a bibliography || oral presentation ideas || the guilds || glossary

ART IN THE TIME OF DANTE: SYLLABUS
by Jennifer Ball

Week 1: Introduction

  • Course Objective: to explore art and architecture in Dantes world (Florence, Verona and Ravenna from 1267-1321) to contextualize his writing and see mutual influences.
  • Brief political background
  • General Art Historical background - Late Medieval Italian art toward Early Renaissance
Week 2: Florence - The Urban Landscape
  • City Plan - the medieval city
    • City walls
    • Duomo/Baptistry pre-existing imporant landmarks
    • The Arno and Ponte Vecchio
  • Major Buildings with background relating to everyday life in Medieval city such as the guild system
    • Palazzo Vecchio (attr. to Arnolfo di Cambio; Palazzo dei Priori [Palace of the Priors]; 1299-1310)
    • Orsanmichele (rebuilt 1337)
Week 3: Florence - Church Architecture
  • Major churches of Florence - from Gothic to Early Renaissance
    • Sta. Maria Novella (ca. 1279)
    • Sta. Croce (begun 1294) - prob. Arnolfo di Cambio
  • Background on church life
  • Liturgical Manuscripts
Week 4: Sculpture
  • Field trip to The Cloisters or The Metropolitan Museum of Art, both of whom have examples of Italian Sculpture (mostly 13th c. sculpture)
  • Compare:Nicola Pisano (also known as Nicola d'Apulia; active 1258-78) and Giovanni Pisano
  • Andrea Pisano - Baptistry doors
Week 5: Late Medieval Painting
  • School of Florence (vs. Luccan and Pisan schools)
  • Byzantine influence and so-called ³Maniera Graeca²
  • Coppo di Marcovaldo (active 1260-70's)
  • Guido da Siena (Sienese but influenced by Marcovaldo; active 1260's)
  • Cimabue (alias Cenni di Pepi; active ca. 1272-1302)
Week 6: Giotto di Bondone (ca. 1277-1337)
" Cimabue believed that he held the field/ In Painting, and now Giotto has the cry,/So that the fame of the former is obscure." Divine Comedy (XI, 94-96)
  • The Arena Chapel
  • Enthroned Madonna
  • Bardi Chapel
  • (Briefly San Francesco, Assisi)
  • Campanile for Duomo (1334; Giotto as Capomaestro)
Week 7: Trecento Painting
  • Maso di Banco (act. 1340s)
  • Bernardo Daddi (act. 1312-48)
  • Tadeo Gaddi (act. ca. 1328-ca.1366)
Week 8: Textiles/Metalwork/Ivories - Fieldtrip to The Cloisters
  • Textiles
    • The inheritance of the Byzantine Textile Industry (esp. silk)
    • Textile trade - the Silk Route
  • Ivory
    • Ivory - personal objects
    • Polychrome or white?
  • Metalwork
    • Liturgical Objects
    • Personal Objects
    • Jewelry
Week 9: Dante's Library
  • Illuminated Books from the artists lifetime
    • Giovanni da Gaibana atelier in Padua which made Psalters and Bibles
    • Gregory IX, Decretals with apparatus of Bernard of Parma, Bodleian Library, 1241
  • Introduction to the physical construction of a medieval book
    • Codices vs. Scrolls
    • Vellum
    • Bindings
    • Pigments
  • Medieval Italian Manuscripts at the J. Pierpont Morgan Library
    • Missal Fragment by the Master of the St. George Codex (some works by this artist in the Metropolitan), 2nd 1/4 of 14th c., (acc. #M.713)
    • Ordinal illuminated by Niccolo da Bologna, 2nd 1/2 14th c. (acc.#M.800)
During weeks 10-11 students should deliver short presentations on topics from the preceding weeks. In addition, there are some brief topics that may be covered by the instructor during this class time.

Week 10: Dante in Exile: Verona and Ravenna

Week 11: Art Patronage in Florence, Verona and Ravenna

  • Public Patronage-Church/Civic
  • Private Patronage
  • The artist at work - how artists got paid/cost of materials/how one trained to be an artist etc.