WINTER Courses 2007
Ceramics in Italy
Professor Susan Crowell
4 credits
A happy coincidence of environmental, geographical, and technological factors created what we now recognize as Italian ceramics. This legacy of ceramic history is evidence of the centrality of ceramics to Italian life and their role in the very development of Italian culture. In this course, we will use the rich patrimony of necropoli, museums, churches, public sites, and studios in and around Florence to learn how ceramics developed in Italy, from Etruscan times to the present. We will learn some of the geology and chemistry so crucial to the production of glazed ceramics in general, and majolica in particular. We will conduct an in-depth examination of the role of ceramics in the Della Robbia workshops during the Renaissance, and the participation of other masters, such as Mazzoni and Buglioni, in the flowering of glazed architectural terra cotta. Paying attention to the development of majolica, we will analyze the aesthetics unique to individual majolica-producing cities. Our investigations will conclude with an examination of contemporary ceramics production in Italy, from industrially produced dinnerware to individual artistic commissions. This is an interdisciplinary course, and our work will take place in several arenas. We will be reading about the history and the development of ceramics technology and aesthetics in a coursepack specially assembled for this course. Readings will be supplemented by slide lectures, field trips, and studio work. We will take field trips to study many of the most important examples of Italian ceramics on-site. We will write about our observations. We will work in clay, using techniques, skills and technology developed in the past 3000 years to make ceramic objects in the present.
Class, Gender and the Making of Renaissance Italy
Professor Stefanie Siegmund
4 credits
This course will explore how Renaissance culture, patronage, the rise of cities and of states utilized, and depended upon gendered hierarchies, and attempted to imitate the class-based hierarchies of northern Europe. There are some sobering surprises for students in this class: the presence of slaves and the importance of domestic servitude. And yet, we will not be reinforcing assumptions about the powerlessness of the poor and of women. Readings will teach that working-class men dominated the urban landscape of Venice; that Florentine nobility depended on the support of the lower classes; that in Venice there was a powerful presence of independent, married women. Readings will include classic works of Humanism and Neo-Platonism as well as family diaries and court records, chapters, essays, and three short books, one for each of our main cities.
Religion and the Renaissance: FAith, Culture and POlitics, 1350-1650 Professor Stefanie Siegmund
4 credits
This course reexamines the false image of Renaissance Italy as a “secular” society. Beginning with selections from Boccaccio’s Decameron and an examination of the role of religious art in the early Renaissance, we will study the history of religion in Italian states. Topics will include the appropriation of Classical Humanism by Christian Humanists; the campaigns of the fifteenth century Mendicant preachers; efforts to unite the Eastern and Western Church; the origins of Catholic Reform; the rise of the Jesuit movement; the program of the Council of Trent and its impact on religious diversity in the Italian states, and especially on Italian Jews; the spiritual lives of women and the role of convents in Italian society; and, finally, the attitude and policies of the Catholic Church in the Italian States to witchcraft and to science.
Florentine Renaissance Art: From Lorenzo to Cosimo I
Professor Josephine Mariotti
4 credits
The course proposes to survey the development of the arts in Florence from the time of Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici (the Magnificent) to the early reign of Cosimo I, the second Duke and the first Grand Duke of Tuscany. We will begin with a survey of the major workshops of late 15 th century Florence: Pollaiolo, Verrocchio, Botticelli, Perugino, and Ghirlandaio, whose culture and activities constitutes the training ground of the masters of the High Renaissance. These include Leonardo, Raphael, Filippino Lippi, Fra Bartolomeo, Andrea del Sarto and Michelangelo, whose life-span covers the entire period under exam, and whose art will serve as a guideline throughout the course: Michelangelo’s early activity in Florence, his decorative cycles in the Vatican in Rome, and his later activity.
The ‘rival’ prince of the papal court, Raphael Sanzio will likewise be our focus, as both become paragons of a ‘golden age’ of classicism, dramatically interrupted by the ‘Sack of Rome’ of 1527. The ‘post-peak’ era to follow begins with the experimental and expressively charged art of Pontormo, Rosso Fiorentino and other Tuscan masters who, along with the followers of Raphael and Michelangelo in Rome, are the protagonists of a transformation in style and content termed as ‘Mannerism’ or ‘Maniera,’ a label we will endeavor to define. The development of a self-conscious ‘stylish style’ in the 16 th century brings us to admire the ‘court art’ of Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici, whose artists include some of the epoch great protagonists: Agnolo Bronzino, Benvenuto Cellini, Francesco Salviati, Parmigianino and Giambologna. More than monographic coverage of each artistic persona, our goal will be to reconstruct the stylistic and cultural interactions and environment in which the artists and patrons operated.
In-class sessions will alternate with visits to monuments and museums in and around Florence, allowing students to integrate their academic studies with direct experience of the works and artists under study.
Renaissance Architecture
Professor Lydia Soo
4 credits
The course examines the architecture of the Renaissance period in Italy – the buildings and cities of the mid-15 th century to the late 16 th century. They will be discussed in relation to contemporary theoretical writings, addressing issues of function, structure, and beauty, as well as in relation to the cultural context of the Renaissance period, including philosophical, religious, political, economic, and environmental factors. Lectures will be complemented with visits to sites in Florence and the vicinity, as well as to sites in other Italian cities.
History of Urban Design
Professor Lydia Soo
4 credits
This course examines the history of the design of cities in Europe from ancient times to the present, focusing on the cities of Italy and their historical development. It will examine the physical form of cities and how they have been created in relationship to geographical, philosophical, aesthetic, and technological issues, as well as social, political, and economic systems. The course will be comprised of lectures and site visits to various Italian cities.
International Relations in Europe from the Renaissance to the Modern Era
Professor Jeremi Suri
4 credits
The Italian peninsula during the Renaissance gave rise to many of the diplomatic traditions that continue to dominate international relations. Diplomatic immunity and extraterritoriality are two examples of crucial innovations from the era. This course will examine the diplomatic creativity of the Renaissance, and then trace how the key diplomatic traditions from that time evolved during successive centuries. In particular, the course will focus on concepts of just war, international arbitration, and human rights since the Renaissance. Students will read historical studies of these issues as well as primary texts, such as works by Machiavelli, Grotius, Kant, and Meinecke. Students will also use their access to Italian museums as a means for investigating diplomatic and political change through artwork.
The past and Future of the European Union
Professor Jeremi Suri
4 credits
The transformation of Europe from a crucible of war to a peaceful community of states is one of the foremost achievements of the post-1945 era. This course will examine how this transformation occurred. We will analyze the origins of the European Union (EU), the influence of various European and non-European states, and the changes that have affected daily life across the continent. The course will weigh the various economic, political, and cultural influences on the EU. In our assessment of implications, we will look forward to emerging challenges for the EU, and what the history of this remarkable period foretells for the future. Students will read an interdisciplinary collection of materials on the EU. They will also use their presence in Europe to investigate how the EU really functions on a daily basis.
Italian Language
First Semester - Professor Silvia Sammicheli - 4 credits
Second Semester - Professor Silvia Sammicheli - 4 credits
Third Semester - Professor Lucrezia Sarcinelli - 4 credits
Forth Semester - Professor Lucrezia Sarcinelli - 4 credits
Advanced Italian - Professor Lucrezia Sarcinelli - 3 credits
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