Poverty and Patronage: Francis, Dominic and the Arts (U03983)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : ACE-4-U03983

The Orders of Franciscans and Dominicans were the pre-eminent religious organizations of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Their dynamic growth was accompanied by an extraordinary burst of architectural and artistic patronage, which – on the one hand – contrasted strikingly with the ideas of poverty, mendicancy, and itinerant preaching of their founders – and on the other – reflected the Orders’ institutional developments and relationship with the Papacy and the Universities. The course explores how architecture, frescoes, altarpieces, sculpture, stained glass, and goldsmithwork commissioned for or by the Mendicants in late medieval Italy expressed and reflected their ideologies, aspirations and activities. Particular emphasis will be given to the Mother Church of the Franciscans at Assisi, and the fresco cycles painted there by Cimabue, Giotto, and other leading artists of the time. Special attention will be also paid to the other great pilgrimage shrines, S. Domenico in Bologna and S. Antonio in Padua, and to S. Maria in Aracoeli, the Franciscan headquarters in Rome. Visits to the NGS may be required.

Entry Requirements

? 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 : 4th year

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 11 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
08/01/2008	09:00	10:50

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Tutorial	Tuesday	09:00	10:50	Central

? Additional Class Information : There will be two tutorials on Tuesdays. One, as above, from 0900-1050 and the other from 1110-1300. Students will be required to attend one of these.

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

- Understanding of function, use, content, meaning of, and response to, buildings and works of art in different media, and understanding of their historical and intellectual context
- Understanding of how visual art was used to express the ideologies, aspirations and activities of the patrons, and knowledge of how artistic representations changed over a period of a hundred years as a reflection of the growth and institutionalisation of the Orders
- Awareness of relationships between visual and written evidence
- Critical engagement with modern scholarship and with different historiographical and methodological approaches
- Ability to undertake close visual analysis and development of analytical skills to identify/date/attribute buildings and works of art