ARTH 210: MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE WOMEN MW3-4:15 pm
Spring 2002 STT 263
Josephine M. Dunn, Ph.D.
February 4,2002
SYLLABUS
I. Course Description
This is a topics course that explores various ways of looking at Italian medieval and Renaissance depictions of women. In addition, primary texts by Hildegard von Bingen, Giovanni Boccaccio, Christine de Pisan, Leonbattista Alberti and Baldassare Castiglione will be studied for the light they shed on the notion and nature of woman. Great emphasis will be placed on in-class analysis of images and a field trip to the Italian Renaissance collection of the Metropolitan Museum, NYC, will enable students to apply the skills of visual analysis that they have learned.
II. Textbooks
Madeleine P. Cosnian. Women at Work in Medieval Europe. NY: Checkmark Books, 2000.
Christine de Pizan. The Treasure of the City of Ladies. NY: Penquin, 1985.
Paola Tinagli. Women in Italian Renaissance Art. Manchester: Univ. of Manchester Press, 1997.
Judith Brown and Robert C. Davis, eds. Gender and Society in Renaissance Italy. New York: Longman,1998.
Catherine King. Renaissance Women Patrons. Machester: University of Manchester Press, 1998.
As needed, additional readings may be supplied in photocopy.
III. Course Objectives
Students will:
1. Focus on women’s experiences in society and culture during the Middle Ages and Renaissance; and. identify, examine and evaluate key artists and authors, works of art and formative ideas on women during the medieval and Renaissance eras in Italy.
a. assigned readings in the textbooks, supplemented by additional readings as necessary will provide the chronology, key artists, monuments and ideas.
b. Daily lectures will focus on evaluation of works of art discussed in the textbooks, relating image to text and exploring various strategies of interpretation.
2. Examine and evaluate primary historical and literary texts important to interpretation of women in medieval and Italian Renaissance art; and, examine institutional structures/modes of authority/analysis of power.
3. Evaluate through oral and written processes of analysis and interpretation, the social, historical, literary, philosophical and
aesthetic features of works of art depicting women, 1300-1550.
Contextualizing works of art is achieved through: testing, a
research paper, 4 short essays, and 1 graphic design.
4. Apply skills of visual analysis, and various feminist perspectives, in order to discover the structure and meaning of works of art.
Class lectures and Research Paper
IV. Writing Assignments
1. A Graphic image. Subject: The Literal Vision, or Visualizing the Word. Working from a specific Visions of Hildegard von Bingen, students will
design a manuscript page illustrating the vision.
2. Boccaccio‘s Ladies. Each student will analyze the biography of one of
the celebrated women in Giovanni Boccaccio’s treatise on Famous Women.
3. 3 essays: Thinking through images on IMAGE DAY.
4. Research Paper [see below]
5. Univ. Art Gallery critique: I Gave You My Song: The Art of Ora Lerman.
V. Evaluation
1. Attendance and participation 5%
2. Test 1 10%.
3. Test2 10%
4. Final Exam 20%
5. Art Gallery Critique 10%
6. 5 writing assignments (Image Day; Graphic Design;Bocc) 20%
7. Research Paper 25%
ALL COURSE REQUIREMENTS MUST BE COMPLETED IN ORDER TO PASS THE COURSE. NO EXEMPTION ON FINALS FOR SENIORS.
VI. Attendance policy
Given the media-dependent nature (slides) of art history courses, faculty strongly discourage cuts. Classroom activity is 60% visual analysis, 40% note-taking and participation. Absent students may succeed in copying a classmate’s notes, but can not duplicate the visual experience gained by in-class analysis.
FAILURE TO ATTEND CLASS REGULARLY WILL AFFECT YOUR GRADE ADVERSELY. Excused absences are a privilege, not a right. The professor alone may determine whether or not an absence is excused. Absence on the day of a scheduled test, final exam or presentation does not constitute the right to a make-up.
Three absences are reserved for emergencies and other acts of God. Use them responsibly and wisely.
VII. Academic Code of Honesty
Students must act in accord with the Academic Code of Honesty of the University of Scranton. PLAGIARISM and CHEATING are grounds for failure in this course.
