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. Special 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 and figurative arts in a European perspective with specific attention to “dynamic” artistic phenomena of interrelation between different cultural areas.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The fundamental educational objectives of the teaching of Monumental Arts of the European Middle Ages are:

to guide students to face correctly and to understand a theme, a problem, a personality, an artistic phenomenon of medieval times in a historical and critical key;

to provide students with a wealth of specific knowledge in relation to a given topic and train them to use correct methodologies of approach, analysis, discussion, evaluation and historical contextualisation of medieval artistic documents;

to motivate students to study these documents, understood as certificates and monuments of civilization.

PREREQUISITES

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

The ability to read and understand texts in English

TEACHING METHODS

Classes are held in presence. Attendance, although not compulsory, is strongly recommended. Students who attend the lectures are considered to be attending.
The lecturer, at the specific request of each student received by e-mail, allows distance learning of the lectures via the Teams platform 

Teams access code: smcp42g

Lectures normally employ powerpoints.

The powerpoints will be made available to students in pdf format.

At the end of the lectures (in the second week of January), the course makes a study trip to places and monuments covered in the lectures. 

For the academic year 2023/2024, the initiative remains valid, but its actual feasibility will depend on the guidelines issued at departmental level, within the framework of the University's general guidelines on this subject.

Educational trips are planned to Genoa (Cathedral, St Augustine Museum)

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

NB: The programme below is intended for both attending and non-attending students

In the academic year 2024/2025, the course syllabus has the following title:
‘Frederick II and the art of his time: Italy, Europe, the Mediterranean’.

These are the particular themes the course is structured around:

1. Frederick II: elements of biography 
2.Elements for a cultural bibliography: the court, officials, old and new forms of power, the poetic circle, vernacular poetry and its historical significance
3. The image of the Emperor: portraits and crypt portraits
4. Architecture of power: the Gate of Capua as political message
5. Classicism in the Middle Ages and Frederick's Classicism as ‘symbolic form
6. Frederick II's ‘taste’: glyptics and the precious arts, proto-collectivism
7. Readings of exemplary works 
the Farnese Cup and its A/R East/West journey
The cameo of Frederick II, King of JerusalemThe architectural sculpture of the Castel del Monte and the ‘taste’ of Frederick II

The Castrum Imperatoris of Prato and the Emperor in Tuscany

The figure and role of Riccardo da Lentini, magister aedificiorum Imperatoris between Sicily, the South and Northern Italy

Frederick II in Genoa and his legacy

The sale of Frederick's collections in Genoa

<The Gothic façade of Genoa Cathedral, the monumental style of antiquity and imperial classicism in Genoese sculpture

Opus francigenum between North and South Italy

Castel Maniace and Genoa Cathedral: ostentation of pseudo-classical sculpture

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Precisions on the use of the bibliography will be given in the first lesson

Norbert Kamp, FEDERICO II di Svevia, imperatore, re di Sicilia e di Gerusalemme, re dei Romani, in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, Vol. XLV, Roma, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 1995. Consultabile online

Federico II, immagine e potere, a cura di M.S. Calò Mariani e R. Cassaro, catalogo della mostra, Bari 1995 (In biblioteca DIRAAS)

Valentino Pace, Arte federiciana-arte per l'imperatore, in Die Staufer im Suden. Sizilien und das Reich, a cuta di T. Kolzer, Sigmaringen 1996, pp. 221-228 (scaricabile in pdf da Academia.edu). 

Peter Cornelius Claussen, Scultura figurativa federiciana, in  Federico II e l'Italia, catalogo della mostra a cura di C.D. Fonseca e V. Pace, Roma 1995, pp. 95-102

Clario Di Fabio, Flos sculptorum. Nicola Pisano fra scultura, glittica e sperimentazione: la testa femminile di Palazzo Venezia e il busto in agata della Collezione Santarelli, in “Arte Medievale”, 2023, pp. 207-230

Clario Di Fabo, Due teste federiciane a Spoleto: considerazioni e proposte, in Spoleto sacra 1200. Nell’825° anniversario della consacrazione della Cattedrale,  catalogo della mostra (Spoleto, Museo Diocesano, 2 aprile – 16 luglio 2023) a cura di G. Sapori, Livorno 2023, pp. 140-145

La Cattedrale di Genova fra 1200 e1230: esiti romanici, cantiere gotico, progetto architettonico e obiettivi di comunicazione, in La Cattedrale di San Lorenzo a Genova, Mirabilia Italiae, 18, a cura di A.R. Calderoni Masetti e G. Wolf, Modena 2012, pp. 59-73

Pio F. Pistilli, Sulle orme di Riccardo da Lentini, prepositus novorum hedificiorum di Federico II di Svevia, in L'officina dello sguardo. scritti in onore di Maria Andaloro, Roma 2014, pp. 127-136

Lucilla de Lachenal, Lucilla de Lachenal, «Ad ostentationem sue potentie». Studi su un inedito cammeo a due facce post
antico, in RIASA, 2023

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LESSONS

LESSONS START

Septemper 30, 2024

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The examination is oral and involves the use of images from the textbooks and those used in class, made available to the students.

