This course invites the student to embark on an imaginative and informed submersion into the culture of 15-16C Venice. The course is primarily a study of the great painters of “La Serenissima” (Venice The Most Serene Republic), in the 15-16C, with an investigation of Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese. In addition to considering the unique image and/or everyday actuality of Venice as a political and social entity,  we will also examine Venice as international emporium and as a vibrant collection of peoples. The art and artists will be framed in the context of their location in an intersection of international exchange, since contacts with  Byzantium, Islam, and Northern Europe were vital factors in Venetian art, architecture and thinking. A provocative field in Venetian studies concerns how public and private spaces and their use, rituals, civic and religious concerns and behaviors shaped the art and architecture of Venice. We will consider Venetian culture also beyond the parameters of traditional art-historical study to consider objects of material culture: glass, fashion, domestic objects, and other genres as the telling expression of normal daily existance.

            The very title of this course owes a debt to the many studies of Patricia Fortini-Brown, especially one of our textbooks, Art and Life in Renaissance Venice, and also her work on the intricate braiding of ancient culture into the peculiarly Venetian modes through which artists and citizens conveyed their own “antiquity” as a third Rome. Fortini-Brown also proposes one of the most interesting interpretations of the art of that most Venetian of social intitutions, the “scuole,” which, through a formation of group membership among professions, neighborhood cliques, and foreign residents, created a “chronicle” of life  - as pictured in the representations of Carpaccio and others. We will also be reading several essays by David Rosand: in The Myth of Venice, this scholar explores several themes through which artists created a specific and distinctive identity for their city, drawing upon historical legend and iconographical themes (Venice-Virgin-Venus, the story of St. Mark, and Justice as representative of La Serenissima itself); in other writings he explores the relationship between painting, site, and observer (for instance, Titian’s works in the great Franciscan church in Venice, the Frari). Through these and other readings we will examine what is Venetian about Venetian art, and the Venetian way of life in the Renaissance. We will also learn about how cultural and trade connections with the Islamic East, Germany in the North, Rome and Florence, and other exchanges formed the very unique visual texture and identity of this city on the sea.

            The highpoint of the class will be a three-day trip to Venice. We will also visit the Borghese Gallery to see the paintings of Titian and his contemporaries. Other visits in Rome will be assigned for a Journal requirement, to encourage you to start looking immediately at the Venetian (and comparative related) works available in nearby museums.

Textbooks:

Patricia Fortini Brown,  Art and Life in Renaissance Venice London, Lawrence King Publishing, 1997

Loren Partridge, Art of Renaissance Venice 1400-1500, Oakland, CA: U of California Press, 2015

OPTIONAL: Peter Humfrey, Painting in Renaissance Venice, New Haven and London, Yale University Press (1995), 3rd ed. 2001

Aims of the Course:

            Students will be expected to develop, in the course of the semester, the following:

-       A familiarity with period and individual styles of Venetian art through a study of major works. Ready recognition of selected works, and knowledge of basic facts related to them.

-       Command of problems of interpretation, in relation to the study of

selected works; basic familiarity with subject matter and iconography,

function, patronage and purpose.

-       A basic familiarity with the stylistic and technical qualities of Venetian painting, which distinguish it from other Renaissance schools.

-       A beginning understanding of cross-cultural issues, both as exemplified in the study of Venetian art and culture, and as methodology.

-       An awareness of the particular issues relevant to art in Venice, such as; the “myth” of Venice, the Venetian sense of identity, institutions and customs peculiar to Venice, aspects of Venetian culture and society, and the role of art in promoting an image of the city as Republic and “Serenissima.” A basic understanding of the historical, political and social context in which Venetian art was produced and in which artists were formed.

-       An understanding of different art historical methodologies through reading of a variety of approaches by major scholars in the field (Rosand, Goffen, Fehl, Fortini Brown, etc.). Development of critical thinking about art and art history through course readings,  assignments and class discussion

-       A familiarity with some contemporary sources and writings on Venetian

art (Vasari, Aretino, etc.)

