Summer 2014 Time: Tue & Thu 10-12.30pm
Syllabus link: http://www.unive.it/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=168677 LECTURE ROOM: OD, San Basilio
Instructors:
Frank Fehrenbach, Professor, Hamburg University frank.fehrenbach@uni-hamburg.de
Francesca Borgo, Teaching Fellow, Harvard University borgo@fas.harvard.edu
Leonardo da Vinci HARC 152M Course description
This course focuses on the main topics and developments in Leonardo's art, science, and technology, contextualizing him in the artistic, cultural and political setting of Renaissance Italy around 1500, but also in the history of appropriations from Vasari to Dan Brown. The mutual interdependence of art and science, but also the internal tensions of this relationship, make Leonardo's work particularly relevant for major trends in contemporary culture. The course includes two one-day excursions (Florence and Milan, on June 20 and July 4 respectively), weekly on-site visits around Venice, and weekly classroom sections.
Lectures: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 10:00am–12:30pm On-site visits: Tuesdays, Group A: 2–3pm; Group B: 4–5pm
Classroom sections: Meeting times will vary; please check the syllabus Formal requirements
n/a
Required readings
Students are expected to purchase the following books:
- Kemp, Martin, Leonardo Da Vinci: The Marvellous Works of Nature and Man (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2006).
- Da Vinci, Leonardo, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. Selected and edited by Irma Richter. Oxford (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).
- A course package with additional readings will also be provided. Grading
Regular attendance at lectures, sections, on-site visits, as well as completion of all assignments on the syllabus are absolutely mandatory. The midterm will cover readings and lectures.
Participation and
attendance 20% Your performance in discussions (preparation, attention, active participation, etc.) will be weighted in the calculation of your final grade. If you must miss lectures, sections or on-site visits
due to illness or other compelling reason, you are required to inform your TF beforehand and cc both program coordinators, Giovanna Micconi (micconi@fas.harvard.edu) and the Ca’ Foscari Summer School office (cafoscari-harvard@unive.it) Mid-term exam 30% The midterm exam consists of three parts: slide identifications,
comparisons and a short essay. On-site
presentations 20% Each student is required to prepare a focused presentation of approximately 10 minutes of a painting, sculpture, monument, etc. These presentations will then be given on site during the excursion section. During the first week of class students will be assigned an object.
Final Paper 30% Each student is responsible for submitting one paper. This should be a 5-7 page analysis of a specific aspect of Leonardo’s work. You must discuss the topic, outline, and bibliography of your paper with your teaching fellow as you develop your ideas. College policies regarding academic dishonesty will be strictly enforced. Final papers are due on the date listed on the syllabus. Extensions
Requests for extensions must be submitted in writing to your TF, who will forward them to Prof. Fehrenbach. Extensions will generally be granted only in the case of illness or emergency, and not for time management difficulties. Late final papers will be automatically deducted 5% of your grade for each day of delay.
Policies and procedures
Attendance is required and considered as part of the grading. Any absence must be registered by the CFHSS office (email cafoscari-harvard@unive.it ). All work submitted for this course must be the student’s own and must follow proper citation procedures. All students are required to read in advance the policies on “Plagiarism and Collaboration” in the Handbook for Students at http://hvrd.me/iXiaLD. Please familiarize yourself with the Guidelines for Using Sources: http://bit.ly/cQK9A3
Other guides to reading, writing, and research are available on the course website: http://hvrd.me/yYGeJy
Office hours
- Prof. Fehrenbach: TBD, at Gelateria Nico (Zattere) - Francesca Borgo: by appointment
Your TF is available to meet throughout the course of the program for guidance and advice on assignments, as well as for more general concerns about the course. Please make use of these opportunities and remember that the Writing Clinic is always available for intensive consultations on any stage of the process.
Electronics:
Smart phones must be extinguished and stowed when in class and on-site. Laptops and tablets, although permitted in class for note-taking, are not to be used for internet browsing and emailing. On-site and museum etiquette:
When meeting on-site, please arrive early in order allow time to group and access the site together. Be sure to bring a notepad and pencil for note-taking as pens are not always allowed. When visiting religious sites, please remember that Roman Catholic churches in Italy enforce a dress code (knee-long shorts and skirts, covered shoulders) which applies to both men and women.
Seminars
Lesson Title and Description Date
1 The myth of Leonardo / Leonardo in his time Tue 17 June Readings - Giorgio Vasari, Life of Leonardo, in id., Lives of the painters, sculptors
and architects (1550/1568), transl./ed. G. du C. de Vere, D. Ekserdjian (New York 1996).
- Optional: Patricia Rubin, What men saw: Vasari’s Life of Leonardo da Vinci and the Image of the Renaissance Artist, “Art History” 13 (1990): 34-46.
