Last modified: 27 Mar 2023 14:11
This course focuses on sacred and profane wall paintings in central and northern Italy, exploring their role in the making of visual cultures. It begins with materials and modes of production to enhance knowledge of theory and practice. Case-study seminars focus on themes of salvation, chivalry, politics and astrology. Students will explore the significance of works created for key sites and patrons, as well as ideas about permanence and originality during the Renaissance and in modern times.
| Study Type | Undergraduate | Level | 3 |
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| Term | First Term | Credit Points | 30 credits (15 ECTS credits) |
| Campus | Aberdeen | Sustained Study | No |
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The art of wall painting in Italian churches, palaces and streets reached new heights across the fifteenth century. From the single-point perspective of Masaccio’s Trinity (c.1425) in Florence and the astrological scheme in the Palazzo Schifanoia in Ferrara (1466-74) to the grand typological scheme of the Sistine Chapel (c.1490), the monumental proportions and architectural character of this art lent presence and authority to religious and political ideologies, both inside or on the streets. It equally gave expression to ideas of learning, culture and pleasure. To step inside their constructed and performing worlds was an embodied experience that played upon all the senses, creating connections with other objects present, such as glass, altarpieces, metalwork, furniture or tapestries.
This course focuses on sacred and profane wall paintings in central and northern Italy, exploring their role in the making of visual cultures. It begins with a seminar focusing on the materials and modes of production used by workshops to create mural paintings, utilising artistic treatises, contracts and visual sources to enhance knowledge of theory and practice. This lays the foundations for a series of case-study seminars dedicated to elucidating the meaning of specific works in historical and cultural context. Themes include salvation, chivalry, politics and astrology.
Students will explore the significance of works created for key sites and patrons in central and northern Italy, including those which were adapted after original production according to shifts in taste or regime. With an eye on displacement or destruction, the latter weeks will focus on ideas about permanence, originality and function of murals during the Renaissance but also in modern times with the museum- like environment and the real museum.
Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 40 | |
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| Assessment Weeks | 14 | Feedback Weeks | 17 | |
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| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 30 | |
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| Assessment Weeks | 7 | Feedback Weeks | 10 | |
| Feedback |
Written feedback and verbal with student if required. |
Word Count | 3000 | |
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 10 | |
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| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
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| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 20 | |
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| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
1-hour class test. Written feedback and verbal with student if required. |
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There are no assessments for this course.
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 100 | |
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| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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| Conceptual | Analyse | Build specialised vocabularies in order to gain familiarity with visual and textual primary sources related to Italian artworks of the fifteenth century. |
| Conceptual | Analyse | Develop familiarity with concepts of place, space and performance, as explored in key literature, in relation to case-study artworks. |
| Procedural | Create | Demonstrate confidence in organising and delivering written and oral academic work in a class presentation on a defined topic, and an essay. |
| Conceptual | Analyse | Show a thorough understanding of the cultural value of artistic production in the Renaissance period, then and now. |
| Conceptual | Understand | Demonstrate a broad understanding of mural paintings, their makers, manufactural processes and traditions, and functions in fifteenth-century Italy. |
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