72170 - STORIA E CRITICA DELL'ARTE BIZANTINA

Learning outcomes

At the end of this course students should be able to approach the study of Byzantine art, confront with a work of art and critically evaluate the historiographical literature.

Course contents

The course is structured in two parts, including a series of general lectures and seminar lectures. The first part will give a chronological overview of Byzantine 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 be dedicated to cult images in Byzantium, from  their formation to the crisis of iconoclasm and their new flourishing after the Triumph of Orthodoxy. The lectures will be addressed to:

• the formation of the cult images and of the cult of images in Byzantium, on the basis of Hans Belting's Likeness and Presence (Build und Kult. Eine Gesschichte des Bildes vor dem Zeitalter der Kunst, Munich, 1993). The latter will be critically observed, discussing the most recent theories on the relationship between portrait and icon, notably Katherine Marsengill's and Thomas Mathews's.
• the role of images within the performative context of veneration, according to theories on the manifestation of sacred - also considering the academic debate on Hierotopy, from its theorization by Alexei Lidov to the scientific discussion on the fenomenology of sacred, with particular reference to the role of images.  
• the so-called "iconoclasm" (8th-9th century). This will be observed through artistic evidence and texts, discussing the literature from Ernst Kitzinger's, Judith Herrin's and Anthony Bryer's works to Leslie Brubaker and John Haldon's or Katherine Marsengill's research - also considering artistic evidence defined as "iconoclastic" in the provinces or in the Byzantine territories of the Mediterranean area studied by Maria Andaloro (Asia Minor) and Marina Falla Castelfranchi (Southern Italy).
• finally, the new role of images achieved right after the Triumph of Orthodoxy will be analyzed until the end of the Macedonian Dynasty (until 1056). In particular, through the observation of monumental evidences and objects, this section will address the new role of images in Byzantium, a role that will have a fundamental impact on the shaping of cult in an Orthodox context until today.

Readings/Bibliography

Reading list - for every student:

• R. Cormack, Byzantine Art, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2000 OR 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 (it 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: Dispense 1-8).
• H. Belting, Likeness and Presence. A History of the Image Before the Era of Art, Chicago, 1994, pp. 1-281, 13-146.
• L. Brubaker, Inventing Byzantine Iconoclasm, Liverpool, Bristol classical press, 2012.

Further readings will be provided during the course.

 

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

•  B. V. Pentcheva, Icons and Power: the Mother of God in Byzantium, University Park, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006.

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 and in collaboration with collaboration with other colleagues.

Assessment methods

The final examination will verify the fulfillment of the following learning objectives:

• knowledge of the topics and of the critical methodology discussed in class or studied in the literature;
• ability to use critical tools when examining a given image;
• ability to understand one's 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 be based on the images discussed in the books provided in the reading list or in class.  Students should identify the works of art, demonstrate an understanding of their chronological, geographical and historical context, discuss their relationship with other works of art. For this reason, students are expected to bring their own books on the day of the exam.

Following the Alma Mater's guidelines, notably:

• the demonstration of an organic vision of the themes addressed in class or in books indicated in the reading list as well as of the critical use, command of oral expression and specific vocabulary, will be assessed with marks of excellence (28-30).
• mechanical and/or mnemonic knowledge of the subject, scarce ability of synthesis and analysis and/or the use of a correct but not always appropriate vocabulary will lead to discrete assessments (23-27).
• training gaps and/or inappropriate vocabulary - even in conjunction with a minimal knowledge of the subject - will lead to marks that will not exceed the minimum grade (18-22).
• training gaps, inappropriate vocabulary, lack of command of the bibliography discussed within the course will lead to negative evaluations.

Teaching tools

Exam materials and further readings can be found on AMS Campus - Materiali Didattici.

Office hours

See the website of Maria Cristina Carile