-       Improved research skills through use of not simply the JCU library and Jstor, but also use of bibliographical sources, published and electronic, and several visits to the Art History Library in Palazzo Venezia

-       Furthering of writing skills: declaration and development of a clearly stated theme, organization, discussion of distinctive views and approaches, written expression and structure.

-       Furthering of oral communication skills, through class discussion and oral presentation.

-       Development of visual skills – the art of looking thoughtfully.

Lesson Sections (Exact Dates and more Readings Forthcoming)

IMPORTANT DATES:

- Please be aware that the Study Weekend in Venice (with on-site Oral Research Presentations) is scheduled for  MARCH 2,3 and 4 (Friday ca. 2:30 at Palazzo Ducale, to Sunday ca. 12:00)

- Also, we will have a visit to the Galleria Borghese, to see Titian’s Sacred and Profane Love and other relevant works, on FEBRUARY 23.

PLEASE PLAN ACCORDINGLY FOR THESE TWO VISITS

Readings - Please note the following abbreviations:

“PFB” = Textbook, Patricia Fortini Brown, Art and Life in Renaissance Venice (1997)

“LP” = Textbook, Loren Partridge, Art of Renaissance venice 1400-1600 (2015)

“PH” = Peter Humfrey, Painting in Renaissance Venice (1995/ 2001)

THE FOLLOWING SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE – as I adjust dates of lessons, emphasis, and update readings.  Students will receive the “official” Schedule on the first day of class.

(Especially – I have replaced PHumphrey’s excellent but very formalist handbook with the more recent one by L Partridge, who addresses Venice more thematically. Adjustments in textbooks assignments below still to be realized in the next few days. Forthcoming!)

January 15 (M) -

Introduction:

Basics of the Course: Syllabus, and Life and Art in Venice

– Topics and Approaches;  Assignments and Requirements, and discussion of the Journal and the Oral Research Presentation; Schedule of Lessons and Visits

January 17 (W) -

Introduction, continued:

1)Representative visual evidence of Venetian Life in Art; Some images to discuss

2)Cross-currents, Venice  East and North.

Discussion of Required Reading

Reading:

PFB, Chapter 1, “Venezianità: The Otherness of Venice”

LP, pp 2-15, Introduction and section on Civic Monuments (Pal Ducale)

PH, Introduction, pp 1-35 –  recommended

Section II:

“La Serenissima,” The Myth:

History and legend: The sacred entity of Venice, its constructed identity. How the Lagoon became a city and a culture, a fiction, history and myth. Discussion of Rosand’s first chapter.

Readings:

David Rosand, The Myth of Venice, Chapter I, “Miraculous Birth”

Paul Hills, Venetian Colour, Chapter 1: “Living on a Lagoon” -  recommended

PFB, Chapter 3, “The Art of Public Life,”, especially pp 80-89, “Symbols of State and “A City Joyous and Triumphant” - recommended

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PRE-MIDTERM ASSIGNMENTS:

FIRST JOURNAL ENTRY DUE – DUE DATE TBA

Be sure to follow the instructions! This is the most frequent criticism given to first-time Journal writers, so take guidelines with you when you go on-site to write your entry, and recheck guidelines before submitting this first Journal entry. DO use a notebook – no loose sheets of paper!

ORAL RESEARCH PRESENTATION TOPIC - DUE DATE TBA early-mid February

Submit one paragraph (typed, well-written and organized) which declares and defines the topic of the presentation. You will select a work or group of related works that will be seen in Venice, for an on-site presentation. A list of possible topics will be given you in a handout.

Do include a beginning Bibliography with at least three relevant sources (books, book chapters, articles – no wikipedia or other non-scholarly on-line sources!) – this will be an early introduction to your subsequent research, to be developed in the next assignment for the Presentation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND TWO CRITIQUES DUE – TBA

Submit the complete Bibliography of your research for the oral presentation.

Include the two summary/critiques (ca. two pages each) of two of the most essential sources for your topic – specialized articles or book chapters.

OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION DUE - TBA

Submit the finished outline of your oral presentation, indicating the works of art you will discuss, ideas and interpretations discovered through your research, scholarly debates and your own visual analysis and conclusions. Do include: comparative examples, handouts, and final bibliography.

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REVIEW FOR MIDTERM EXAMINATION

A discussion of study and readings so far. Be prepared to discuss, among others, the following topics and questions: the deliberate creation of a Venetian self-identity; how did the Renaissance arrive in Venice? Bellini’s contribution; the nature of the Venetian altarpiece; private paintings for devotion and pleasure; light and color. The interconnections with other cultures, Northern and Eastern. The nature of patronage and how it changes over time; the status of the artist in society. What makes Venetian art Venetian?

A few sample questions will give you an idea of what to expect on the examination. Guidelines and Monument Lists will be provided in advance, though you should also have your own notes!

MIDTERM EXAMINATION

The examination will be held in class – one hour.

The Midterm will consist of questions with slides: Identifications, Comparisons, “Unknown”

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VENICE STUDY VISIT

and ORAL RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS (ON-SITE)

Among sites to be visited!!!

Ducal Palace, Piazza di S. Marco, S. Marco, Accademia, Museo Correr, Churches of S. Zaccaria, the Frari, and the Scuole di S. Rocco and di S. Giorgio degli Schiavoni

Ample guidelines will be given in advance for both the visit and the Oral Research Presentation.

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Section III –

Byzantium, “The East” and Venice:

Belonging and separation in the formation of the city. S. Marco, icons, the Greek presence, real and invented. Byzantine origins celebrated in “The Third Rome” – art, architecture, devotion - objects and environment. Discussion of Hills, on color in Venice and the inspiration of its Byzantine formation. The Islamic traces, and their meaning, in the Palazzo Ducale

Readings:

Paul Hills, Venetian Colour, Chapter 2, “S. Marco: Marbles and Mosaics”

Rosand, Myth, Chapter 2, “The Peace of St. Mark”- recommended

Howard, on Palazzo Ducale and Islamic architecture

Section IV –

From Late Gothic traditions to Renaissance forms and aspirations:

Glittering Gothic mosaics, panels and frames; The particular Venetian vision of the past, Greek and Roman: Renaissance humanism in the art of  Jacopo Bellini and Andrea Mantegna; the recovery of antiquity in Venetian culture.

Readings:

PFB, Chapter 4, “A Pious People”

PFB, Venice and Antiquity, Chapter 6, “Distant Times, Nearby Places”

LP, TBA

PH, Chapter 1, “Early Renaissance,” to p. 81   ” – recommended

Section V –  

A new art of painting in Venice:

 Giovanni Bellini and Antonello da Messina, and intersections with art from Northern Europe. The development of devotional art: perspective, technique, light and color, sentiment, and relationship with the viewer. Flemish art, German art, Durer - and Venice.

Reading:

PFB, Chapter 5, “Private Worlds”

Exhibition Catalogue, ed. B. Aikema and B.L. Brown, Venice and the North, (Il Rinascimento a Venezia e la pittura del Nord ai tempi di Bellini, Durer, Tiziano) Palazzo Grassi, Venice, 1999 - Study reproductions in the catalogue, concentrating on a selected variety Northern and Venetian, especially from the later 15C and early 16C.

Section VI –

Giovanni Bellini, continued:

The mature and late production - devotional works, portraits, allegories and new subjects in his later work; Contemporaries, especially Cima da Conegliano. Techniques and colors in Venetian oil painting of the later Quattrocento. Discussion of Reading, especially Hills.

Readings:

PH, Chapter 1, 81-111

PFB, Chapter 2, “The Making of a Venetian World”

Paul Hills, “Bellini’s Colour,” Chapter 9 in The Cambridge Companion to Giovanni Bellini, ed. PH - recommended

Section VII –

The Narrative Chronicle, Actuality and Myth, in the great canvases for the “Scuole:”

A particular Venetian genre: Gentile Bellini, Carpaccio and others, creators of storied cycles for the Scoule (Confraternities of Guilds and Peoples) . Visions of Venice and Worlds Abroad. Discussion of PFB’s Chapters.

