OVERVIEW

The course aims to offer bachelor students a detailed overview, in a rigorous chronological path, of the sources and artistic historiography relating to the figurative arts between the Thirteenth and Eighteenth centuries.

Texts relating to artistic techniques, artist biographies, public and private collecting, and the birth of the first museums as well as art academies will be taken into consideration.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to propose a careful relationship between the work of artists and the artistic treatises developed over the centuries under consideration (13th-18th century), in order to in order to highlight the cultural context in which these texts were created.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to provide students with the tools to learn, read and interpret the discussions on works of art, the work of artists and the value of artistic making developed during the indicated chronological period (13th-18th century).

At the end of the course, students must be able to establish with certainty the evolution of these issues in the chronological and historiographical context and to master as much as possible the technical vocabulary used in the world of the arts.

PREREQUISITES

It would be advisable for students to know the main artists and the most significant works of art, particularly in Italy, of the period under consideration (13th-18th century).

TEACHING METHODS

Classes are held in presence. Attendance, although not compulsory, is recommended.

The lecturer, at the specific request of a student (by e-mail), may allow him/her to follow classes remotely via “Teams” platform and to view class recordings.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Program for students taking the course:

1. Classification of the subject, reference bibliographic works and course objectives; the age of Giotto and Dante: the artist's praise;
2. il Libro dell'arte by Cennino Cennini and the success of technical treatises;
3. Leon Battista Alberti:  De pictura and De statua;
4. the artistic treatises of the Fifteenth century: the Commentarii by Ghiberti;  the Vita of Filippo Brunelleschi and Le Vite di XIV uomini singhulari in Firenze by Antonio di Tuccio Manetti; and the De viris illustribus by Bartolomeo Facio;
5. the artistic treatises of the Fifteenth century: Antonio Filarete and Giovanni Santi;
6. Jacopo de’ Barbari, De la ecelentia de pitura; Pomponio Gaurico, De sculptura,  Florence 1504 and Francesco Lancellotti, Tractato di pictura, Rome 1509;
7. the Prevasarian artistic treatises in Lombardy, Venice and Rome: Paolo Giovio and the Leonardi Vincii, Michaelis Angeli and Raphaelis Urbinatis Vitae; the Musaei Ioviani Descriptio; Paolo Pino, Dialogo di pittura (1548);
8. the Prevasarian artistic treatises in Florence: the Libro by Antonio Billi, the Vite by Giovanni Battista Gelli and the Anonymous Magliabechiano (or Gaddiano); Anton Francesco Doni, Il Disegno (1549); Benedetto Varchi and the maggioranza delle arti (1547-1550);
9. Vasari's Lives: the 1550 edition; Vasari's Lives: the 1568 edition;
10. after Vasari's Lives: Ascanio Condivi, Vita di Michelagnolo Buonarroti (1553); Lodovico Dolce, Dialogo della pittura (1557); Benvenuto Cellini, La vita and the Trattati (1568);
11.the Council of Trent and the norms on the figurative arts: the role of Carlo Borromeo and Gabriele Paleotti; Gregorio Comanini, Il Figino 1591); Raffaello Borghini, Il Riposo; Francesco Bocchi and the Bellezze della città di Fiorenza (1591); F. Sansovino, Venezia, città nobilissima e singolare (1581); G. B. Paggi and the Diffinizione ossia divisione della pittura (1607);
12. G.B. Armenini, De' veri precetti della pittura, 1586; Giovan Paolo Lomazzo: the Trattato dell'arte de la pittura, scoltura et architettura and the Idea del tempio della pittura);
13. Federico Zuccari, the Accademia di S. Luca and the Rome of the Connoisseurs:Giovanni Battista Agucchi, Benedetto Giustiniani and Giulio Mancini;
14. Gaspare Celio and the Vite degli artisti;Giovanni Baglione, Le vite di pittori, scultori e architetti dal pontificato di Gregorio XIII del 1572 fino all'epoca di papa Urbano Ottavo nel 1642;
15.  Giovan Pietro Bellori, Le Vite de’ pittori, scultori et architetti moderni (1672); Luigi Scaramuccia, Le finezze de’ pennelli italiani (1674);
16. Between ancients and moderns: Francesco Scannelli, Microcosmo della pittura (1657) and the Vite de pittori antichi scritte e illustrate da Carlo Dati nell'Accademia della Crusca lo Smarrito (1667);
17. Seventeenth-century Venice: Carlo Ridolfi, Le meraviglie dell'arte ovvero le Vite degli illustri pittori veneti e dello Stato (1646-48); and M. Boschini, La carta del navegar pitoresco (1660) and Le miniere della pittura (1664);
18. Le Vite de' pittori, scultori e architetti genovesi e de' forestieri che in Genova operarono (1674) by Raffaele Soprani and the Felsina pittrice (1678) by Carlo Cesare Malvasia;
19. Filippo Baldinucci and the Notizie de' professori del disegno da Cimabue in qua (1681-1728);
20. L. Pascoli, Vite de’ pittori, scultori ed architetti moderni, Rome 1730; G.B.Passeri, Vite de’ pittori, scultori ed architetti che ànno lavorato in Roma, morti dal 1641 fino al 1673, Rome 1772 and C.G. Ratti, Vite de' pittori, scultori, ed architetti genovesi, Genoa 1769.

