Course Syllabus

JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "AH 296"
COURSE NAME: "Italian High Renaissance Art"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Spring 2020

SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Carolyn Smyth
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS: TTH 4:30-5:45 PM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES: Partially on-site; mandatory 3-day trip to Florence
OFFICE HOURS: TBA

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
An extension of the study of Italian art and architecture in the Renaissance through the second half of the 15th century into the first three decades of the 16th. The works of Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Pollaiuolo, and others will be studied, along with works by those whose innovations initiated the High Renaissance style: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Bramante, and Raphael. Site visits are an essential part of the course and may require a fee.

SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:

Description of the Course:

It would not be hyperbolic to state that the period in Italy from ca. 1470-1520 was a moment in which art and architecture represented one of the most crucial areas of human endeavor. Art in the High Renaissance was regarded not as a gratuitous luxury or ornament to society, but as an integral part of religious worship, intellectual inquiry, and the fabric of the state. The importance given to the visual arts by popes and rulers, writers and thinkers, churchmen and businessmen, and of course, by artists themselves was immense, and the aesthetic and intellectual level achieved in painting, sculpture and architecture was nothing less than stupendous. This course will investigate this phenomenon, in an effort not only to appraise and to understand individual artworks, but also to examine who how art in this period was considered of vital interest to society, religion, investigative thought and political persuasion.

We will examine the works of some of the most accomplished figures of Western culture –Botticelli, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Bramante, to name only a few – and the intellectual movements and social contexts in which these artists lived. The foundations of the High Renaissance begin largely, though not exclusively, in Florence. These explorations gather momentum as Central Italian artists, in Rome, lend their talents to the spiritual and imperial ambitions of the papal court. High Renaissance artists and their patrons, along with influential men of letters, address the culture of the ancient past with renewed rigor and sophistication. Religious belief and doctrine, as well as the authority of the popes, are being defined and also challenged. In narrative cycles, altarpieces, mythologies and allegories, portraiture, ecclesiastical and civic building, some of the best minds of the period are enlisted to express contemporary ideas and debates.

Wölfflin’s denomination of this cultural production as “Classic Art” is descriptive of a style that established the perfect balance between natural observation and ideal form. Also “classic” is the attention given by High Renaissance artists and patrons to the precedent of ancient Rome: in literary movements and antiquarianism, in formal style and motifs, in the recreation of the plan of ancient Rome. Already in the Early Renaissance the humanist enterprise of reassessing and appropriating, for contemporary purposes, ancient achievement was underway. In High Renaissance Rome, especially during the ambitious papacy of Julius II della Rovere, study of the ancient splendor of Rome was part of a program of “renovation,” as both model and legitimization of papal power.

Some of the topics to be addressed will include: Medici culture in Florence and Neoplatonism; the rise of Savonarola and his legacy in religious art; continuity in della Rovere patronage between Sixtus IV and Julius II; private patronage in palace and chapel; public sculpture as commemoration and civic pride; the study of nature and art as science; portraiture as social image and speaking likeness; spatial illusion and new relationships beween art and the viewer; architectural theory and practice; the developing role of the artist in society; and the formation of the papal image through art and architecture.

This course meets twice a week, and so is mostly in the classroom, though we will have a few on-site classes to monuments, churches and museums here in Rome; the Journal assignment will get you out and about to look on your own. In addition, there will be a weekend trip to Florence to examine painting, sculpture and architecture of the High Renaissance in person, often within the original context. (Weekend in Florence: from Friday 10:00 – Sunday ca. 12:00, exact dates TBA.)

AH296 / Italian High Renaissance Art

C. Smyth / Spring 2020

Selected Readings

Below is a selected list of some of the readings that will be required or recommended for the course; chapters and sections will be specified on the final schedule, along with adjustments and additions - forthcoming.

“TEXTBOOKS”

While there is no textbook for the class, assignments will be given to you from the following general books, especially Campbell and Cole, and Hartt and Wilkins.

