Fall 2009
Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe
The Course
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Using both primary and secondary sources, the seminar will examine Renaissance concepts of antiquity, "truth to Nature," proportion, beauty, style, and philosophical views on imitation, creativity, and the ideal with a view to understanding the art produced in the 15th and 16th centuries in Italy and the shifts in style that occurred from the Early Renaissance to the High Renaissance to Mannerism. Primary sources (in translation) include Cennino Cennini, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Leon Battista Alberti, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Giorgio Vasari.
Meeting Place and Time
- Pannell 015: Wednesdays 1:30-4:00
Required Texts
- Michael Baxandall, Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy, 2nd edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988)
- Leon Battista Alberti, On Painting, translated by Cecil Grayson with an introduction and notes by Martin Kemp (London: Penguin Books, 1991)
- The material on this website
Student Responsibilities
- Active class participation, which includes being prepared for each class, and taking part in discussion.
- Three four-page REPORTS selected from those listed in the Schedule
- One one-page SUMMARY presentation selected from those listed in the Schedule
- One nine-to-ten-page PAPER with footnotes and bibliography selected from the List of Topics
Grading
- Class participation = 10%
- Each Seminar Report = 20%
- Summary = 5%
- Paper = 25%
Office and Hours
- Pannell 04: Tuesdays 11:45-12:00 and by appointment
- phone: 6194
- email: witcombe@sbc.edu