e Magritte, Milano, Bruno Mondadori, 2003, pp. 349-361. M. Horkheimer – T.W. Adorno, Dialettica dell’illuminismo, Torino, Einaudi, 1976, pp. 11-51.
11. Marhall Bermann, Tutto ciò che è solido svanisce nell'aria. L'esperienza della modernità, Bologna, il Mulino, 2012, II capitolo. M. Cioli, M. Ricciardi, P. Schiera, The Individual and the New Man. An Introduction, in M. Cioli, M. Ricciardi, P. Schiera (eds), Traces of Modernism. Art and Politics from the First World War to Totalitarianism, Frankfurt am Main, Campus Verlag, 2019, pp. 7-18.
12. Monica Cioli, At the Origins of Technopolitics. The European Avant-gardes before and after the First World War, in M. Cioli, M. Ricciardi, P. Schiera (eds), Traces of Modernism. Art and Politics from the First World War to Totalitarianism, Frankfurt am Main, Campus Verlag, 2019, pp. 175-193.
13. W. Benjamin, L’opera d’arte nell’epoca della sua riproducibilità tecnica, Torino, Einaudi, 1966. W. Benjamin, Per la critica della violenza, in Id. Angelus Novus. Saggi e frammenti, Torino, Einaudi, 1976, pp. 5-28.
14. Éric Michaud, The Many Lives of the New Man, 1914–1945, in M. Cioli, M. Ricciardi, P. Schiera (eds), Traces of Modernism. Art and Politics from the First World War to Totalitarianism, Frankfurt am Main, Campus Verlag, 2019, pp. 89-105. M. Ricciardi, Tra carisma e funzione. La «Führerschaft» di Adolf Hitler, in «Ricerche di storia politica», 5, 2002, n. 3, pp. 365-375.

Teaching methods

Due to the restrictions imposed by the current health emergency, teaching will be carried out in a didactic manner:


Traditional: the teacher will always be present in the classroom designated for teaching, students will alternate in attendance according to a schedule of shifts being defined (more detailed information about the shift and how to access the lesson in attendance will be provided later). It will always be possible to connect remotely and follow live streaming of lessons in the classroom via TEAMS platform, lectures and seminar discussions.

Assessment methods

Given the seminar character of the laboratory, attendance is strongly recommended.

1) Attending students
Attending students can write a paper of at least 2500 words on a topic agreed with the teacher and based both on the references listed in the reading list and on further bibliographical references that emerged during the lessons. Students can discuss the topic of the paper with the teacher in class, during the office hours (via Teams or in presence) or via email. Alternatively they can take an oral exam after having agreed on the program with the teacher.
2) Non-attending students

Students who do not attend can agree with the teacher during the office hours (via Teams or in presence) on a path within the thematic blocks indicated in the bibliography. They can then opt for the presentation of a paper of at least 3000 words or for an oral exam.


All papers must be delivered at least one week before the institutional exam date

Office hours

See the website of Maurizio Ricciardi