- Stephen Campbell and Michael Cole, A New History of Renaissance Art, London: Thames and Hudson, 2017 REF N6915.C2832017

- Frederick Hartt and David Wilkins, History of Italian Renaissance Art, Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall (7^th ed.), 2011. N6915.H37 2011

- John Paoletti and Gary Radke, Art in Renaissance Italy, Lawrence King, 2001 N6915.P24

- Loren Partridge, The Art of the Renaissance in Rome, 1400-1600, Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 1996 N6920.P277

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR AH296

- Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Artists (1568) (various editions in the library)

- Phyllis Bober and Ruth Rubinstein, Renaissance Artists and Antique Sculpture: A Handbook of Sources, H.Miller/Oxford University Press (1986) 1991 REF NB85.B97

- Wolfgang Lotz, Architecture in Italy 1500-1600 (1975), New Haven, 1995 (revised ed.) NA1115.L666

- Peter Partner, Renaissance Rome 1500-59, Berkeley and Los Angeles, (1976), 1979, DG812.P37

- David Coffin, The Villa in the Life of Renaissance Rome, Princeton, 1979 NA7755.C6

- Ingrid Rowland, “’Render Unto Caesar’…. The Patronage of Agostino Chigi,” Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 39, 1986, pp. 673-93 JStor

- Michael Baxandall, Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy, Oxford University Press, (1972) 1988 ND615.B32

- Leo Steinberg, Leonardo’ Incessant Last Supper, N.Y., 2001, 19-53 ND623.L5A683

- Martin Kemp, The Marvelous Works of Nature and Man, Oxford, 2006 N6923.L33 K45

- Michael Cole, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and the Art of the Figure, New Haven and London: Yale UP, 2014 ND1293.I8 C65

- Gail Geiger, Filippino Lippi’s Carafa Chapel, Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers, 1986 ND2757.R6G34

- William Wallace,”Michelangelo’s Risen Christ,” The Sixteenth Century Journal, 28, no. 4 (1997), 1251-80 JStor

- Leo Steinberg, “Metaphors of Love and Birth in Michelangelo’s Pietàs,” in Studies in Erotic Art, ed. T. Bowie, N.Y., 1970 N8217.E6S8

- Howard Hibbard, Michelangelo, Penguin, 1985. ND623.B9H25

- William Wallace, Michelangelo: The Complete Sculpture, Painting, Architecture, NY: Hugh Later Levin, 1998 N6923.B9 W35 1998

- William Wallace, Michelangelo: The Artist, the Man, and His Times, Cambridge UP, 2010 eBook, N6923.M4.5W35

- Alexander Nagel, Michelangelo and the Reform of Art, NY and Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2000. N6923.B9 N34

- Roger Jones and Nicholas Penny, Raphael, New Haven and London, 1993 N6923.R333J6.

- Charles Seymour, A Search for Identity; Michelangelo’s David, NY., (1967) 1974 NB623.B9S49

- Loren Partridge, The Sistine Chapel Ceiling, N.Y., 1996 ND2757.V35P37

- Charles de Tolnay, Michelangelo, vol. II: The Sistine Ceiling, Princeton, (1945) 1969 N6923.B9D

- Timothy Verdon, “Pagans in the Church,” and Ingrid Rowlands, “The Intellectual Background of the School of Athens,” in: Raphael’s School of Athens, ed. Marcia Hall, Cambridge, 1997 ND623.R2A7

- John Shearman, “Only Connect…”, Princeton University Press, 1992 N6915.S54

- Elizabeth Cropper, “On Beautiful Women, Parmigianino, Petrarchismo, and the Vernacular Style,” Art Bulletin, vol. 58, no. 3 (September 1976), 274-294 – JStor

- Philip Sohm, “Gendered Style In Italian Art Criticism from Michelangelo to Malvasia,” Renaissance Quarterly, 48 (Winter 1995) JStor

- Robert Williams, Raphael and the Redefinition of Art in Renaissance Italy, Cambridge UP, 2017 N6923.R3 W55 2017

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

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 High Renaissance art through a study of major works. Ready recognition of selected works, and knowledge of relevant factual information.

- Command of problems of interpretation in relation to the study of selected works; basic familiarity with subject matter and iconography, function, patronage and purpose.

- An understanding of different art historical methodologies and views of the period through selected readings by major scholars in the field.

- A familiarity with some contemporary sources and writings on High Renaissance art.

- A basic understanding of the historical, political and social context in which this art and architecture was produced and in which artists and architects were formed.

- Development of critical thinking about art and art history through course readings, assignments and class discussion

- Improved research skills through use of not simply the JCU library (and ideally, others in Rome), Jstor, and use of bibliographical sources, published and electronic.

- 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.

