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JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "AS 110-3"
COURSE NAME: "Drawing - Rome Sketchbook"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Spring 2025
SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Roberto Caracciolo
EMAIL: [email protected]
 HOURS: M9:00 AM 11:45 AM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES:
OFFICE HOURS:
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course makes use of the unparalleled resource that is the city of Rome itself; each class meets at a different site around the city. Students work in sketchbook form, creating over the course of the term a diary of visual encounters. Instruction, apart from brief discussions of the sites themselves, focuses on efficient visual note taking: the quick description of form, awareness of light and the development of volume in space. With practice and growing experience, students become capable of producing drawings governed by conscious intention.
SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:

SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:

Each class will be dedicated to a discussion of the work done during the week in the sketchbooks and to a brief presentation of the following week’s assignment, with an indication of particular issues to address while drawing. The rest of the time will be used to build upon the sketches, by changing scale and technique. Attention will be paid to developing a variety of skills: centering the subject on the page, the uses and the values of line, rendering form in light and dark, creating space and visual drama through various kinds of contrast, practical advice on perspective, specifying points of view, creating atmosphere, faces and figures from classical statuary and so on.

 

Each assignment will be about a specific site of historical and visual interest around Rome. Students will make drawings from observation in their sketchbooks creating a record of their experiences and of the places they are seeing.

Additional information:
1. The course involves working from direct observation.

2. The course may include visits involving an entry fee (this will depend upon regulations). These visits are held to a minimum and should not cost you more than a total of 25 euros over the semester.
3. The core activity is drawing directly from observation. No student will be able to meet the requirements of the course without working many hours outside of class.
4. The course is meant to be a framework allowing very free individual artistic choices. The lessons are meant to help students get started, but there is always room for creative alternatives.
5. Students must come to class on time because that is when the site is explained, and the day's drawing problem and other announcements are given.
6. On assignments, students need to dress appropriately: proper footwear, no bare shoulders in churches, warm clothing when the weather turns cold. Decorous behavior in public spaces.
7. If regulations change and we are able to meet on site, be sure to plan your morning itinerary in order to arrive promptly at the site at 9:00. Be alert for announcements of changes to the preliminary schedule below.

Materials:
Students buy their own art supplies. You need a bound (possibly not spiral or glued) notebook not less than 22 x 30 cm. The drawing instruments are up to you, but most students use a variety of pencils, or soft, dark graphite. You need erasers and a pencil sharpener. Ink, pens and brushes are fine, but optional. I don’t recommend your using soft charcoal or pastel, as the image quickly degrades in the sketchbook, even when you use fixative.

There is no textbook.

Art supply stores: Poggi (three locations, one in Trastevere on Via Merry del Val, just off Viale Trastevere, the other on Via Pie’ di Marmo, near the Pantheon and the third in Via Ripetta 24 not far from Piazza del Popolo); and Vertecchi, a chain with many branches, including one near Piazza di Spagna. Drawing supplies are commonly found in stationary stores (cartolerie); the Feltrinelli bookstores have Moleskin sketchbooks which hold up well.
 
 
 

LEARNING OUTCOMES:


LEARNING OUTCOMES:
By the end of the course students should be more visually alert to their surroundings, capable of careful observation, familiar with significant sites in Rome, and capable of representing what they see in both quick sketches and longer studies. They will have acquired skill using various technical approaches to drawing and knowledge about some traditions in drawing and painting.

TEXTBOOK:

NONE

REQUIRED RESERVED READING:

NONE


RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:

NONE

TEXTBOOK:
NONE
REQUIRED RESERVED READING:
NONE

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:
NONE
GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:
AssignmentGuidelinesWeight
Completed sketchbook of drawings done over the termGrading is based on a judgment of the contents of the sketchbook created over the semester and on the work done at the studio. Quantity of work produced is of great importance, since producing a large body of work by itself practically guarantees progress. Commitment, range of experimentation, resourcefulness, inventiveness, expressiveness, acuity of observation, concision, complexity, improvement, spatial clarity, and other aspects of technical skill and artistic quality are also considered.60
Attendance and punctualityUnjustified absences erode the grade, as repeated late arrivals.10
Progress over the semesterA clear demonstration that the issues and difficulties involved in drawing have been grasped and understood.30

