OVERVIEW

The European Medieval Monumental Arts course is monographic; the specific theme to which the course is dedicated changes each year but the aim is always to critically investigate architecture, painting and sculpture in Italy, Europe and the Mediterranean between 1100 and 1400. Particular attention is given to “dynamic” artistic phenomena of interrelation between artistic techniques and different geographical areas in terms of method and merit.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The objective of the course is to tackle and analyse themes dealing with medieval architecture, figurative arts and applied arts in a European perspective with specific attention to “dynamic” artistic phenomena of interrelation between different cultural areas.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The fundamental teaching objectives of the European Medieval Monumental Arts course are:

to guide the students to correctly deal with the study and analysis of a theme, issue, personality or artistic phenomenon from the medieval period both historically and critically;

give students specific knowledge pertaining to a given theme and train them in the use of correct methodologies of approach, analysis, evaluation and historical contextualisation of medieval artistic documents;

motivate students to study these documents understood as testimonials and monuments of civilisation.

PREREQUISITES

general and specific knowledge and skills acquired in the course of Storia dell'Arte Medievale (History of Medieval Art). Please, compare in detail the Teaching Form of the subject, within the Degree Course in Conservation of Cultural Heritage.

The course is supported by a 6-hour credit seminar, held by Dr. Francesca Girelli, UNIGE doctoral student; "Features of the history of Italian sculpture between 1240 and 1340"

TEACHING METHODS

The 9 cfu course is 54 hours long and is divided into lectures and study surveys. Lectures normally make use of powerpoint presentations.

The 6 cfu course is 36 hours long and is divided into lectures and study surveys. Although the themes are the same, the bibliographical material is reduced.

Images used will be made available to students in pdf format. These can be acquired by taking a usb drive with substantial memory to teaching staff during office hours.

At the end of the course, in the first few weeks of January 2018, a study trip will be organised, the programme of which is being drafted.

Specialised experts will make presentations on recent discoveries and critical updates in relation to the following themes:

Giotto and Rome/Rome and Giotto

News on Giotto in Padua

Duccio and Giotto in Santa Maria Novella

“Rebuilding Stefano”: news from Camposanto in Pisa

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Programme for students taking the course for 9 cfu

Problems of history and artistic geography: sculptures and sculptors between Italy and Europe 1220/1340

1. Introduction to the course: methods, problems, reference texts
2. Geography of art, "centers" and "peripheries"
3. The boundaries in the history of European art between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries
4. The representation of the human figure in sculpture from Chartres to Naumburg (1220/1250)
5. The origins of the sculptural portrait: Italy, approximately 1275/1340
6. The "path" of Guido da Como
7. The "path" of Nicola Pisano and its outcomes
8. The myth and the reality of the "artistic journey" between the two and the early fourteenth century: Pietro di Oderisio, Giovanni Pisano, Paganello branch
9. Marco Romano as a paradigm
The theme referred to in point 6 will be dealt with by Dr. Aurora Corio, UNIGE PhD student, assistant professor of the Course
The course is flanked by a 6-hour credit seminar, held by Dr. Francesca Girelli, a UNIGE PhD student: "Features of the history of Italian sculpture between 1240 and 1340"

Programme for students taking the course for 6 cfu

Problems of history and artistic geography: sculptures and sculptors between Italy and Europe 1220/1340

1. Introduction to the course: methods, problems, reference texts
2. Geography of art, "centers" and "peripheries"
3. The boundaries in the history of European art between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries
4. The representation of the human figure in sculpture from Chartres to Naumburg (1220/1250)
5. The origins of the sculptural portrait: Italy, approximately 1275/1340
6. The "path" of Guido da Como
7. The "path" of Nicola Pisano and its outcomes

The theme referred to in point 6 will be dealt with by Dr. Aurora Corio, UNIGE PhD student, assistant professor of the Course
The course is flanked by a 6-hour credit seminar, held by Dr. Francesca Girelli, a UNIGE PhD student: "Features of the history of Italian sculpture between 1240 and 1340"

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography for the 9 credits Course

E. Castelnuovo, C. Ginzburg, Centro e periferia, in Storia dell’arte italiana, I. Materiali e problemi, I. Questioni e metodi, a cura di G. Previtali, Torino, 1979, pp. 285-352.

