11965 - History of Modern Art (1)

Academic Year 2019/2020

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Philosophy (cod. 9216)

    Also valid for First cycle degree programme (L) in History (cod. 0962)
    First cycle degree programme (L) in Humanities (cod. 8850)

Learning outcomes

The course proposes to form for the students an adeguate knowledge of the base of the principle facts and crucial questions of art overall Italian from the 15th century to the end of the 18th century. In particular the ability to recognize essential technical methods that would allow the student to understand the work of art from the point of view of the style and the form, the iconography, technique and to comprehend the connections to the historical, social and cultural timeframe in which they were produced. At the end of the course the student should be familiar with the characteristic themes and particularities along with the ambitions of the artists of these centuries. The student should also recognize and be able to comment on the works of the most representative artists and movements.

Course contents

This course is divided in two parts.

The general part aims to introduce the history of art, mainly Italian, from the end of the 15th century to the beginning of the 19th century. It will start dealing with the life and work of Leonardo da Vinci and will end with Antonio Canova's and Jacques-Louis David's career. It will focus on artists, movements and essential topics, and at the same time will aim to provide the students with the tools for understanding  and analysing the works of art, studying them from the point of view of their relationship to the historical and cultural context, of their style, iconography, and technique. Through the manual, attending students will complete the knowledge and skills acquired during classes.

The monographic course , Aeneid in Bologna,will deal with the reception of Virgil's poem Aeneid in XVIth-century Bologna, which is at the origin of relevant art patronage in some of the most eminent places of the city: Piazza Maggiore and the Nettuno fountain; Palazzo Poggi, nowadays headquarters of the University of Bologna; Palazzo Leoni, which hosts the IBC library “Guglielmi”. Visits to these monuments are planned.

Readings/Bibliography

 

I. Written Exam (for students taking 12 cfu and 6 cfu exam)

Attending students

Class notes and powerpoint presentations

(Attending Erasmus students are not required to take or study class notes)

Salvatore Settis e Tomaso Montanari, Arte. Una storia naturale e civile, Milano, Mondadori Education, 2019, vol. 3, Dal Quattrocento alla Controriforma (Sezioni V, VI, VII); e vol. 4, Dal Barocco all’Impressionismo (Sezioni I, II, III, IV, V).

Non-attending students

Salvatore Settis e Tomaso Montanari, Arte. Una storia naturale e civile, Milano, Mondadori Education, 2019, vol. 3, Dal Quattrocento alla Controriforma, (Sezioni V, VI, VII); e vol. 4, Dal Barocco all’Impressionismo, (Sezioni I, II, III, IV, V).

Students are required to know the pictures fo the handbook, since they will be asked to recognize and discuss them during exam.

Powerpoint presentations will be available on AMS online for attending students.

II. Oral exam (only for students taking the 12 cfu exam)

Attending students have to choose one book from the following list.

Non-attending students have to read A. Pinelli, La storia dell’arte. Istruzioni per l’uso, Editori Laterza, Bari 2009, (Premessa and Chapters 1 to 6) and two books from the following list.

All students have to study also the essays and articles composing the monographic part of the exam: their titles are listed after the "optional essays" list.

Optional essays:

Renaissance and XVIth century art

A. Pinelli, La bella maniera, Torino, Einaudi, 1993

J. Shearman, Funzione e illusione, Milano, Il Saggiatore, 1983

R. Wittkower, Principi architettonici nell'età dell'Umanesimo (1962), Torino, Einaudi, 1994

M. Tafuri, Ricerca del Rinascimento, principi, città, architetti, Torino, Einaudi, 1992

A. Pinelli, La bellezza impura: arte e politica nell'Italia del Rinascimento, Bari, Laterza, 2004

G.C. Argan, B. Contardi, Michelangelo architetto, Milano 1990

F. Zeri, Pittura e Controriforma. L'Arte senza tempo di Scipione da Gaeta, Torino, Einaudi, 1957

Nell'età del Correggio e dei Carracci, cat. della mostra, Bologna 1986 (i saggi alle pagg. XV – XXXI, 3-20, 31-44, 213- 254, 355-367 e le schede delle opere di Correggio, di Parmigianino e dei Carracci)

