Italian Renaissance Art c.1400-c.1500 (Online)

The areas you will cover in this course are:

Unit 1: The Renaissance in Italy

• Masaccio to Mantegna: Introduction
• Introduction to core text
• What do we mean by ‘Italy’?
• What was the Renaissance?
• What do we mean by ‘art’?
• Writing about art
• Vasari and the Lives of the Artists

Unit 2: The Production of Art

• The production of art: introduction
• Workshops: apprentices and masters
• A question of collaboration
• Drawings
• Frescoes
• Panel paintings
• The changing role of the artist
• Leonardo da Vinci and the Paragone

Unit 3: Materials and Processes

• Materials and processes: introduction
• Intrinsic value
• Value in technique
• Centres of excellence
• Glass
• Textiles
• Bronzes
• All that glitters

Unit 4: Patronage

• Patronage: introduction
• Foregrounding the donor
• Magnificence and virtue
• Contractual obligations
• Patronage by committee
• A hospital in Siena
• Patronage at court
• Women as patrons

Unit 5: Civic Power: Art on the streets

• Art in the public eye: introduction
• Orsanmichele
• Good government
• Art and politics
• Venetian justice
• Urban planning
• Symbols of power
• Pienza: an ideal city

Unit 6: Institutional Devotion

• Religious art and iconography: introduction
• Devotional rights and wrongs
• The development of the altarpiece
• Iconographic traditions
• Reading Crivelli’s Annunciation
• Sculpted stories: reliefs
• Sculpted stories: figures in the round
• Monastic art

Unit 7: Religious material culture

• The material culture of worship: introduction
• Private devotions
• Copies and ready-made art
• Prints
• Books of hours
• Miracle paintings
• Religious bodies
• Art for memory’s sake

Unit 8: Art and the Home

• Art and the home: introduction
• Domestic architecture: building the home
• Second assignment
• Reconstructing the interior
• Secular subjects
• Marriages and births
• Home fires: Piero di Cosimo
• Furnishing the study
• Eastern influences on the Italian interior

Unit 9: Art and the Expression of Self

• Appearances and identities: introduction
• Portraits and the antique
• Conversation pieces
• Portraits and dress
• Double portraits
• Feminine ideals
• Global encounters

Unit 10: Contrasts and Comparisons

• Contrasts and comparisons: introduction
• Geography and art
• Beyond the Alps
• Naples and the south
• Transfer of skills
• Doors of bronze: Florence
• Doors of bronze: Rome
• Challenging Florence

We strongly recommend that you try to find a little time each week to engage in the online conversations (at times that are convenient to you) as the forums are an integral, and very rewarding, part of the course and the online learning experience.

To participate in the course you will need to have regular access to the Internet and you will need to buy the following book:

Welch, Evelyn, Art in Renaissance Italy, 1350-1500, Oxford, Oxford University Press (2000)

To earn credit (CATS points) for your course you will need to register and pay an additional £10 fee for each course you enrol on. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online. If you do not register when you enrol, you have up until the course start date to register and pay the £10 fee.

See more information on CATS point

Coursework is an integral part of all online courses and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework, but only those who have registered for credit will be awarded CATS points for completing work at the required standard. If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.

Assignments are not graded but are marked either pass or fail.

All students who successfully complete this course, whether registered for credit or not, are eligible for a Certificate of Completion. Completion consists of submitting the final course assignment. Certificates will be available, online, for those who qualify after the course finishes.

This course will enable you to:

• Increase your understanding of Italian art and culture, as well as the social, economic and geographic factors that made this period so unique.
• Improve your ability to express reasoned and critical analyses of works of art using a variety of methods and sources.
• Communicate your own ideas about the art of the period and widen your viewpoint through discussions with other students.

By the end of this course students will be able to understand:

• The social, political and historical factors that gave rise to the flourishing of art in this period.
• The variety of different artistic styles current during the fifteenth century in Italy.
• The significance of so-called decorative art forms.

By the end of this course students will have gained the ability to:

• Evaluate a variety of sources.
• Communicate ideas and join in group discussions.
• Think critically about established historical traditions.

You will be set two pieces of work for the course. The first of 500 words is due halfway through your course. This does not count towards your final outcome but preparing for it, and the feedback you are given, will help you prepare for your assessed piece of work of 1,500 words due at the end of the course. The assessed work is marked pass or fail.

English Language Requirements

We do not insist that applicants hold an English language certification, but warn that they may be at a disadvantage if their language skills are not of a comparable level to those qualifications listed on our website. If you are confident in your proficiency, please feel free to enrol. For more information regarding English language requirements please follow this link: https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/about/english-language-requirements

FHEQ level 4, 10 weeks, approx 10 hours per week, therefore a total of about 100 study hours.