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
AWork of this quality shows excellent mastery of the course content along with exceptional levels of technical skill, artistic awareness, originality, resourcefulness, commitment, quantity of work and improvement. There has been excellent collaboration and leadership in group projects, and there have been no attendance problems.
BA highly competent level of performance with work that directly addresses the content of the course, with a good quantity of work produced.
CAn acceptable level of performance: the work shows awareness of the course content, but is very limited in quantity, quality, commitment and skill.
DThe student lacks a coherent grasp of the course material and has failed to produce much work.
FNegligent in attendance, academic honesty, engagement with the course content, or production of work.
-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:
This course makes use of the unparalleled resource that is the city of Rome itself; each class meets at a different site around the city. Students work in sketchbook form, creating over the course of the term a diary of visual encounters. Instruction, apart from brief discussions of the sites themselves, focuses on efficient visual note taking: the quick description of form, awareness of light and the development of volume in space. With practice and growing experience, students become capable of producing drawings governed by conscious intention.
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

PROVISIONAL SCHEDULE by week, but stay alert for changes:


Week 1 (Monday Jan. 20) Introduction. Meet at JCU Art Studio, Largo dei Fiorentini, 1. Lesson: two opposed languages of drawing, line vs. tonal value. Discussion of materials. Walk to art supply store to get all the necessary materials.

Week 2 (Monday Jan. 27) Meet at the Campidoglio (the piazza of the Capitoline Hill, up the big stairs to the south of P.za Venezia. Lesson: view-finding, thumbnail sketches. Assignment 1: Ten fast sketches.

 

Week 3 (Monday Feb. 3) Meet at Santa Sabina on the Aventino. (From school walk to the other side of the river at Tiber Island, then continue south past S. Maria in Cosmedin; after the main street leading to the Circo Massimo turn left up a little pathway called the Clivio di Rocca Savella leading from the river to the Aventine hill. Past the famous orange grove you will find the big parking lot of S. Sabina. Wait there.) No bare shoulders or shorts in this or other churches. Lesson devoted to solving problems of perspective.

Assignment 2: Five sketches of perspectives.

MAKE UP CLASS for April 21st (Friday Feb. 7) Meet at 9:00 at the entrance to the Centrale Montemartini, in Via Ostiense 106 (23 bus line will get you there). Bring bus tickets. Entry fee or MIC Card. Drawing objects in contest.


Week 4 (Monday Feb. 10) Meet by the fountain of the Triton in Piazza Barberini. We will be looking at the Baroque by seeing the Ecstasy of Saint Theresa by Bernini and the church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane by Borromini. Drawing greater complexity.

Assignment 3: Slower drawings that include more information.

 

Week 5 (Mon. Feb. 17) Meet in Piazza del Campidoglio. We will be drawing inside the Capitoline museum. Entrance fee or MIC Card. We will be drawing from the past , with a particular attention to shading.

Assignment 4: Five drawings with light and shadows, with high contrast of light and dark (even a still life with a spot light on it).

 

Week 6 (Mon. Feb. 24) Meet at Trajan's Market. Past Piazza Venezia, past Trajan's Column, and up the steps. Drawing lesson on clarifying point of view: looking up and looking down. Entry fee or MIC Card.

Assignment 5: Five Roman views (can one still find a way to be personal in a city that has been depicted so many times before?)

 

Week 7 (Mon. March 3) Meet at the JCU Art Studio in Largo dei Fiorentini, 1 for a mid-term review of work done so far.

Assignment: Continue drawing during the break. Use the sketchbook to create a visual diary.


BREAK

 

Week 8 (Mon. Mar. 17) Meet at Piazza Mattei (the “Turtle Fountain”). Off Via Arenula, near Largo Argentina, take Via dei Falegnami. A series of figure drawing exercises, with attention to negative space.

Assignment 6: Three figures from the past.

 

Week 9 (Mon. Mar. 24) Meet at Guarini entry, and we walk from there to Tiber Island. Solving problems in cityscape, landscape, riverscape, water, atmosphere.

Assignment 8: Draw during the break, on your travels.

 

Week 10 (Mon. Mar. 31) Meet at Guarini entry; we’ll go up the Gianicolo to Bramante’s Tempietto at S. Pietro in Montorio. Drawing architecture, round forms in perspective, also views over the city.

Assignment 9: Views of Rome.


Week 11 (Mon. April 7) Meet at Ponte Sant’Angelo, under the Castel Sant'Angelo. Drawing focuses movement of people within a given sight, catching a glimpse of figures today in relation to the still figures of the past.

Assignment 10: Everyday life in Rome.

 

Week 12 (Mon. April 14) Orto Botanico; meet at Guarini entry, and we walk from there. Entry fee 6 euros. "Scribble drawings"; observation of nature.

Assignment 11: Drawing from nature.

 

Week 13 MONDAY APRIL 21st NO CLASS

 

Week 14 (Mon. April 28) Final meeting at JCU Art Studio, Largo dei Fiorentini, 1. Group critique. Appointments made for individual meetings that take the place of a final exam.

 

May 5 ? Final One-on-one scheduled reviews.