Dr. Rocky Ruggiero

This course will examine the art and architecture of Northern Italy during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Although Florence and Rome are usually considered to be the centers of Renaissance art, many cities north of the Apennines were also centers of extraordinary artistic production. Many believe that this was the result of an artistic “contamination,” as many of Florence’s greatest artists, such as Giotto, Donatello, Alberti and Leonardo da Vinci, traveled to northern cities, exposing them to the ideas and movements of the Renaissance. Cities such as Parma would instead produce their own local geniuses such as Correggio and Parmigianino, whose work would rival that of any central Italian master. Regardless of the reason, by the end of the 15th century, much of Italy’s greatest art was being produced in cities that are better known today for their industry or culinary traditions. By examining this art and history firsthand, we will define the meaning of the Renaissance in Northern Italy.

Course Objectives:
• To bring a historical period and geographic period to life through a “hands on” approach to the works produced in Northern Italy during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance.
• To understand the role that Northern Italian art played in defining the Italian Renaissance.
• To learn to appreciate the rich and influential aspects of Italian art from the late early to the late 16th Century.
• To develop the fundamental skills of art historical analysis that include formal analysis and iconographic interpretation.
• To develop an ability to interact in a personal and intimate manner with works of Italian Renaissance art and architecture, particularly those that are less celebrated but by no means less important.

PART 1 – Giotto in Padua

Lecture 1 – The Scrovegni Chapel Part I

Giotto’s 14th-century fresco cycle in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy, is perhaps the seminal motion picture in Western Art. The artist transformed the iconic, sacred subjects of his contemporary painting world into a very human story- or what I like to call the “visual vernacular”. This lecture will examine a surprisingly modern aspect of Giotto’s work, that is the cinematic quality, and focusing specifically on the history and patronage of the chapel, as well as the scenes depicting the “Life of the Virgin Mary’

Lecture 2 - The Scrovegni Chapel Part II

This second part of the lecture will focus on Giotto’s mise-en-scène, which is full of expressive character types, landscapes, colour and visual arrangements, specifically in the “Life and Passion of Jesus Christ” cycles. The sequential arrangement and juxtaposition of scenes, instead, produce a visual narrative of which most modern film directors would be envious. In a purely visual medium, Giotto is able to evoke sounds and smells, emotions and expectations, humor and terror.

PART 2 – Donatello in Padua and Mantegna as Court Artist in Mantua

Lecture 3 – Donatello’s and Il Santo

In 1455, the great Florentine sculptor, Donatello, also went to Padua in order to create a large, bronze equestrian monument to the mercenary general Erasmo dei Narni, better known as “Gattamelata.” Donatello’s sculpture was the first equestrian monument since Roman times, and still stands today outside of the Santo, which is the nickname for the Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua. Donatello was then commissioned by the friars of the church to produce a series of bronze sculptures to decorate the high altar of their church. These often-overlooked sculptures are not only some of Donatello’s finest, but are also some of the most influential pieces of the Renaissance.

Lecture 4 – Andrea Mantegna, Leon Battista Alberti and the Gonzaga Court

The Camera degli Sposi (1465-1474) is perhaps Andrea Mantegna’s most famous work. Decorating the reception room of the Marquis of Mantua, Ludovico II Gonzaga, Mantegna created an incredibly vivid “picture” of life at a Renaissance court. In addition to the various portraits of the royal family that Mantegna included in his fresco, he also captured the less noble elements of court life such as the dwarves/jesters and actual portraits of the royal dogs. This lecture will also examine the Basilica of Sant’ Andrea, which was designed by the great Florentine architect, Leon Battista Alberti, and is the first great Renaissance style church in northern Italy. Its façade best embodies the return to classical architectural philosophy that characterized the Renaissance. Sant’ Andrea is also celebrated for housing one of Christianity’s greatest relics- the blood of Christ brought to Italy by St. Longinus himself.

PART 3 – Leonardo as Court Artist in Milan and Correggio in Parma

Lecture 5 – Leonardo at the Court of Ludovico Sforza

Seeking to soften the militant and belligerent reputation of the Lombard capital city, Duke Ludovico “the Moor” Sforza sought the services of an extraordinary artist and inventor from Florence by the name of Leonardo da Vinci. The artist’s arrival in Milan in 1481 marked a turning point in Milan’s history, introducing the Renaissance to the great northern city. The 18 years that Leonardo spent in Milan were some of his most productive, and this lecture will examine those works produced while Leonardo was in Milan including the Virgin of the Rocks, the Virtuvian Man, the Lady with an Ermine, and, of course, the Last Supper.

Lecture 6 – Correggio: A Local Star is Born (Camera di San Paolo and Correggio’s Paintings in the Pinacoteca Nazionale)

The Camera di San Paolo (1519) was Correggio’s first major commission in Parma. In the private quarters of a Benedictine abbess named Giovanna Piacenza, he executed a decorative fresco program filled with mythological and festive motifs. The particularly beautiful illusionistic ceiling decoration was a sort of a warm-up for the stunning domes he would paint in the following years. The Pinacoteca of Parma contains an amazing collection of works by Correggio, as well as Parmigianino’s celebrated Turkish Slave and one of Leonardo’s most beautiful female figures, known as La Scapiliata.

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