Course Description
The development of period styles and an analysis of the role of function and tradition in European sculpture for ca. 1260-1700, with special attention to the work of Donatello, Michelangelo, and Bernini.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be expected to produce an extensive
research paper on specific works or issues related to the field
and the methodologies appropriate to the topic under
consideration in the course. This paper will be a detailed,
in-depth consideration of the student's chosen theme requiring
not only a demonstration of advanced research skills (including
the ability to read and use material presented in foreign
languages), but also an articulation of the student's ability to
understand and manipulate the critical apparatus of art history
in connection with Renaissance and Baroque Sculpture.
Athena Title
REN BAROQUE SCULPT
Prerequisite
Two ARHI 3000-level courses and permission of major
Semester Course Offered
Not offered on a regular basis.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
The subject of this course is the history of sculpture in the period between 1250 and 1700. Although numerous justifications might be proposed for such a course, mine is quite simple - sculpture was arguably the pre-eminent medium in the Renaissance and continued to be so in Rome during the Baroque. Linked both to ancient traditions and to the Christian religious object. Sculpture reveals most clearly the dual demands made on art in the Renaissance and Baroque. It reflects the collaboration between individual artists and the traditions and expectations of the patron and/or the project. Especially today, when sculpture has become the step-child of the more powerful arts of painting and architecture, it is even more important that one learns to appreciate sculpture, in all its diversity, as a medium with a glorious history. Students will be expected to learn a greater appreciation for, sensitivity to, and understanding of sculpture as a artistic option, as material, and as an expressive form. Classroom discussions, augmented by readings, will focus on the history of sculpture; students will write papers on sculptural objects that are accessible in Athens as well as on important examples of Renaissance or Baroque sculpture.
Topical Outline
I. Introduction--Looking at Sculpture II. Nicolo Pisano and Giovanni Pisano - The Pulpits at Pisa and Siena III. Arnolfo di Cambio: Sculpture and Architecture; Lorenzo Maitani at Orvieto IV. Orcagna's Tabernacle in OrSanMichele; Claus Sluter and The Well of Moses in Dijon V. Andrea Pisano and Ghiberti - The Bronze Doors for the Florentine Baptistery; Jacopo della Quercia and the Portal of S. Petronio VI. The Cantorie and Donatello's Paduan Altar; Portraits
Syllabus