The students must demonstrate good basic knowledge in humanities, in particular in history of art and history for the period between Late Antiquity and the beginning of the 15th century; good skills in understanding and using properly art-historical terminology are also required. Formally no other prerequisite is requested.

The course aims to outline the main features of the history of Medieval arts in Europe and Byzantium from Late Antique and the origins of Christian art in the Roman Empire up to the end of the Romanesque period (4th-12th century), a span of time generally labelled as “Dark Ages”. During classes, we will focus on key monuments and objects, considering a range of artistic media (architecture and monumental painting and sculpture; metalwork; stained glass; ivory carving; manuscript illumination). This rich material will be analyzed in its historical context, questioning how medieval art was made, used and perceived by medieval people. Matters related to materiality and craftsmanship, patronage and devotion, cult and cross-cultural exchange will be considered.

The course classes will focus on issues of periodization and artistic geography aimed at offering a specific preparation in the historical-artistic field. Particular attention will be paid to methodology problems, both to broaden the notions of the textbook (primary bibliography), and to acquire a good ability to apply analysis tools.

The course aims to make students acquiring tools for correct reading, analysis, philological and technical reconstruction of art works of the medieval period. Students must prove familiarity with art works, styles and iconography; they must acquire ability in identifying relationships between art works and/or artists and in outlining, in the respective periods, referring areas and contexts.

At the end of the course, students must: acquire a basic knowledge of the development of mediaeval art; fully understand the problems of periodisation and the most important historiographical issues; acquire a full awareness of problems in defining cultural areas of medieval artistic production; acquire direct knowledge of the most representative art works; learn how to recognise the art works (well- and less-known ones) and be able to contextualise, analyse and narrate them with adequate specialised vocabulary and self-confidence in judgement skill.

The course will develop with face-to-face lectures during which powerpoint presentations will be projected.

. Attending students:

Attendance and participation to classes: 20%; oral exam: 80%.

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II. Non-attending students: oral exam: 100%.

Professor Manuela De Giorgi meets students by appointment mailing to manuela.degiorgi@unisalento.it.

The teaching programme of the course will develop the following topics:

- Introduction to Early Christianity and the Age of Constantine: Christian basilicas; early Christian architecture in Milan and Europe;

- Catacombs and sarcophagi; monumental decoration of sacred spaces;

- Byzantium-‘New Rome’: the Age of Justinian; Ravenna: the art of mosaic and the ‘Byzantine’ Italy;

- The art(s) of the ‘Barbarians’ in Europe: architecture and visual culture in Europe;

- Carolingian Renaissance and Ottonian art; illuminated manuscripts and minor arts (8th-11th century);

- The evolving concept of ‘sacred image’; European art between Byzantine Christianity and Islamic influence;

- The raise of Romanesque architecture: historical outline and the European context; Romanesque art and architecture in Italy: a ‘new’ geography;

- Romanesque cathedrals; the role of Venice; Norman Sicily;

- Sculpture and monumental decoration in Romanesque period;

- The role of the Benedictines in European art between in the 10th-12th century;

- Montecassino; the status of the artist;

- Pilgrimage and art in the Middle Ages.

I. Attending students:

- M. Stokstad, Medieval Art, 2nd ed., Boulder: Westview Press, 2004, pp. 1-226.

 

PLEASE NOTE that textbook is COMPULSORY.

 

Secondary bibliography:

- J.G.J. Alexander, Medieval illuminators and their methods of work, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992 (selected parts);

- J. Elsner, «The Birth of Late Antiquity: Riegl and Strzygowski in 1901», in Art History 25 (2002), pp. 358-379;

- R. Nelson, «Living on the Byzantine Borders of Western Art», in Gesta 35 (1996), pp. 3-11;

- I. Weinryb, «Hildesheim Avant-Garde: Bronze, Columns, and Colonialism», in Speculum 93 (2018), pp. 728-782.

 

PLEASE NOTE that PDF of the above-listed readings will be available during the course, partly on the course webpage in the MATERIALE DIDATTICO section, partly on demand mailing to manuela.degiorgi@unisalento.it. Students attending course MUST select at least one secondary reading.

 

For the preparation of the exam, it is a good practice to use compendia, dictionaries and similar material to considered helpful also for next art history courses included in the degree course; for this purpose, a useful working tool is:

The Enciclopedia dell’Arte Medievale, 12 vols., Roma: Treccani, 1991-2002, is an useful tool for further readings (available on-line https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/elenco-opere/Enciclopedia_dell%27_Arte_Medievale and in printed version at the Beni Culturali Departmental Library).

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II. Non-attending students:

Non-attending students, to successfully completed the course, MUST read all references of the Secondary bibliography.