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STORIA DELL'ARTE MEDIEVALE
UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI "L'ORIENTALE"
Dati Generali
Periodo di attività
Syllabus
Obiettivi Formativi
The main objective of the course is to provide a basic knowledge of Byzantine Art History.
As regards specific objectives, students are expected to learn:
a) the ability to comprehend Byzantine artworks in historic, stylistic, iconographic and technical terms;
b) the ability to describe them with the appropriate vocabulary of the discipline;
c) autonomy of critical judgement.
In order to pursue these targets, during the course students will be asked to take part actively in the analysis of artworks and monuments by employing the basic critical categories necessary to their correct framework. A parallel objective will be also the development of an adequate awareness about artistic heritage and its valorization.
Prerequisiti
Metodi didattici
Verifica Apprendimento
Assessment is based on an oral examination. The examination will take place in the classroom and will include the projection of images of monuments, works of art, architectural complexes, and decorative programmes, which will serve as the basis for analysis and discussion.
The examination consists of:
the identification and contextualization of the proposed images;
the critical discussion of the topics covered during the course;
the assessment of the student's ability to apply the principal methodologies of Byzantine art history, including historical, stylistic, iconographic, and iconological analysis.
Students are expected to demonstrate the ability to recognize, describe, analyse, and critically interpret Byzantine works of art within their historical, religious, and cultural contexts.
The final grade is expressed on a thirty-point scale (out of 30). Upon request, the examination may also be taken in English.
The assessment is based on the following criteria:
ability to recognize and correctly identify monuments and works of Byzantine art;
chronological, geographical, and historical contextualization of artworks;
ability to analyse form, style, iconography, function, and meaning;
knowledge of the topics discussed during the course and of the required bibliography;
appropriate use of specialist art-historical terminology;
ability to develop coherent and independent critical arguments;
clarity of presentation and effectiveness of communication.
Testi
Cormack, R., Byzantine Art. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.
Further reading Mango, C., Byzantine Architecture. Milan: Electa, 1976 (English edition; various reprints). Mango, C. (ed.), The Art of the Byzantine Empire, 312–1453: Sources and Documents. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1986. E. C. Schwartz (ed.),The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Art and Architecture, Oxford, Oxford University Press 2021, Parts 1 and 3
Contenuti
Constitutive characters of Byzantium history and artistic civilization.
The Early Byzantine age, from the foundation of Constantinople to the end of the Theodosian dynasty (4th-5th century): urban planning and monuments of the capital; architectures, sculptures and mosaics in Thessalonica;
Byzantine Syria.
From Justinian to the end of Iconoclasm (6th-9th century):
Imperial patronage in the 6th century;
Hagia Sophia of Anthemius and Isidorus;
Luxury arts;
Monasticism and monasteries
The Sinai monastery and the earliest Christian icons;
The fight for holy images and the church of the Dormition in Nicaea.
The Middle and Late Byzantine age (9th-15th century):
the Renovatio of Arts in the Macedonian Age;
New architectural typologies;
Iluminations, ivories, enamels and jewelry;
Cappadocia and Armenia in Middle Byzantine Age;
Monasteries and Cathedrals in the 11th century, from Greece to Rus’;
Constantinople, Macedonia and Cyprus in the Comnenian Age;
The Fourth Crusade and the Latin Empire Age;
The Empire of Trebisonda, the Despotate of Epirus and the Kingdom of Serbia;
The Palaiologan Age, from the reconquest of Constantinople to its fall.
Lingua Insegnamento
English