| Unit name | Reading Renaissance Culture |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ITAL10003 |
| Credit points | 10 |
| Level of study | C/4 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Rhiannon Daniels |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of Italian |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
In this unit students will be introduced to a selection of Botticelli’s paintings which will be analysed in terms of content and composition, as well as used as a means of reflecting on the social and cultural context of artists and writers in Renaissance Florence. We will analyse some of the key cultural movements and ideas circulating in the fifteenth century, such as humanism and neo-Platonism, and issues such as position of women in pre-modern society, the function of art, and the relationship between art and literature. Botticelli’s relationship with the powerful Medici family will allow us to consider the mechanisms of Renaissance patronage. Alongside primary visual and literary sources, students will read a selection of critical studies of the Renaissance from the nineteenth century onwards in order to gain an understanding of the relevant scholarship, and the ways in which this has influenced the study of the Renaissance. Aims: - to introduce students to the work of one of the major artists of the Italian Renaissance - to familiarize students with issues relevant to the culture and society of Renaissance Florence - to develop an understanding of the different ways in which history is (re)constructed according to differing critical perspectives
By the end of the module students will be able to: analyse the paintings studied using appropriate terminology and demonstrate an understanding of their context in Renaissance Italy demonstrate an understanding of the social and cultural context of artists and writers in Renaissance Florence compare and contrast secondary readings of the period
Lectures with interactive elements
One 2000 word essay (100%) The essay will require students to analyse paintings of the period studied using an appropriate critical vocabulary. It will also require the sound historical contextualisation of the works’ production demonstrated through the appropriate use of relevant secondary source material.
Michael Baxandall, Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972) Peter Burke, The Italian Renaissance: Culture and Society in Italy (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1986) Alison Brown, The Renaissance, 2nd edn (London: Longman, 1999) Charles Dempsey, The Portrayal of Love: Botticelli’s ‘Primavera’ and Humanist Culture at the Time of Lorenzo the Magnificent (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992) Ronald Lightbown, Sandro Botticelli: Life and Work (London: Thames and Hudson, 1976) Literary Theory/Renaissance Texts, ed. by Patricia Parker and David Quint (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986)