TEXTBOOK:

Book Title	Author	Publisher	ISBN number	Library Call Number	Comments	Format	Local Bookstore	Online Purchase
Please turn to the Course Description	for a preliminary list of Readings	You will receive	on the first day of class	an updated list

REQUIRED RESERVED READING:

Book Title	Author	Publisher	ISBN number	Library Call Number	Comments
For the first day of class	There will be a schedule with readings	and discussion of the reading requirements	XXXXXX

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:

Book Title	Author	Publisher	ISBN number	Library Call Number	Comments
Please refer to the Description	for readings	the modules here	are problematic for AH courses

GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:

Assignment	Guidelines	Weight
Midterm Examination	You will be asked to identify slides, and to write comparative essays on pairs of slides. In addition, you will be shown a slide of a work probably not familiar to you, to analyze and to compare to known works. A “Monument List” will be given to you in anticipation of the exam as well as more detailed instructions. All works on the List will be drawn from the textbook, except works seen on visits.	15%
Final Examination	Exact date and time to be announced mid-semester. The Final Examination will follow the same format as the Midterm: a monument list will also be provided as above. This exam will include in addition an essay question which will propose a theme interrelating various works and issues discussed during the semester, as well as readings. NB: DO NOT make plans to leave Rome before the last day of exams!	20%
Journal - On-site Analyses	There are several notable works of High Renaissance art in collections and churches in Rome (and elsewhere) for you to examine. The Journal should consist of four entries, each including a carefully considered analysis of a single work of art which is you have studied attentively and in person, not simply in reproduction. It is important that entries be written on the spot, since ideas develop as you write and look in context. A list of possible candidates for topics will be made available. The Journal is an informal but significant written assignment in which skills developed so far in the course may be demonstrated, and your learning progress made evident. Several paintings, sculptures and reliefs, and works of architecture should be addressed. More detailed instructions, including suggested lists of sites and works, and format and procedure, will be given to you immediately.	15%
Comparative Paper	Select two works of art or architecture from the period under investigation (ca. 1470 – 1530), and write a succinct, well-organized essay comparing the similarities and differences presented by their juxtaposition, and what this reveals about the attitudes of the artists/architects and context in which they were produced. Your two selections should be similar in some fundamental way: subject matter, function, or date, for example. Some research will be essential for this assignment, but stress will be on your own visual analysis and clarity of argument. You might want to choose a work from the textbook, from visits, the Journal, or readings, and “match” it with another appropriate work for comparison. One work must be from outside the textbook. Guidelines will be provided in anticipation of the assignment.	15%
Oral Research Presentation	Each student will select a work of art or architecture in Florence, and perform in-depth research to present to the class during our weekend visit. In addition to basic “facts” on your monument, you should also review scholarly articles and books and be able to discuss the relevant historical context, visual and textual sources, patronage, interpretation, and other art historical issues. The presentation will be assessed for the depth of your visual analysis, research, organization, use of handouts or supplementary material, presentation style, and engagement. Each presenter will also submit, at their talk, and outline and a final bibliography of specialized literature on the topic.	25%
Active Class Participation	Be sure to have completed the assigned readings before each class – these will consist of the textbook section, and the selected supplementary readings. Attendance is naturally a requirement of the course, since much material will be presented in lectures and discussions which is not available in the readings. More than two absences will lower your grade – keep in mind that this class is a double period. Active participation and discussion in class and visits is of course toward your benefit for the grade – but also, helpful contributions and questions relevant to the material under consideration also make the class more interesting and lively for all of us.	10%

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
AWork of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensive knowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant amount of reading beyond that required for the course.
BThis is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised.There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluatetheory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture andreference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments.
CThis is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.
DThis level of performances demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material.Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included.In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.
FThis work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.

-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:
ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS AND EXAMINATION POLICY
You cannot make-up a major exam (midterm or final) without the permission of the Dean’s Office. The Dean’s Office will grant such permission only when the absence was caused by a serious impediment, such as a documented illness, hospitalization or death in the immediate family (in which you must attend the funeral) or other situations of similar gravity. Absences due to other meaningful conflicts, such as job interviews, family celebrations, travel difficulties, student misunderstandings or personal convenience, will not be excused. Students who will be absent from a major exam must notify the Dean’s Office prior to that exam. Absences from class due to the observance of a religious holiday will normally be excused. Individual students who will have to miss class to observe a religious holiday should notify the instructor by the end of the Add/Drop period to make prior arrangements for making up any work that will be missed. The final exam period runs until ____________

ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation to the President, who will make the final decision.

STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap. Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.

SCHEDULE

Schedule of Classes

Specific dates are forthcoming.

Readings are subject to some changes; in particular, updates including the assignments from the more recent textbook by Campbell and Cole.

Introduction

An introduction to the course and assignments. A visit to Bramante’s ” Tempietto” for an introduction to what we mean by “High Renaissance;” then a look inside the church of S. Pietro in Montorio.

Review of the syllabus, discussion of what lies ahead in the course.