Readings:

Fortini Brown, Narrative Painting in the Age of Carpaccio selections (choose two) from Chapters 2, 3, 8 and 10

Section VIII –

Venice and Islam:

The Venetian attraction to Islamic culture, as evidenced in painting, sculpture, architecture and decorative arts. Mercantile trade and aesthetic interconnections between Venice and the East

Readings:

Exhibition Catalogue, Venice and the Islamic World, Palazzo Ducale, Venice, 2007 - Study reproductions in the catalogue, concentrating on a selected variety;

Essay in catalogue TBA

Deborah Howard, Venice and the East, Chapter 1

Section IX –

Venice painting as piety, poetry and commodity:

The art of Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione and Titian from the first years of the 16C. New formats, subjects and innovations; from artisanship to individual style.

Readings:

PH, Chapter 2, “High Renaissance,” to p. 149

Rosand, Venice in the Cinquecento, Introduction – recommended

Section X -

Giorgione: A new kind of Venetian art:

A poetic art for the discerning collector. The pastoral ideal, painting and poetry, the creative re-thinking of antique example in art and literature; problems of interpretation; new systems of patronage.

Readings:

Rosand, Places of Delight, “Giorgione, Venice, and the Pastoral Vision”

Fehl, “The Hidden Genre: A Study of the Concert Champêtre in   the Louvre,” Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, XVI (1957) – Jstor  -  recommended

Need Scan of P. Hoberton, Titian ‘500, on Concert Champetre

Vasari, “Life of Giorgione”in The Lives of the Artists - recommended

Stephen Campbell, “Giorgione’s ‘Tempest,’ ‘Studiolo’ Culture, and the Renaissance Lucretius, Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 56 (2003) Jstor - recommended

Section XI -

Titian’s career takes off:

You have been introduced to Titian already at  the Borghese Gallery; now we will explore his early works and those of some contemporaries, especially Sebastiano del Piombo, in the context of new artistic and societal demands in Venice. Topics will include: The early work of Titian in the shadow of Giorgione; his altarpieces in the Frari; painted poetry as a challenge to the ancients in the “poesie” for the Camerino of Alfonso d’Este

Readings:

PH, Chapter 2, 149-183

PFB, Chapter 6, “Caste, Class, and Gender”

Texts for Alfonso’s “poesie”: Ovid, Philostratus, et al. - handout

Rosand, “Titian and the Challenge of the Altarpiece,” in Painting in Cinquecento Venice - recommended

Section XII -

Images of women – real and ideal:

The “feminine” aspect of Venetian art, and political identity of Venice as Virgin/Venus. “Le Belle Donne,” and various interpretations. Representations of women in the work of Titian, Palma Vecchio and other Venetian artists; wives, lovers, courtesans? Painting beauty as a woman.

Readings:

Goffen, Titian’s Women, p 33 ff; 139-157

(alternatively for p. 33 ff, Goffen in Broude and Garrard, eds., The Expanding Discourse)

Elise Goodman-Soellner, “Poetic Interpretations of the ‘Lady at her Toilette’ Theme,” Sixteenth Century Journal, XIV (1983) – Jstor – recommended

Goffen, ed., Titian’s Venus of Urbino, 1997: various essays - recommended   

Section XIII -

Venice, Doge Gritti, Titian, and Sansovino:

Titian’s maturity in the 1530’s. An influx of a more monumental style from Central Italy and Mantua (Giulio Romano) and a new rival, Giovanni Antonio da Pordenone. Venice as Rome in the politics and culture of Doge Andrea Gritti.  The architectural projects for the  “civic center:” the Library and the Mint,  of Jacopo Sansovino.

Readings:

PH, 188-218

TBA - recommended

Section XIV –

Titian “Prince of Painters” and the Hapsburgs:

Imperial culture in Europe and Venice; From Titian’s portrait after Seisenegger (1532) of Charles V, through his portraits and other works for the Emperor and his son. Intersections and cross-currents between Venetian and German art and architecture.