The examination is oral, in the form of an interview.

The interview will be conducted as follows: l

- the student is first invited to present a topic, a problem, a work of art of his or her choice (within the framework of the programme);

- The commission will then invite the student to recognise, identify and place chronologically one or more works of art (from among those available in the manuals and texts in adoption) and/or to discuss a theme, a problem, a concept, a phenomenon, an artefact or a type of artefact, an artist, a field, always within the framework of the programme. The questions proposed to the student will be at least three, concerning works or problems typical of different historical periods, among those covered by the syllabus

EVERY STUDENT SHOULD BRING WITH HIM THE MATERIAL NEEDED TO TAKE THE EXAMINATION (HANDBOOKS IN ADOPTION AND OTHER TEXTBOOKS, IMAGES ON USB KEY)

In order to meet the needs and timing of study,

the examination can be taken in two ways:

1. in a single session,

orally, at the end of the course, in which case the student will be asked to report, within the time frame of half an hour, on the topics of the syllabus covered.

2. in two sessions,

of which the first test will be written and will involve recognising and commenting on three images (given by the professor) of works of art forming part of the syllabus carried out to date; the time available will be one hour

the second test will be oral and will take place at the end of the course. It will cover the remaining part of the course and will last half an hour.

The final mark will be derived from the mathematical average of the two partial marks obtained

ASSESSMENT METHODS

he exam is oral and includes the use of textbook images and those used in class, made available to students.

Evaluation concerns knowledge and skills.

The following will occur:

the ability to respond in compliance with and consistency with the proposed question;

the possession of specific language skills;

the specific knowledge of the topics covered;

the ability to read and decode images;

the ability to refer them to an artist and / or an era and to argue judgment;

the ability to correlate artistic products and historical-cultural phenomena, in the broadest sense of the term.

Based on the degree of achievement of this knowledge and skills, grades above the threshold of sufficiency will be assigned.


Regarding the attribution of the votes:

1. To achieve excellence (grades ranging from 28 to 30 with lode), the candidate must reveal, with excellent expressive skills: marked ability to recognize and classify the proposed artefacts; ability to discuss them, also with interdisciplinary links; availability and aptitude for analysis, in-depth and organic vision of the problems and topics covered by the course

2. an acceptable but predominantly mnemonic knowledge, a superficial analysis and a correct but not always appropriate language will lead to a satisfactory evaluation (good marks from 25 to 27 inclusive) and votes (from 23 to 24);

3. a sometimes incomplete knowledge, a superficial understanding, an intermittent ability to chronologically and historically discuss and place the proposed artistic documents and simplistic or approximate forms of expression may be considered sufficient (18-22);

4. obvious and extensive gaps in the preparation, inappropriate language, lack of reference points regarding the historical-formal location of the works and the topics presented in class will be evaluated negatively.

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.

Students with disabilities or learning disorders.

Students with disabilities or learning disorders are entitled specific adjustments, provided they upload the relevant certifications and documents on the University's dedicated webpage. See http://servizionline.unige.it under rubric 'Students'. The documents will be validated by the relevant office within the University (Settore servizi per l'inclusione degli studenti con disabilità e con DSA dell'Ateneo) (https://rubrica.unige.it/strutture/struttura/100111).

At least 10 days before the exam, students will have to email the instructor, Cc'ing the aforementioned office, as well as the School's deputy for matters concerning students with disabilities and learning disorders (elisabetta.colagrossi@unige.it). Please specify the following in your email:

- name, surname, student number
- course name and number
- date of your exam
- adjustments required

Once the School's representative confirms your eligibility, you will liaise with your instructor to finalize the details. The final decision on what adjustments are acceptable rests with your instructor.

Please note that any request must be sent at least 10 days before your exam, to successfully complete the process in time. Please also note that the mind maps to be used on the day of your exam have to be significantly more concise than those you use when you study.

For further information, please see:
https://unige.it/sites/unige.it/files/2024-05/Linee%20guida%20per%20la%20richiesta%20di%20servizi%2C%20di%20strumenti%20compensativi%20e_o%20di%20misure%20dispensative%20e%20di%20ausili%20specifici%20Maggio%202024.pdf