The Later 15C in Florence

The principles of Renaissance art as developed in the second half of the Quattrocento by such painters and sculptors as Verrocchio, the Pollaiuolo, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio. These include: one-point perspective, contrapposto and motion, drawing as study and preparation, the observation of nature, attitudes toward the antique in form and motif, humanism in Florence, some basic Christian themes, and some innovative secular ones.

A close look at a few selected artworks will introduce contextual issues: patronage, function, ideological and religious messages, and a consideration of Renaissance expectations (as opposed to our own).

Required Reading:

- Hartt and Wilkins (henceforth “HW”), Introduction: Italy and Italian Art; Chapters 13 and Chapter 14, pp. 375-389

- Michael Baxandall, Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy, Oxford University Press, (1972) 1988: Chapter 1 ND615.B32

Leonardo

A painter, scientist, engineer, and courtier – among other accomplishments – Leonardo da Vinci was regarded as a genius even in his own lifetime: you will read Vasari’s mid-16C description of his life, achievements and nearly demonic character. An investigation of his paintings, drawings, sculptural and architectural designs, projects and inventions in the contemporary context of Florence and Milan will illuminate his essential contribution to the High Renaissance.

Required Reading:

- HW, Chapter 16

- Giorgio Vasari, “Life of Leonardo,” in his Lives of the Artists (1568) (various editions in the library)

Recommended Reading:

- Leo Steinberg, Leonardo’ Incessant Last Supper, N.Y., 2001, 19-53 ND623.L5A683

- Martin Kemp, The Marvelous Works of Nature and Man, Oxford, 2006, Chapter I, “Leonardo da Firenze” N6923.L33 K45

Rome in the Later Quattrocento

Visit: S. Maria sopra Minerva (Friday Morning)

We will concentrate on Filippino Lippi’s frescoes in the Carafa Chapel, and Michelangelo’s Risen Christ, in this important Dominican church near the Pantheon.

Required Reading:

- Gail Geiger, Filippino Lippi’s Carafa Chapel, Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers, 1986, ESP. Introduction, pp. 10-29 and Chapter 3 “The Triumph,” pp. 89-113 ND2757.R6G34

- William Wallace,”Michelangelo’s Risen Christ,” The Sixteenth Century Journal, 28, no. 4 (1997), 1251-80 (JStor)

Rome in the Later Quattrocento, con:

Patterns of papal patronage established by the first della Rovere pope, Sixtus IV (1471-84) will be examined. Some works will include: the wall decorations of the Sistine Chapel, Melozzo’s “frontispiece” for the Vatican Library, Pinturicchio’s Roman career, the study and collection of antiquities, papal tombs, the development of civic institutions and the urban design of the city.

Required Reading:

- HW, Chapter 14, pp. 369-78

- Loren Partridge, The Art of the Renaissance in Rome, 1400-1600, Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 1996 – Introduction; Chapter 1, pp. 18-26; Chapter 2, pp. 42-49; Chapter 3, pp. 60-68; Chapter 5, pp. 115-20 N6920.P277

- John Paoletti and Gary Radke, Art in Renaissance Italy, Lawrence King, 2001, pp. 320-30 N6915.P24

Recommended Reading:

- Peter Partner, Renaissance Rome 1500-59, Berkeley and Los Angeles, (1976), 1979, Introduction, pp. 3-23 DG812.P37

The Early Careers of Michelangelo and Raphael

Michelangelo’s formative period in the Medici household, his first works in Rome (the Pietà, the Bacchus), and his Florentine career to 1506 (the tondi, David, and Battle of Anghiari).

Raphael’s beginnings in Urbino and Perugia, and paintings in Florence, especially Madonnas, to 1508. Particular attention will be given to exploring, in the art of each artist, their debt to Leonardo, antiquity, and natural observation, and to interpretation of selected works.

Required Reading:

- HW, Chapter 16, pp. 469-83

- Leo Steinberg, “Metaphors of Love and Birth in Michelangelo’s Pietàs,” in Studies in Erotic Art, ed. T. Bowie, N.Y., 1970, pp. 231-39. N8217.E6S8

- Michael Cole, Chapter 1, “The Force of Art,” in: Leonardo, Michelangelo and the Art of the Figure, Yale UP, 2014

Recommended Reading:

- Howard Hibbard, Michelangelo, Penguin, 1985 (a general handbook) ND623.B9H25

- Roger Jones and Nicholas Penny, Raphael, New Haven and London, 1993, pp. 1-47 (concise text, with many illustrations) N6923.R333J6

- Charles Seymour, A Search for Identity; Michelangelo’s David, NY., (1967) 1974, pp. 1-66 and especially pp. 141-157 NB623.B9S49

Michelangelo makes his mark in Rome:

The Pietà and The Sistine Ceiling

Michelangelo’s Pietà and an examination of the frescoes for the vault of the Sistine Chapel.