P. Prodi, Arte e pietà nella Chiesa tridentina, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2014

XVIIth century art

R. Longhi, Caravaggio (1951), Milano, Martello (anche nelle ristampe Martello o Editori Riuniti)

F. Bologna, L’incredulità di Caravaggio e l’esperienza delle “cose naturali”, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, (1992), 2006

A. Zuccari, Caravaggio controluce. Ideali e capolavori, Milano, Skira, 2011 (premessa dell’autore, e pp. 187-284).

Roma 1630. Il trionfo del pennello, catalogo della mostra, Milano, Electa, 1994, saggi di G. Briganti, M. Fumaroli, O. Bonfait, S. Ebert-Schifferer, O. Bonfait (pp. 23-126) e, nel catalogo, schede dei dipinti alle pp. 128-181

P.Portoghesi, Roma barocca (1966), Bari, Laterza 1978 (vol.I)

T. Montanari, La libertà di Bernini, Torino, Einaudi, 2016

E. Mâle, L'arte religiosa nel Seicento, ed. it. Milano Jaca Book, 1984

S. Cavicchioli,"L'Aquila e 'l Pardo". Rinaldo I e il mecenatismo di casa d'Este nel Seicento, Modena, Franco Cosimo Panini, 2015

S. Alpers, Arte del descrivere. Scienza e pittura nel Seicento olandese, Boringhieri, 1984: in particolare l'Introduzione e i capitoli 3, 4 e 6

S. Schama, La cultura olandese nell'epoca d'oro, Milano, Mondadori, 1988

M. Fumaroli, La scuola del silenzio, Milano, Adelphi, 1995, cap. I: “Il Parnaso romano”, pp. 13-209

XVIIIth century art:

J. Starobinski, La scoperta della libertà, Ginevra, Skira 1964

O. Rossi Pinelli, Le arti nel Settecento europeo, Torino, Einaudi, 2009

L. Barroero, Le Arti e i Lumi. Pittura e scultura da Piranesi a Canova, Torino, Einaudi, 2011

A. Ottani Cavina, I paesaggi della ragione, Torino, Einaudi, 1994

R. Rosenblum, Trasformazioni nell'arte. Iconografia e stile tra Neoclassicismo e Romanticismo, Roma, La Nuova Italia Scientifica 1984

G. Briganti, I pittori dell'immaginario (1989), Milano, Electa, 1996

Methods

F. Arcangeli, Corpo, azione, sentimento, fantasia. Lezioni 1967-1970, a cura di V. Pietrantonio, Bologna, Il mulino, 2015, vol. 1, pp. 7-41 e vol. 2, pp. 9-154

E. Castelnuovo, Il significato del ritratto pittorico nella società in Storia d'Italia, Torino, Einaudi 1973, vol. 5/2, pp. 1033-1094 e, insieme, F. Zeri, La percezione visiva dell'Italia e degli italiani, Torino, Einaudi, 1976

S. Cavicchioli, Le metamorfosi di Psiche. L'iconografia della favola di Apuleio, Venezia, Marsilio, 2002

E. Panofsky, Il significato nelle arti visive (1955), Torino, Einaudi, 1996

G.C. Sciolla, Studiare l’arte. Appunti sul metodo storico-artistico, Torino, Utet, 2010

S. Settis, Il futuro del classico, Torino, Einaudi, 2004 e, insieme, S. Settis, Continuità, distanza, conoscenza. Tre usi dell'antico, in Storia dell'arte italiana, Memoria dell'antico nell'arte italiana, tomo III, Dalla tradizione all'archeologia, Torino, Einaudi, 1986, pp. 375-486

Monographic part:

- I. Lavin, Bologna è una grande intrecciatura di eresie. Il “Nettuno” dei Giambologna al crocevia, in Il luogo e il ruolo della città di Bologna tra Europa continentale e mediterranea, a cura di G. Perini, Bologna, Nuova Alfa, 1992, pp. 7-44

- R. Tuttle, Piazza Maggiore. Studi su Bologna nel Cinquecento, Venezia, Marsilio, 2001, pp. 121-201 con le relative immagini (saggi VII, VIII, IX)

- S. Cavicchioli, L’odissea di Enea. I fregi virgiliani dei Carracci e degli allievi in palazzo Fava a Bologna, in Ritratto e biografia. Arte e cultura dal Rinascimento al Barocco, a cura di R. Guerrini, M. Sanfilippo, P. Torriti, La Spezia, Agorà Edizioni, 2004, pp. 43-73

N.B. The photocopy of this essay is available at the desk of "Supino" Library of the Department of the Arts, Santa Cristina, piazzetta Morandi 2.

