Renaissance Art 1: Donatello to Leonardo

Subject 107-242 (2009)

Note: This is an archived Handbook entry from 2009. Search for this in the current handbook

Credit Points: 12.50
Level: 2 (Undergraduate)
Dates & Locations:

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2009:

Semester 1, - Taught on campus.
Pre-teaching Period Start not applicable
Teaching Period not applicable
Assessment Period End not applicable
Last date to Self-Enrol not applicable
Census Date not applicable
Last date to Withdraw without fail not applicable


Timetable can be viewed here. For information about these dates, click here.
Time Commitment: Contact Hours: A 1-hour lecture and a 1-hour tutorial per week
Total Time Commitment: 2 contact hours/week , 6.5 additional hours/week. Total of 8.5 hours per week.
Prerequisites: Usually 12.5 pts of first year Art History or first year European Studies
Corequisites: None
Recommended Background Knowledge: None
Non Allowed Subjects: None
Core Participation Requirements:

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

Coordinator

Prof Jaynie Louise Anderson

Contact

Jaynie Anderson
email: jaynie@unimelb.edu.au
Subject Overview: The subject focuses in depth on the art and culture of Renaissance Italy, especially Florence during the fifteenth century. In part we will examine the lives and works of Donatello, Masaccio,Verrocchio, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci and others, in relation to the artistic theories of the period and the models they set for later artistic cultures. The subject will explore the critical interpretations of works of art, spectatorship, patronage, the place of art in daily life in Renaissance Florence, the scientific analysis of works of art, restoration history and workshop practice.
Objectives:
  • have an understanding of the contexts in which the art of the period was produced;
  • have a broad understanding of the technical and stylistic achievements of the major practitioners of the Italian Renaissance;
  • have developed critical and analytical skills appropriate to the study of the art of this period.
Assessment: A seminar report of 500 words 15% (due during the semester), an essay of 1500 words 35% (due during the semester), and a take-home exam of 2000 words 50% (during the examination period). Note: Assessment submitted late without an approved formal extension will be penalised at 2% per day. Students who fail to submit up to 2-weeks after the final due date without a formal extension and special consideration will receive a fail grade for the piece of assessment.
Prescribed Texts: A subject reader will be available.
Recommended Texts: Leon Battista Alberti, On Painting and On Sculpture: The Latin Texts of De Pictura and De Statua translated by Cecil Grayson, London, 1972. Paul Barolsky, Why Mona Lisa smiles and other Tales by Vasari, Pennsylvania, 1991. Michael Baxandall, Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy: a primer in the social history of pictorial style, Oxford, 1972. Jill Dunkerton and others, Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery: Early European Painting in the National Gallery of London, Yale University Press, 1991 Michelle O’Malley, The Business of Art. Contracts and Commissioning Process in the Renaissance, New Haven, 2005. C.M. Richardson, K.W.Woods & M. Franklin, Renaissance Art Reconsidered: An Anthology of Primary Sources, Blackwells John Shearman, Only Connect: Art and the Spectator in the Italian Renaissance, Princeton, 1992. Giorgio Vasari, The Lives of the Artists; translated with an introduction and notes by Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella., Oxford 1991. Evelyn Welch, Shopping in the Renaissance. Consumer Cultures in Italy. New Haven, 2005 E.velyn Welch, Art in Renaissance Italy, 1350-1500 Oxford University Press
Breadth Options:

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

Fees Information: Subject EFTSL, Level, Discipline & Census Date
Generic Skills:
  • be able to research through the competent use of the library and other information sources, and be able to define areas of inquiry and methods of research in the preparation of essays;
  • be able to conceptualise theoretical problems, form judgements and arguments and communicate critically, creatively and theoretically through essay writing, tutorial discussion and presentations;
  • be able to communicate knowledge intelligibly and economically through essay writing and tutorial discussion;
  • be able to manage and organise workloads for recommended reading, the completion of essays and assignments and examination revision;
  • be able to participate in team work through involvement in syndicate groups and group discussions.
Related Course(s): Diploma in Arts (Art History)
Related Majors/Minors/Specialisations: Art History
Art History
Art History
Art History Major

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