Narrative in Italian Painting and Sculpture C.1475-C.1520 (VS1) (U03959)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : ACE-3-HItal1475

The importance of narrative subjects was fully recognized at the time: on the one hand because they represented the greatest challenge of all for artists and, on the other, because the works that resulted, potentially had very powerful effects on spectators. In fact the majority of the greatest works of figural art of the period are narratives of one kind or another. The methods for the classification of narratives into different types will be critically examined. But the central emphasis will be on the analysis of contemporary ways of thinking about narrative and exploring how they can be applied to the works of art that have come down to us. In particular the writings of Leon Battista Alberti and Leonardo da Vinci will be subjected to close scrutiny, along with the ancient Greek and Roman texts by Aristotle, Pliny and Horace that they read so attentively. In the light of these writings, the course will examine the narrative strategies and achievements of painters such as Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Carpaccio, Gentile Bellini, Titian, Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo, and sculptors like Niccolo dell'Arca, Benedetto da Maiano, Andrea Sansovino and Gaudenzio Ferrari.

Entry Requirements

? This course is only available to part year visiting students.

? This course is a variant of the following course : U00925

? Pre-requisites : A pass in either History of Art 2 or Architectural History 2a and 2b

Subject Areas

Home subject area

History of Art, (School of Arts, Culture and Environment, Schedule A)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 3rd year

? Delivery Period : Semester 1 (Blocks 1-2)

? Contact Teaching Time : 3 hour(s) per week for 11 weeks

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Monday	16:10	17:00	Central

? Additional Class Information : Seminars will take place on Tuesdays 2-3.50pm and 4.10-6pm. Students will attend one of these.

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

This is very important period of Italian art, which was to have a decisive effect on the development of the visual arts throughout Europe in the succeeding 3 centuries. Students will gain a detailed acquaintance with some of the most prominent monuments and most famous achievements of that period.
Contemporary texts will form the basis of this course and students will be trained to see the importance of a familiarity with contemporary writings and ways of seeing in order to arrive at a truly historical understanding of the visual arts of the period. There is a great deal of literature on the individual artists and their principal works, but on the whole this scholarly writing does not specifically engage with issues of narrative. In taking this course, students will learn how to make use of information that has been compiled with one purpose in mind and use it to serve another. Their critical intelligence will be honed.
It will taught by a combination of lectures and seminars