Learning objectives
The course aims to provide critical tools and basic conocences for the analysis of the most significant works created in Europe between the 4th and 14th centuries. The student will have acquired the basic knowledge to understand the general dynamics that create and intertwine the image patterns of the entire medieval time span.
Knowledge and understanding skills.
Students will acquire the essential art-historical knowledge for the critical framing of artworks in order to approach a critical text with greater scholarly awareness.
Applied knowledge and understanding skills.
Students will acquire the ability to connect acquired knowledge with the medieval image system.
Autonomy of judgment.
The skills and knowledge acquired will be the key point for dealing with medieval emergencies with autonomy of judgment.
Communication skills.
With particular insistence, students will be urged to achieve specific written and oral communicative competence, a fundamental skill for the discipline.
Learning skills:
Awareness of the art-historical framework of the medieval period and a prerequisite for future ability to analyze the system of images not only medieval, while developing a tension to learn also critical dynamics of later periods.
Course unit content
The course will focus on the analysis of the most significant works of the history of European medieval art starting from the formal analysis. The analysis of the works will then extend to the question of commissioning, reception and thus historical contextualization in order to understand their cultural significance in the sense of common heritage to be preserved and enhanced at the same time.
Full programme
- Art of the Late Antique period: from the Arch of Constantine to the monuments and artifacts of the age of Justinian (IV-VI century).
- Art from the Lombard and Carolingian periods (late 6th-9th centuries).
- Art of the High Middle Ages (late 10th - late 12th century).
- Art from the age of Frederick II to the "revolution" of Giotto (XIII-mid XIV century).
- Art of the Late Middle Ages ("Late Gothic Art").
Each macro-section is subdivided into Italian and European emergencies, religious and non-religious, or by artistic type (architecture, sculpture, painting, goldsmithing, miniatures) with a view to interpreting the individual works in reciprocal spatial and chronological interconnection.
Bibliography
1. The 15 units of the blended course on the Elly platform. No other handbook is allowed.
I
- E. Kitzinger, Il periodo tardo-antico e paleocristiano, in E. Kitzinger, Arte altomedievale al British Museum e nella British Library, a cura di F. Crivello, Torino, Einaudi, 2005, pp. 2-50.
- Capitolo IV. Le architetture religiose: la scultura e Capitolo V. La scrittura e le sue immagini: i codici; le epigrafi, in Longobardi. Un popolo che cambia la storia, catalogo della mostra (Pavia-Napoli-San Pietroburgo, 2017-2018), a cura di G.P. Brogiolo, F. Marazzi, C. Giostra, Milano, Skira, 2017, pp. 275-325; 366-375.
- B. Brenk, Originalità e innovazione nell’arte medievale, in Arti e Storia nel medioevo, Volume primo: tempi, spazi, istituzioni, a cura di E. Castelnuovo e G. Sergi, Torino Einaudi, 2002, pp. 3-69.
- M. Gianandrea, Gli arredi ecclesiali (antependia, cattedre, cibori, pulpiti, ceri) e M. Acconci, I segni del potere in Occidente, in Il Medioevo. 6. Medioevo centrale. Arti visive, Musica, a cura di U. Eco, Milano, Federico Motta, 2009, pp. 274-333.
II
- R. Coathes-Stephens, Permanenze dell’architettura antica, in Storia dell’architettura italiana. Da Costantino a Carlo Magno, 2 voll., a cura di S. De Blaauw, Milano, Electa, II, pp. 234-269.
- L.C. Schiavi, Genesi e sviluppo dei nuovi spazi sacri dell’Europa cristiana, in Il Medioevo. 6. Medioevo centrale. Arti visive, Musica, a cura di U. Eco, Milano, Federico Motta, 2009, pp. 32-93.
- F. Gandolfo, Il ruolo della scrittura nei mosaici del medioevo romano, in Roma e il suo territorio nel medioevo. Le fonti scritte fra tradizione e innovazione, Atti del Convegno internazionale di studio dell’Associazione italiana dei Paleografi e Diplomatisti (Roma, 25-29 ottobre 2012), a cura di C. Carbonetti, S. Luca, M. Signorini, Spoleto, CISAM, 2015, pp. 439-470; tavv. I-X.