Required Reading:

- HW, Chapter 17, pp, 503-21

- Loren Partridge, The Sistine Chapel Ceiling, N.Y., 1996 (a small book of good reproductions and intelligent, succinct commentary) ND2757.V35P37

Recommended Reading:

Charles de Tolnay, Michelangelo, vol. II: The Sistine Ceiling, Princeton, (1945) 1969 (take a look at Tolnay’s classic work – one of five volumes – in order to understand his approach.) N6923.B9D

Visit: S. Pietro in Vincoli – Friday Morning

Michelangelo’s ill-fated tomb for Pope Julius II ended up not in St. Peter’s, as he had planned, but in his titular church (the basilica associated with his Cardinal’s title). We will examine the Moses in the context of the history of the tomb, Julius’ intentions, and the final monument.

STUDY VISIT TO FLORENCE: TBA

ORAL RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS (to be scheduled)

Sites will include: the Church of S. Maria Novella; S. Lorenzo, the Medici Chapel and Laurentian Library; the museums of the Uffizi, Bargello, and Academia; and more!

The Papacy Triumphant: Julius II (1503-13) and the High Renaissance in Rome

Emphasis will be given to the development of the Vatican Palace and St. Peter’s under Julius and his successors. We will consider: the significance and history of the site, the development of Bramante’s plan and later construction of the Vatican basilica under Michelangelo, the Cortile Belvedere and statue court, papal collecting, and other related topics.

Required Reading:

- HW, Chapter 17, 493-503

- Wolfgang Lotz, Architecture in Italy 1500-1600 (1975), New Haven, 1995 (revised ed.), 10-25 NA1115.L666

Recommended Reading:

- Phyllis Bober and Ruth Rubinstein, Renaissance Artists and Antique Sculpture: A Handbook of Sources, H.Miller/Oxford University Press (1986) 1991 (explore this significant reference volume) REF NB85.B97

FRIDAY Morning – On-site visit: Villa Farnesina

Visit: Villa Farnesina

Next door to John Cabot is one of the wonders of Renaissance Rome: the pleasure villa built for the Sienese banker Agostino Chigi, the Villa Farnesina. By exploring the villa, and the architecture by Baldassare Peruzzi , and paintings by Raphael, Peruzzi, Sebastiano del Piombo and il Sodoma, we will try to imagineRoman life here in the 1510’s, including the lavish entertainments which were attended by friends, Cardinals and popes.

Required Reading:

- David Coffin, The Villa in the Life of Renaissance Rome, Princeton, 1979, pp. 86-110 (on the Villa Farnesina) NA7755.C6

- Ingrid Rowland, “’Render Unto Caesar’…. The Patronange of Agostino Chigi,” Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 39, 1986, pp. 673-93 (the first section on the Villa Farnesina) JStor

Raphael and the Stanze, and other Roman works

In the decoration for the private library of Julius II – the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican Palace – Raphael creates a serene classicism which he gradually elaborates and transforms in the subsequent frescoes for the other rooms in the papal apartments: the Stanza d’Eliodoro, Stanza del Incendio, and the Sala di Costantino (completed by his assistant Giulio Romano). The iconographical programs for these paintings reflect, too, the use of art for the promotion of papal identity and authority. Also to be discussed will be selected altarpieces (the Sistine Madonna and the Transfiguration), portraiture, the cartoons for the Sistine Chapel tapestries, his commissions for Agostino Chigi, as well as his architectural projects and archaeological interests in the reconstruction of ancient Rome.

Required Reading:

- HW, Chapter 17, 529-47

Pick one:

- Ingrid Rowlands, “The Intellectual Background of the School of Athens,” in Raphael’s School of Athens, ed. Marcia Hall, Cambridge, 1997, pp. 131-170 ND623.R2A76

- Timothy Verdon, “Pagans in the Church,” pp. 114-30

Recommended Readings:

- John Shearman, “Only Connect…”, Princeton University Press, 1992, Chapter V “History, and Energy,” pp. 192-226 N6915.S54

Final Examination – May 4-8 (exact exam date and time TBA)

NB: Do not make plans to leave Rome and JCU before May 9!

Anticipated travel plans will not be considered as valid excuses for examination absence, and “pre-make-ups” are out of the question as an option for such reasons.