B. Toscano, Geografia artistica (voce), in Dizionario della pittura e dei pittori, II, D-J, a cura di E. Castelnuovo, B. Toscano, Torino 1990, pp. 532-540.

E. Castelnuovo, La frontiera nella storia dell’arte, in La frontiera da Stato a nazione. Il caso Piemonte, a cura di C. Ossola, C. Raffestin, M. Ricciardi, Roma: Bulzoni, pp. 234-261, ried. in E. Castelnuovo, La cattedrale tascabile. Scritti di storia dell’arte, Livorno 2000, pp. 15-34 (on line)

J. Dubois, J-M. Guillouêt, Benoît Van den Bossche, Le ’déplacement’ comme problème: les transferts artistiques à l’époque gothique, in Les transferts artistiques dans l’Europe gothique: repenser la circulation des artistes, des oeuvres, des thèmes et des savoir-faire (XIIe - XVIe siècle), a cura di J. Dubois, J-M. Guillouêt, Benoît Van den Bossche, A. Ersek, Paris, 2014, pp. 9-34 (sarà fornito il pdf)

W. Sauerländer, Gothic Sculpture in France 1140-1270, London 1972, introduzione pp. 45-58.

C. D Fabio, I musici di Reims e il corpo come spettacolo: geni mutanti nello "stile monumentale" circa il 1235, in «Convivium», IV, 2, 2017, pp. 72-95 (sarà fornito il pdf).

J. Wirth, La datation de la sculpture médiévale, Genève 2004, pp. 146-220

C. Di Fabio, Dal ‘corpo’ alla ‘propria figura’. Verso il ritratto, fra Due e Trecento: linee di ricerca, in corso di stampa (sarà fornito il pdf del dattiloscritto)

C. Di Fabio, Figura naturale: persone di pietra tra Siena, Firenze e Pisa nel primo Trecento, in Medioevo, natura e figura, I convegni di Parma, 14, atti (Parma, 20-25 settembre 2011) a cura di A. C. Quintavalle, Milano, 2015, pp. 575-594 (sarà fornito il pdf).

H. Belting, Le portrait médiéval et le portrait autonome. Une question, in Le portrait individuel. Réflexions autour d’une forme de représentation XIIIe-XVe siècles, a cura di D. Olariu, Berne XXXX, pp. 123-135.

V. Ascani, Bigarelli (voce), in Enciclopedia dell’arte medievale, Roma 1992 (on line).

F. Aceto, Nicola Pisano (voce), in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Roma 2013 (on line).

C. Di Fabio, Spregiudicata misura: tecnica, stile e forma in una scultura inedita di Nicola Pisano, in «Bollettino d’arte», s. VIII, CI, 29, 2016, pp. 41-60 (sarà fornito il pdf).

A. Bagnoli, Introduzione, in Marco Romano e il contesto artistico senese fra la fine del Duecento e gli inizi del Trecento, a cura di A. Bagnoli, Milano, 2010, pp.14-37 (sarà fornito il pdf).

NB: the above texts with no remarks are in the DIRAAS library (Balbi 4, 3rd floor) 
NB: IN THE FIRST LESSON OF EACH TEACHING UNIT, THE TEACHER WILL PROVIDE TO TRANSLATE THE TEXTS IN FRENCH LANGUAGE

Bibliography for the 6 credits Course

E. Castelnuovo, C. Ginzburg, Centro e periferia, in Storia dell’arte italiana, I. Materiali e problemi, I. Questioni e metodi, a cura di G. Previtali, Torino, 1979, pp. 285-352.