- S. Lomartire, Riflessioni sulla diffusione del tipo "Dreiapsiden-Saalkirche" nell'architettura lombarda dell'altomedioevo, in "Hortus Artium Medievalium", 9, 2003, pp. 417-432.
III
- A. Cadei, Le cattedrali all’origine del Gotico, in L’arte medievale nel contesto 300-1300. Funzioni, iconografia, tecniche, a cura di P. Piva, Milano, Jaca Book, 2006, pp. 105-137.
- C. Gnudi, Considerazioni sul gotico francese, l’arte imperiale e la formazione di Nicola Pisano, in Federico II e l’arte del Duecento italiano, Atti del Convegno (Roma, 1 maggio 1978), ripubblicato in C. Gnudi, L’arte gotica in Francia e in Italia, Torino, Einaudi, 1982, pp. 102-119, tavv. 104-118.
- L. Bellosi, La «porta magna» di Jacopo della Quercia, in La Basilica di San Petronio, I, Cinisello Balsamo (MI), Silvana Editoriale, 1983, ripubblicato in L. Bellosi, Come un prato fiorito. Studi sull’arte tardogotica, Milano, Jaca Book, 2000, pp. 141-162; tavv. 179-210.
- F. Cervini, Di alcuni crocifissi "trionfali" del secolo XII nell'Italia settentrionale, in "Arte Medievale", VII, 1, 2008. pp. 9 -32.
IV
- A. Calzona, La cattedrale di Parma dopo il terremoto del 1117 senza il terremoto, in «Hortus Artium Medievalium», 25/2 (2019), pp. 487-495.
- A. Cadei, Architettura mendicante: il problema di una definizione tipologica, in «Storia delle Città», 26/27 (1983), pp. 21-32.
- F. Crivello, L’immagine ripetuta: filiazione e creazione nell’arte del Medioevo, in Arti e storia nel Medioevo. Volume terzo. Del vedere: pubblici, forme e funzioni, a cura di E. Castelnuovo, G. Sergi, Torino, Einaudi, 2004, pp. 567-592.
- X. Barral i Altet, Forme di narrazione medievale, con e senza «storie», al servizio del potere, in «Hortus Artium Medievalium», 21 (2015), pp. 6-20.
Teaching methods
During the lectures, basic critical issues related to the creation, image models, style, patronage and reception of the main artworks of the medieval period will be focused on. For this purpose, face-to-face lectures will be offered through direct projection of images.
Possible excursions to observe the artworks in their specific context are also planned.
Assessment methods and criteria
The exam, oral, requires the student to be able to recognize the images (subject, place, date, brief contextualization), through appropriate language. For the monograph part, the ability to synthesize the essays presented is required highlighting the nodal points and the argumentative path of the scholar.
The grade will be deemed insufficient in the absence of minimal knowledge of the course topics or with insufficient ownership of language. The program is structured in a textbook part and a monograph part: the exam is not sufficient by preparing only a part of the indicated program.
A sufficient score (range: 18/30 - 22/30) is determined by a minimum level of correct answers; a median score (range: 23/30 - 26/30) is determined by the ability to express in an argued manner the knowledge acquired for both modules; the highest scores (range: 27/30 - 30/30) correspond to an excellent/excellent level of the assessment indicators.
Other information
For any further questions it is possible to require a conversation via Teams, by mailing at giorgio.milanesi@unipr.it.
For students needing 6 cfu:
1. The 15 units of the blended course on the Elly platform. No other handbook is allowed.
The exam will concern the recognition of the images (name, chronology, place) and a brief critical contextualization.
2. Oral presentation of a medieval work (sculpture, painting, architecture, miniature or goldsmith; IV-XVth century) related to the province of origin or residence of the student.
For students needing 12 cfu:
1. The 15 units of the blended course on the Elly platform. No other handbook is allowed.
The exam will concern the recognition of the images (name, chronology, place) and a brief critical contextualization.
2. Oral presentation of a medieval work (sculpture, painting, architecture, miniature or goldsmith; IV-XVth century) related to the province of origin or residence of the student.
3. The student is asked to choose an essay for each of the four groups (a total of 4 essays to be submitted to the exam) whose PDFs are available on the Elly platform
