Last modified: 05 Aug 2020 11:20
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 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Term | Second Term | Credit Points | 30 credits (15 ECTS credits) |
| Campus | Aberdeen | Sustained Study | No |
| Co-ordinators |
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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.
3500 word book review 30%
3500 word essay 40%
48 hours takeaway visual test 20%
Class contribution 10%
There are no assessments for this course.
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Conceptual | Understand | Demonstrate a broad understanding of mural paintings, their makers, manufactural processes and traditions, and functions in fifteenth-century Italy |
| Reflection | Create | Demonstrate confidence in researching, organising and delivering written and oral academic work in a class presentation on a dfined topic, and an essay on a self-defined topic. |
| Procedural | Evaluate | Apply specialised vocabularies and critically evaluate in relation to visual and textual primary sources related to Italian artwork of the fifteenth century. |
| Procedural | Evaluate | Show a critical understanding of the cultural value of artistic production of the Renaissance period, then and now. |
| Reflection | Evaluate | To critically evaluate concepts of place, space and performance as explored in key literature in relation to case-study artworks. |
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