All books are available in the library of th Department of Visual Arts, Santa Cristina, piazzetta Morandi 2, and in many public libraries.


(Some texts are available in photocopy at the copy shop Copysystem 2 via Fondazza 26, next to the Department of Visual Arts)
(Some texts are available in photocopy at the copy shop Copysystem 2 via Fondazza 26, next to the Department of Visual Arts)
(Some texts are available in photocopy at the copy shop Copysystem 2 via Fondazza 26, next to the Department of Visual Arts)
(Some texts are available in photocopy at the copy shop Copysystem 2 via Fondazza 26, next to the Department of Visual Arts)

Teaching methods

The course will consist of lectures (enriched by Power Point displays). On-site visits to monuments and museums, in Bologna or other towns (esp. Parma) will be held if compatibles with the course schedule. The possibility will be checked at the beginning of the classes.

Assessment methods

 

The final exam consists of a written (1) and an oral exam (2):

Students taking a 6 cfu exam are required to take only the written exam (1).

1. Written exam (for students taking 12 and 6 cfu exams)

The test is meant to check the student's knowledge of the general part: the history of art from the late 15th to the  early 19th century (main figures, movements, issues).

The written exam will involve the projection of 10 images of artworks. Each image will be screened for 5 minutes

Total time: 50 minutes

They are required to state author, title, date (at least approximate) of the art works and locations of fresco cycles and architectures, and to write a brief historical and stylistic comment.

The works are to be placed in their historical context and in the artist's own development (circumstances of commission, contents and aim of the artwork); students will then provide a competent stylistic analysis of the works.This may be a synthetic text.

All the pictures are published in the manual.

Evaluation of the written exam:

The written test will be marked as follows:

- Correct image recognition (artist, subject, date, place of storage, short critical reading of its iconographic aspects, historical context and stylistic characteristics): on a scale of 1 to 3 points;

- Incorrect identification or failure to identify the image: zero points.

The pass mark is 18/30.

The written test counts for a third of the final mark (10/30).

The written exam can be set whenever there is an oral exam session.


Students can access the oral exam only after a successful completion of the written one.

2. Oral exam  (open to students taking a 12 cfu exam, when they have passed the written test)

Discussion of a) 1 or 2 texts chosen by the student among the optional essays, and b) the bibliography relating to the monographic part,that will be soon available.

FINAL EXAM REQUIREMENTS

In the written exam and during the interview the student must show the knowledge of main topics discussed in class and in the mandatory bibliography, as well as the mastering of the methods and critical tools. The identification of the works of art and their broader context are crucial requirements for the success of the exam.

For this reason is strongly recommended a careful study of the iconographical material both of the bibliography and distributed by the instructor, which can be also downloaded from the website:  https://campus.unibo.it/

In particular:

1. It will be graded as excellent the performance of those students demonstrating to be able to thoroughly analyse the works of art and the texts, and to put them into an organic view of the topics discussed during the course. The proper use of the specific language during the examination will be also essential.

2. It will be graded as discrete the performance of those students with mostly mnemonic knowledge, no in-depth analysis capabilities and a correct, but not always appropriate, language of the recommended texts.

3. It will be graded as barely sufficient the performance of those students with approximate knowledge, superficial understanding, poor analytical capabilities and a not always appropriate language.

4. It will be graded as insufficient the performance of those students with learning gaps, inappropriate language, no orientation within the recommended bibliography.

 

 

Teaching tools

Lectures; powerpoint slides.

Office hours

See the website of Sonia Cavicchioli