29533 - Iconography and Iconology (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, students will develop the necessary skills to analyze and interpret artworks, sacred and profane, and to orient themselves among the main sources and literature by images from which art took inspiration for centuries. Students will also learn Aby Warburg’s approach in the study of images.

Course contents

Arte Moderna A is an integrated examination of 12 CFU, composed of two modules (6 CFU+6 CFU): Iconography and Iconology (prof. Sonia Cavicchioli) and Painting in the Early Modern Period (prof. Daniele Benati). Therefore, the assessment and evaluation for Arte Moderna A follow specific procedures, i.e. both modules must be taken in the same examination session and the students must register simultaneously for both examinations.

The course aims to introduce Iconography and Iconology and the figure of Aby Warburg (1866-1929), whose research was essential to develop a new method of interpretation of images and art works, which investigates their meaning and function, and the role they play in cultural history. At the end of the course students will be aware of the methodology, of the tools for understanding sacred and profane images, and of the importance of the text/image relationship in Western art. Dealing with the following themes, special attention will be devoted to XVth-century Bolognese Art:

• the changing meaning of images in the late ancient world;
• sacred art and its biblical and theological sources;
• reception of classical themes in Early modern and Modern European art;

• astrology, allegorical themes and related literature.

N.B.

Due to the broad and complex topics, students are required to have a basic knowledge of art history, especially from the Middle Age to the XVIIIth century.

Readings/Bibliography

For the final exam, attending and non-attending students are required to prepare all the texts here listed.

Attending students

+ Class notes

+ from A. Warburg, La rinascita del paganesimo antico: contributi alla storia della cultura, scritti raccolti da G. Bing, Firenze, Sansoni, 1966 [or later editions] or in the edition entitled La rinascita del paganesimo antico e altri scritti. 1889-1914, ed. by M. Ghelardi, Torino, Aragno, 2004, the following essays:

-- Arte del ritratto e borghesia fiorentina: Domenico Ghirlandaio in Santa Trinita (con appendice)

-- Arte fiamminga e primo Rinascimento fiorentino. Studi

-- Le ultime volontà di Francesco Sassetti

-- Arte italiana e astrologia internazionale nel Palazzo Schifanoia di Ferrara (con appendice)

-- L’ingresso dello stile ideale anticheggiante nella pittura di primo Rinascimento

+ from D. Freedberg, Il potere delle immagini (ed. or. Chicago 1989), Torino, Einaudi, 1993 (or later editions), the following chapters:

-- 1, Il potere delle immagini: reazione e repressione

-- 8, “Invisibilia per visibilia”: la meditazione e gli usi della teoria

Two books chosen among:

- M. Baxandall, Pittura e esperienze sociali nell’Italia del Quattrocento (Oxford, 1971), Torino, Einaudi, 1978

- S. Cavicchioli, Le metamorfosi di Psiche. Iconografia della favola di Apuleio, Venezia, Marsilio, 2002

- G. Didi-Huberman, L’immagine insepolta. Aby Warburg, la memoria dei fantasmi e la storia dell’arte (Paris, 2002), Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 2006

- E. Gombrich, Immagini simboliche. Studi sull’arte nel Rinascimento (London, 1972), Milano, Leonardo Arte, 2002 (o precedenti edizioni Einaudi)

- E. Gombrich, Norma e forma: studi sull'arte del Rinascimento, Torino, Einaudi, 1973

- F. Haskell, Le immagini della storia: l’arte e l’interpretazione del passato (London, 1993), Torino, Einaudi, 1997

- I. Lavin, Passato e presente nella storia dell’arte (Berkeley, 1993), Torino, Einaudi, 1994

- M.L. Mereghetti, Storie al muro. Temi e personaggi della letteratura profana nell’arte medievale, Torino, Einaudi, 2015, capitoli I-IV (pp. 1-246)

- E. Panofsky, Il significato nelle arti visive, Torino, Einaudi, 1962

- E. Panofsky, Studi di iconologia. I temi umanistici nell’arte del Rinascimento (New York, 1939), Torino, Einaudi, 2009 (or previous editions)

- R. Wittkower, Allegoria e migrazione dei simboli, (London, 1977), Torino, Einaudi, 1987

- E. Wind, Misteri pagani del Rinascimento, Milano, Adelphi, 1968 (or later editions)

Non-attending students

+ A. Warburg, La rinascita del paganesimo antico: contributi alla storia della cultura, scritti raccolti da G. Bing, Firenze, Sansoni, 1966 [or later editions] or in the edition entitled La rinascita del paganesimo antico e altri scritti. 1889-1914, ed. by M. Ghelardi, Torino, Aragno, 2004: entire book.

+ from D. Freedberg, Il potere delle immagini (ed. or. Chicago 1989), Torino, Einaudi, 1993 (or later editions), the following chapters:

-- 1, Il potere delle immagini: reazione e repressione

-- 8, “Invisibilia per visibilia”: la meditazione e gli usi della teoria

Three books chosen among those listed above.

Teaching methods

Lectures, with powerpoint presentations and multimedia instruments; if allowed, on-site inspections and guided visits. Students are encouraged to play and active role within the course, through questions, comments and observations related to the lesson topics.

Due to the restrictions imposed by the current health emergency, this teaching activity will be carried out with the Traditional method, i.e. the course will be taught in presence in the indicated classroom. Students will take turns on the basis of a calendar which will be defined at the beginning of the course (more detailed information about the calendar and the modalities to get access to the classroom lessons will be provided soon). It will always be possible to connect remotely and to follow live lessons via the online platform TEAMS.

Assessment methods

Attending students will take two partial examinations: a written part (open question test) to verify the knowledge of the topics discussed in the course (part I.a and monographic part), and an oral interview on the course texts (Part I.b). For the preparation of the written part, the powerpoints of the lectures will be available by a distribution list.

Non-attending students shall take a single oral interview on all the parts of the syllabus.

The written part and the interview are aimed to evaluate the critical and methodological capabilities matured by the students, who will be invited to discuss the images and cultural contents dealt with during the course. Students will be particularly evaluated in their capabilities to autonomously and critically deal with the course contents and the bibliography.

It will be assessed as excellent the performance of those students achieving an organic vision of the course contents, the use of a proper specific language, the critical reflection as well as the familiarity with the topics discussed.

It will be assessed as discrete the performance of those students showing mostly mechanical or mnemonic knowledge of the subject, not articulated synthesis and analysis capabilities, a correct but not always appropriate language, as well as a scholastic study of the topics of the course. It will be assessed as barely sufficient the performance of those students showing learning gaps, inappropriate language, lack of knowledge of the course texts and recommended bibliography. It will be assessed as insufficient the performance of those students showing learning gaps, inappropriate language, no orientation before the pictures and within the recommended bibliography.

Teaching tools

Power Point presentations provided by the teacher.

Office hours

See the website of Sonia Cavicchioli