Readings:

Fernando Checo, “Beyond Venice: Titian and the Spanish Court,” pp. 54-61, in Exhibition Catalogue, ed. S. Ferino-Pagden, Late Titian and the Sensuality of Painting, Venice and Vienna, 2007-2008

Venice and the North, exhibition catalogue, study relevant pictures and essays TBA

Section XV -

Titian, papal Rome, and work for the Farnese:

Very reluctantly, Titian leaves Venice and goes to Rome – what he sees, what he learns, and what he paints (also already from Venice) for the leading Roman family of Pope Paul III will be examined. Central Italian and Venetian art and theory at mid-century: Michelangelo vs. Titian – and Pietro Aretino.

Readings:

PH, Chapter 3, “Late Renaissance,” to p. 218

Other readings: TBA - recommended

Section XVI -

Other Artists of Venice and the Terraferma:

Palma Veccio, Savoldo, Paris Bordone, and especially Lorenzo Lotto. Lotto: a Venetian artist in Bergamo, the Marches, and Venice; His “eccentric vision,” Dominican devotion and patronage, and connections North and East. Those Islamic carpets, and Germanic “lack of grace.”

Readings:

PH, “Titian’s Contemporaries” and following, pp. 164-183

TBA: (essays to be selected) - catalogues Venice and the North, Venice and the Islamic World, and monograph by PH, Lorenzo Lotto

Section XVII –

Titian’s later mythologies for Philip II: TBA

TBA

COMPLETED JOURNAL DUE – ALL FOUR ENTRIES

Submit in addition to your first entry, three more carefully considered and on-site entries on works of Venetian art seen in Rome, Venice (or travels). Be sure to include all of your entries for the semester in a notebook.

Section XVIII -

Late Titian - Wisdom and Workshop:

By now, Titian is revered in Venice, but is also working especially for foreign princes and personages. Age has transformed his style and technique, and scholars discuss this new manner – does Titian’s late production represent the powerful vision of a senior of the art world? Is he too dependent on knowing shortcuts, or are these part of his mastery? Do these works demonstrate reliance on shopwork from assistants, or even constitute a collection of unfinished paintings, sometimes souped up by younger cohorts? We will continue discussion of the late Pietà in the Accademia, and investigate also other problematic late works, especially the Flaying of Marsyas.

Readings:

Texts on Titian’s method by his contemporaries: Aretino, Boschini, Vasari – handouts

Exhibition Catalogue, Late Titian, Venice and Vienna, 2007-2008 – reproductions,  essay TBA

S.J. Freedberg, Chapter 8, “Venice 1540-1600,” pp. 504-18, in  Painting in Italy 1500-1600 (Pelican History of Art) (1971/1993) – recommended

Section XIX –

Jacopo Tintoretto:

The later 16C in Venice: Jacopo Tintoretto and contemporaries. A new painterly swagger informed by “disegno” in Tintoretto’s great canvases, devotional, narrative, allegorical. The Turkish threat, the Venetian body politic, and the Battle of Lepanto.

Readings:

Rosand, “Action and Piety in Tintoretto’s Religious Pictures, “ in Painting in

Cinquecento Venice

Nichols, Tintoretto, Chapters 4 and 5 – recommended

Section XX –

Paolo Veronese and Andrea Palladio:

The later 16C in Venice and Northern Italy: Veronese, Palladio and the architecture and decoration of the villas of the Venetian landed gentry. The city turns to the country – the culture of the “terra ferma,”  leisure and luxury in an age of the decline of “La Serenissima.”

Readings:

PH, Chapter 3, from p. 238 to end

Rosand, “Theatre and Structure in the Art of Veronese,” in Painting in Cinquecento Venice

Last Class -

REVIEW for the Final Examination:

This review will be similar in structure to the Midterm review. Do keep in mind that the Final examination is CUMULATIVE, except for Part I, “Identifications,” and that there will be the addition of an hour essay on a theme of the course (you will have a choice of three to five essays).

FINAL EXAMINATION:

TBA,

DO NOT PLAN TO LEAVE ROME BEFORE May 5 !!!