Section ON SITE VISIT: none CLASSROOM SECTION:none
NB: Individual meetings with Prof. Fehrenbach and your TF will replace the on-site visit and classroom section for the first week. 2 In Andrea del Verrocchio’s workshop. Early Madonnas and The
Baptism of Christ (Florence, Uffizi) / Monumental sketches: Adoration of the Magi, St. Jerome
Thu 19 June Readings - John T. Paoletti, Gary Radke, Art in Renaissance Italy, 3rd ed. (Upper
Saddle River 2005): 204-238, 251-279.
- Stephen Campbell, Michael Cole, A New History of Italian Renaissance Art (London 2012): 234-255.
- David A. Brown, Leonardo da Vinci. Origins of a Genius (New Haven/London 1999): 75-99, 123-145.
- Optional: Pietro C. Marani, Leonardo da Vinci: the Complete Paintings (New York 2000): 95-114.
- Optional: Paul Barolsky, Concord and Discord in Leonardo’s Adoration of the Magi, “Source” 28/1 (2008): 20-21.
****Friday, June 20th: Day-trip to Florence****
Readings - Andrea Bernardoni, Leonardo and the Equestrian Monument for Francesco Sforza: The Story of an Unrealized Monumental Sculpture, in Gary M. Radke (ed.), Leonardo da Vinci and the Art of Sculpture (New Haven 2009): 95-136.
- Claire Farago, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Paragone.” A critical interpretation with a new edition of the text in the Codex Urbinas (Leiden etc. 1992): 3-17; 92-110; 195-241; 285-287.
- Gary M. Radke, An Abiding Obsession: Leonardo’s Equestrian Projects, 1507-1519, in id. (ed.), Leonardo da Vinci and the Art of Sculpture (New Haven/London 2010): 137-160.
ON SITE VISIT: Verrocchio’s Colleoni monument; Tuesday, June 24th; Group A: 2-3pm; Group B: 4-5pm; Meeting point: Campo SS. Giovanni e Paolo.
4 Imitation and mystery: The Virgin of the Rocks / The Last Supper Thu 26 June Readings - Pietro C. Marani, Leonardo da Vinci: the complete paintings (New York
2000): 124-155.
- Martin Kemp, Leonardo and the Visual Pyramid, in Claire Farago (ed.), Leonardo: selected scholarship, 5 vols (New York 1999): vol. 5, 96-117. - Leo Steinberg, Leonardo’s incessant “Last Supper” (New York 2001): 18-53.
- Optional: John Shearman, Leonardo’s Color and Chiaroscuro, in “Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte” 25 (1962): 13-47.
Section 1 4-5pm; overview of on-line resources and review in preparation for the midterm.
5 MIDTERM EXAM/ The Battle of Anghiari Tue 1 July Readings - Rona Goffen, Renaissance Rivals. Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael,
Titian (New Haven, London 2002): 143-170.
- Daniel Arasse, Leonardo da Vinci. The Rhythm of the World (Paris 1997): 428-442.
- Optional: Frank Fehrenbach, Much ado about nothing: Leonardo’s Fight for the Standard, in Philine Helas et al. (eds.), Bild-Geschichte (Berlin 2007): 397-412.
ON SITE VISIT:battle paintings in the Sala dello Scrutinio; Tuesday, July
1st; Group A: 2-3pm; Group B: 4-5pm; Meeting point: Palazzo Ducale, main entrance (under the colonnade)
6 Thinking on paper: Leonardo’s drawings (field trip to
Readings Drawings on display:
- Inv. 228r, Vitruvian Man
- Inv. 245r, Sketch for the Last Supper
- Inv. 214Ar, Sketch for the Battle of Anghiari - Inv. 215r, Sketch for the Battle of Anghiari - Inv. 236
- Inv. 230 - […]
- David Rosand, Drawing Acts. Studies in Graphic Expression and Representation (Cambridge 2002): 61-111.
- Carmen Bambach, Leonardo Left Handed Draftsman and Writer, in Eadem (ed.), Leonardo da Vinci Master Draftsman (New York, 2003): 31-154.
- Carmen Bambach, catalogue entries on the Accademia drawings, in Eadem (ed.), Leonardo da Vinci Master Draftsman (New York, 2003), passim.
- Annalisa Perissa Torrini, catalogue entries on the Accademia drawings, in Eadem (ed.), Leonardo da Vinci, L’Uomo Universale (Venezia, 2013), passim.
Section 2 4-5pm;review and discussion in preparation for paper topic selection. ****Friday, July 4th: Day-trip to Milan****
7 The science of painting/ Perspective and early optics Tue 8 July Readings - Martin Kemp, Leonardo da Vinci. Experience, Experiment and Design
(Princeton/Oxford 2006): 140-189.