B. Toscano, Geografia artistica (voce), in Dizionario della pittura e dei pittori, II, D-J, a cura di E. Castelnuovo, B. Toscano, Torino 1990, pp. 532-540.

E. Castelnuovo, La frontiera nella storia dell’arte, in La frontiera da Stato a nazione. Il caso Piemonte, a cura di C. Ossola, C. Raffestin, M. Ricciardi, Roma: Bulzoni, pp. 234-261, ried. in E. Castelnuovo, La cattedrale tascabile. Scritti di storia dell’arte, Livorno 2000, pp. 15-34 (on line)

J. Dubois, J-M. Guillouêt, Benoît Van den Bossche, Le ’déplacement’ comme problème: les transferts artistiques à l’époque gothique, in Les transferts artistiques dans l’Europe gothique: repenser la circulation des artistes, des oeuvres, des thèmes et des savoir-faire (XIIe - XVIe siècle), a cura di J. Dubois, J-M. Guillouêt, Benoît Van den Bossche, A. Ersek, Paris, 2014, pp. 9-34 (sarà fornito il pdf)

W. Sauerländer, Gothic Sculpture in France 1140-1270, London 1972, introduzione pp. 45-58.

C. D Fabio, I musici di Reims e il corpo come spettacolo: geni mutanti nello "stile monumentale" circa il 1235, in «Convivium», IV, 2, 2017, pp. 72-95 (sarà fornito il pdf).

J. Wirth, La datation de la sculpture médiévale, Genève 2004, pp. 146-220

C. Di Fabio, Dal ‘corpo’ alla ‘propria figura’. Verso il ritratto, fra Due e Trecento: linee di ricerca, in corso di stampa (sarà fornito il pdf del dattiloscritto)

H. Belting, Le portrait médiéval et le portrait autonome. Une question, in Le portrait individuel. Réflexions autour d’une forme de représentation XIIIe-XVe siècles, a cura di D. Olariu, Berne XXXX, pp. 123-135.

V. Ascani, Bigarelli (voce), in Enciclopedia dell’arte medievale, Roma 1992 (on line).

F. Aceto, Nicola Pisano (voce), in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Roma 2013 (on line).

C. Di Fabio, Spregiudicata misura: tecnica, stile e forma in una scultura inedita di Nicola Pisano, in «Bollettino d’arte», s. VIII, CI, 29, 2016, pp. 41-60 (sarà fornito il pdf).

NB: the above texts with no remarks are in the DIRAAS library (Balbi 4, 3rd floor) 
NB: IN THE FIRST LESSON OF EACH TEACHING UNIT, THE TEACHER WILL PROVIDE TO TRANSLATE THE TEXTS IN FRENCH LANGUAGE

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

CLARIO DI FABIO (President)

GIANLUCA AMERI

FRANCESCA GIRELLI

MARTINA SCHIRRIPA

LESSONS

Class schedule

MONUMENTAL ARTS OF THE EUROPEAN MIDDLE AGES

EXAMS

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The following will be assessed: the degree of specific knowledge of required topics; specific command of vocabulary, capacity to read and decode images and make interdisciplinary connections. To attain the pass threshold students must demonstrate that they know how to correctly answer questions directly and show an acceptable level of knowledge of the topics of the course. To attain excellence students must demonstrate a capacity to analyse topics with additional bibliographical references and know how to make appropriate connections and comparisons and to propose individual critical contributions, demonstrating a significant ability for discussion and use of appropriate language.

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Students are urged to register on AulaWeb as soon as possible. This is the only channel that enables teaching staff to immediately and directly contact all registered students for all eventualities, both teaching and practical (announcements, absence, emergencies, etc.).

Students must bring all the necessary material to the exam (texts, images on a usb drive).

Students and final year students are informed that when office hours coincide with exams, office hours are cancelled.