Students who are NOT attending are required to contact the teacher at the institutional email address (eliana.carrara@unige.it) in order to be able to support a specific program.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography for students taking the course:

J. Schlosser Magnino, La letteratura artistica: manuale delle fonti della storia dell'arte moderna, Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1997 (or other edition; the italian text is completely readable at the following link: https: //digi.ub.uni- heidelberg.de/diglit/schlosser1964);

A. Blunt, Artistic Theories in Italy, 1450-1600, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1962 (= Turin, Einaudi, 2001).

Recommended books:

Michael Baxandall, Giotto and the Orators: Humanist Observers of Painting in Italy and the Discovery of Pictorial Composition, 1350-1450, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1986;

Michael Baxandall, Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy: A Primer in the Social History of Pictorial Style, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1988;

Michael Baxandall, Words for Pictures: Seven Papers on Renaissance Art and Criticism, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2003;

James Hall, The Artist’s Studio. A Cultural History, London-New York, Thames & Hudson, 2022.
 

Paola Barocchi, Storiografia e collezionismo dal Vasari al Lanzi, in Storia dell'arte italiana, I.2, L'artista e il pubblico, a cura di Giovanni Previtali, Torino, Einaudi, 1979, pp. 5-81;

Giovanna Perini, Le lettere degli artisti da strumento di comunicazione, a documento, a cimelio, in Documentary Culture: Florence and Rome from Grand-Duke Ferdinand I to Pope Alexander VII, conference proceedings (Florence 1990), Bologna, Nuova Alfa Editoriale, 1992, pp. 165-183;

Donata Levi, Il discorso sull'arte. Dalla tarda antichità a Ghiberti, Milano, Bruno Mondadori, 2010;
 

Il carteggio d'artista. Fonti, questioni, ricerche tra XVII e XIX secolo, a cura di S. Rolfi, C. Mazzarelli, Cinisello Balsamo (MI), 2019;

Lettere d'artista. Per una storia transnazionale dell'arte (XVIII-XIX secolo), a cura di G. Capitelli, M.P. Donato, C. Mazzarelli, S.A. Meyer, I. Miarelli Mariani, Cinisello Balsamo (MI), 2022;

Further bibliography will be provided in class.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Classes will start in mid-February 2026.

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The examination will take place through an oral interview.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The oral examination will be aimed at ascertaining knowledge of the topics covered in the lectures and the texts assigned for reading.
An intermediate written test is also envisaged, which will focus on the topics covered in the first part of the Course and will allow - if passed with a mark of 24/30 or higher - a reduction in the number of texts to be brought to the examination, as the following essay will be eliminated: A. Blunt, Artistic Theories in Italy, 1450-1600, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1962  (= Turin, Einaudi, 2001).

FURTHER INFORMATION

Examinations will will be held in presence and in the lecturer's office (via Balbi 4, 3rd floor).

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 Professor, 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 Professor 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