- Martin Kemp, Leonardo on painting (New Haven/London 1989): 13-20.
- Peter Humfrey, Leonardo, Venetian Painting and the Art-Historical Tradition, in G. Nepi Sciré, P. Marani (eds.), Leonardo and Venice (Milano, 1992).
****PAPER TOPIC AND OUTLINE DUE TUESDAY, JULY 8th, 5:00 pm ****
Please email them to your TF
ON SITE VISIT: Jacopo de Barbari, Perspective Plan of Venice; Antonello
da Messina, Pietá; Giovanni Bellini, Pietá; Tuesday, July 8th; Group A: 2-3pm; Group B: 4-5pm; Meeting point: Museo Correr, main entrance. 8 The problem of composition: The Virgin with Child and Saint
Readings - Frederick Hartt, Leonardo and the Second Florentine Republic, “Journal of the Walters Art Gallery,” 44 (1986): 95-116.
- Martin Kemp, Leonardo da Vinci: The Marvellous Works of Nature and Man (Oxford 2006) 57-70, 86-101.
- Ernst H. Gombrich, Leonardo’s method for working out compositions, in Claire Farago (ed.), Leonardo: selected scholarship, 5 vols (New York 1999): vol. 2, 114-121.
- Optional: Martin Kemp, Drawing the Boundaries, in Carmen Bambach (ed.), Leonardo da Vinci Master Draftsman (New York, 2003): 141-154. Section 3 3:45-4:45pm.
9 Movements of the mind: Portraiture Tue 15 July Readings - David A. Brown, Leonardo da Vinci. Origins of a Genius (New
Haven/London 1999): 101-121.
- Frank Zöllner, Leonardo’s Portrait of Mona Lisa del Giocondo, in Claire Farago (ed.), Leonardo: selected scholarship, 5 vols (New York 1999): vol. 3, 243-266.
- Frank Zöllner, Ogni pittore dipinge sé. Leonardo da Vinci and
automimesis, in Winner, Matthias (ed.), Der Künstler über sich in seinem Werk (Weinheim 1992): 137-160
- Optional: Paul Barolsky, Why Mona Lisa Smiles, in Id., Why Mona Lisa Smiles and Other Tales by Vasari (University Park, Pa 1991): 62-65. ON SITE VISIT: Giorgione, La Vecchia; La Tempesta; Lorenzo Lotto,
Portrait of a Young Man; Tuesday, July 15th; Group A: 2-3pm; Group B: 4-5pm; Meeting point: Gallerie dell’Accademia, main entrance.
10 Anatomy / Leda Thu 17 July
Readings - Martin Kemp, Dissection and Divinity in Leonardo’s Late Anatomies, in Claire Farago (ed.), Leonardo: selected scholarship, 5 vols (New York 1999): vol. 5, 230-263.
- Leonardo da Vinci, Notebooks, selected by Irma A. Richter, edited with an introduction and notes by Thereza Wells, preface by Martin Kemp (Oxford 2008): 143-148, 325.
- Jonathan K. Nelson, The Battle of the Female Nudes: Michelangelo vs. Leonardo (and Titian), in Michiaki Koschikawa (ed.), L’arte erotica del Rinascimento (Tokyo 2009): 19-27.
- Optional: Frank Fehrenbach, Leonardo’s Liquid Bodies, in Le corps transparent, ed. V. Stoichita et al. (Roma 2013): 147-172.
****FINAL PAPER DUE FRIDAY, JULY 18, 3:00 p.m **** Please email your paper to your TF
Section 4 4-5pm
11 History of the earth: Leonardo's Landscapes / St. John the Baptist
and the monstrous Tue 22 July
Readings - Ernst H. Gombrich, The form of movement in water and air, in Claire Farago (ed.), Leonardo: selected scholarship, 5 vols (New York 1999): vol. 5, 311-344.
- Paul Barolsky, The mysterious meaning of Leonardo’s “Saint John the Baptist”, in Claire Farago (ed.), Leonardo: selected scholarship, 5 vols (New York 1999): vol.3, 391-395.
- Leonardo da Vinci, Notebooks, selected by Irma A. Richter, edited with an introduction and notes by Thereza Wells, preface by Martin Kemp (Oxford 2008): 177-184
ON SITE VISIT: Patinir, Landscape with St. Jerome; Tullio Lombardo,
Double Portrait; Mantegna, Saint Sebastian; Tuesday, July 22nd; Group A: 2-3pm; Group B: 4-5pm; Meeting point: Ca’ D’Oro, main entrance. Section 5 A special visit to Palazzo Grimani will replace classroom section for
the last week of class, Wednesday 23rd, 4-5pm.
