Italian Renaissance art and the cult of the individual Start date
22 October 2010
Venue
Madingley Hall
End date
24 October 2010
Madingley Cambridge Tutor
Shirley Smith
For further information on this course, please contact To book
Course code
1011NRX050
Linda Fisher, Academic Programme Manager on 01223 746218 Kirsty James, Administrative Secretary on 01223 746227
See: www.ice.cam.ac.uk or telephone 01223 746262
Tutor biography Graduated from the University of East Anglia with First Class Honours in the History of Art and winner of the Dissertation Prize, specialising in the Italian and Northern Renaissance. A parttime lecturer at the University of East Anglia and with the Board of Continuing Education of the University of Cambridge, she runs Certificate and Residential Weekend courses and Day Schools for both. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and lectures to various Arts Societies. Shirley is particularly keen on setting the art and architecture of the period within the context of the society for which it was produced. Her immense enthusiasm for and love of the period and its art ensures that her courses, whilst well researched, are above all enjoyable.
University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education, Madingley Hall, Cambridge, CB23 8AQ
www.ice.cam.ac.uk
Course Programme Friday 22 October 2010 Please plan to arrive between 4:30 and 6:30. You can meet other course members in the bar which opens at 6:15. Tea and Coffee making facilities are available in the study bedrooms. 7.15 pm
Dinner
8.30 pm – 10.00 pm
Introduction: Humanism and its influence on the rise of the cult of the individual
10.00 pm
Terrace bar open for informal discussion
Saturday 23 October 2010 8.00 am
Breakfast
9.00 am – 10.30 am
The emulation of the antique
10.30 am
Coffee
11.00 am – 12.30 pm
The cult of the individual: single portraits
1.00 pm
Lunch
2.00 pm
Free
4.00 pm
Tea
4.30 pm – 6.00 pm
The making of dynasties: group portraits
7.15 pm
Dinner
8.30 pm – 10.00 pm
Man and his God: altarpieces and funeral chapels
10.00 pm
Terrace bar open for informal discussion
Sunday 24 October 2010 8.00 am
Breakfast
9.00 am – 10.30 am
The turn of the artist: self portraits.
10.30 am
Coffee
11.00 am – 12.30 pm
General discussion and matters arising
1.00 pm
Lunch
The course will disperse after lunch
Course syllabus Aims: 1. To consider the role of portraiture in 15th and 16th century Italian art in defining, Communicating and preserving individual and social identity. 2. To study the development in the style and content of the portrait over this period and the techniques used. 3. To examine the influence of both antiquity and northern (Flemish) art on the portraits produced in this period.
Content: The course will start by examining the importance of humanism to the way in which Renaissance man saw himself and his place in the universe. By studying the art of 15th and 16th century Italy, together with extracts from contemporary writings, the remainder of the course will examine how this emphasis on man came to dominate this art, both religious and secular, and how it was adapted to suit the needs of the individual patron. **Please note, time will not allow an in-depth study of the political and cultural background of Italy in this period. Students are advised to acquaint themselves with this prior to the course and suggested books are included in the bibliography.
Presentation of the course: Lectures will be complemented by digital images, extracts from contemporary writings and handouts. Questions and answers will take place throughout the course with students encouraged to compare and comment on the art and texts and with an open forum in the final session, using the aims and learning outcomes outlined in the programme as a basis for general discussion. **You might like to bring a magnifying glass with you.
Outcomes: As a result of the course, within the constraints of the time available, students should be able to: 1. Identify the different forms of portraiture that were developed in the Italian Renaissance and the materials used. 2. Analyse the way in which portraiture was used to construct an image of the self in accordance with the social and cultural ideals of the day. 3. Recognise the ways in which the artist and/or patron used the portrait to give a greater insight into the person being portrayed. 4. Gain a wider understanding of the influence of antiquity and northern (Flemish) art on Italian portraiture of this period. All students will be encouraged to undertake reading in preparation for the course, as well as participate in class discussions As an aid to realising Outcomes 2 – 4, Students will be invited to take part in a class-based exercise during the weekend based on specific case studies
Reading and resources list Author
Title
Publisher and date
Suetonius
Lives of 12 Caesars
Penguin Classics, 2003
Pliny the Elder:
Natural History
Penguin Classics, 2004
Baldassare Castiglione
The Book of the Courtie
Dover Publications, May 2003
Giorgio Vasari
The Lives of the Artists
Penguin Classics 1987
Vespasiano da Bisticci
The Vespasiano Memoirs: Lives of Illustrious Men of the XVth century
University of Toronto Press 1997
Machiavelli
The Prince
Penguin Classics 1995
Leon Battista Alberti
Della Pittura
Penguin Classics 1991
Cennino Cennini
The Craftsman's Handbook
Dover Publications 1960
Kemp, M. (Eds.)
Leonardo on Painting
New Haven & London. 1989
John Pope-Hennessey
The Portrait in the Renaissance
New York 1966
Lorne Campbell
Renaissance Portraits
New Haven 1990
Paola Tinagli
Women in Italian Renaissance Art- Gender, Representation, Identity
Manchester University Press 1997
Joanna WoodsMarsden
Renaissance Self-Portraiture
Yale University Press, 1998
Jacob Burckhardt
The Civilization of the Renaissance in ItalyPart 11 – The Development of the Individual
Phaidon 1995
Kim Woods
Making Renaissance Art
Yale University Press 2007
James Hall
Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art
John Murray 1993
Primary Resources:
Secondary resources:
Cultural and historical background to Renaissance Italy Alison Brown
The Renaissance
Longman 1999
Peter Burke
The Italian Renaissance: Culture and Society in Italy
Polity Press 1999
Mary Hollingsworth:
Patronage in Renaissance Italy: from 1400 to the Early 16th century
John Murray 1994
Mary Hollingsworth
Patronage in Sixteenth-Century Italy
John Murray 1996
Evelyn Welch
Art and Society in Italy 1350 – 1500
Oxford University Press 1977
Alison Cole
Art of the Italian Renaissance Courts
Pearson Education 2005
Particia Fortini Brown
Art and Life in Renaissance Venice
Pearson Education 2005
Richard Turner
Renaissance in Florence: The Invention of a New Art
Pearson Education 2005
Websites: Web Gallery of Art – for good images of works and notes on artists http://witcombe.sbc.edu/ARTHLinks.html - for images http://www.artcycolopedia.com – useful for finding out location of artworks in museums http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/ - main National Gallery web site Note Students of the Institute of Continuing Education are entitled to 20% discount on books published by Cambridge University Pres (CUP) which are purchased at the Press bookshop, 1 Trinity Street, Cambridge (Mon-Sat 9am – 5:30pm, Sun 11am – 5pm). A letter or email confirming acceptance on to a current Institute course should be taken as evidence of enrolment.
Information correct as of
19 July 2010