Students enrolled in more than one art history course may discover similar requirements in their courses. Students must inform both teachers of this fact to avoid duplication of assignments. ONLY IF BOTH TEACHERS AGREE THAT THE SAME PAPER IS ACCEPTABLE IN BOTH COURSES MAY THE STUDENT WRITE ONE PAPER FOR TWO SEPARATE CLASSES.
Otherwise, the student who writes one paper for two separate courses commits plagiarism and is subject to disciplinary action.
VIII. Office Hours: St. Thomas Hall 21OAB
Tuesdays 1:30-3:00 pm
Wednesdays 4:30-5:30 pm
And, by appointment: (570) 941-4016
ARTH 210: MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANC WOMEN
Spring 2002
J. M. Dunn, Ph.D.
February 4,2002
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
I. Hildegard von Bingen’s mystical visions. (5%) 1 poster board
You will receive a “vision “in class.
Read the vision carefully (more than once!)
Imagine the vision literally.
Draw the vision literally.
Use bright colors, as if the vision were being made as a medieval stained glass window.
MATERIALS: Use a sheet of white poster board.
Draw a rectangle 20” x 24”, centered on the poster board. Make your image inside the 20” x 24” space.
You may use crayolas, colored markers. No colored
pencils, please.
DUE: In class February 25.
II. Giovanni Boccaccio’s Famous Women: (5%) 2pp
You will receive the biography of one of Boccaccio’s 160 famous women. Write a two page essay analyzing this biography. Why does Boccaccio include this woman? What does he say about women in general? The jury is out on whether Boccaccio praises or damns the women about whom he writes. What do you think?
DUE: In class. March 11.
III. 3 Reflection Essays: IMAGE DAY. (15%) 2pp/each
Reflect on your experience in class. What questions did the images raise? What do you “see” now that you have not seen before? What is the purpose and value of this exercise?
IV. University Art Gallery critique: (10%) 3pp
Statement: Ora Lerman made autobiography an essential part of her work, interpreting her life in mythic terms. In particular stories and legends, she found the universal story that makes her story YOUR story, too.
Attend the symposium and opening on February 10. Incorporating information acquired from both experiences, reflect on the above statement.
DUE: In class. Feb. 20.
V. RESEARCH PAPER: (25%) 10pp
Your research and analysis will focus on one work of medieval/Renaissance Italian art, 1300-1500.
Select one work of art from Frederick Hartt’s HISTORY OF ITALIAN RENAISSANCE ART. (on reserve, Weinberg Memorial Library). This is a standard textbook on Renaissance art that, while it has been updated by recent editors, exemplifies a more traditional way of looking at Renaissance art.
RESEARCH AND WRITING PROCESS:
(1) Assess Hartt’s analysis of the painting. What approach does he take? What more can be asked/said?
(2) Select three additional scholarly analyses of the painting. These sources must be approved by Dr. Dunn. No websites or internet sources, please.
These analyses should represent a judicious selection of thought on the work of art and present diverse interpretative strategies. (In other words, you may have to read more than three analyses to select three good ones for the paper!) Discuss the various points of view, and assess the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments.
(3) What questions can be asked from a feminist perspective?
(4) Write an analysis of the painting to replace Hartt’s text, based on a new approach of seeing and asking questions, interpreting and understanding this work of art.
DUE: In class, May 6.
All papers will be double-spaced, 1” margin on all
sides of the paper, and paginated. Only the Research
Paper will contain endnotes and a bibliography in
MLA style.
ARTH 210: MEDIEVALJL AND RENAISSANCE WOMEN
Spring 2002
Josephine M. Dunn, Ph.D.
February 4,2002
SCHEDULE OF LECTURES, ASSIGNMENTS, TESTS
4 February Introduction: Image and Reality
6 Medieval women: Writers, poets and medical women
(Cosman, chapters 1 and 2)
10 Opening: I Gave You My Song: The Art of Ora Lerman.
Symposium and exhibition.
11 Medieval women; Lady Bosses: rulers of manors and monasteries
(Cosman, chapter 3)
13 Hildegard von Bingen
18 Medieval women: Craftswomen and women in illicit trades
(Cosman, chapters 4 and 5)
20 IMAGE DAY
DUE: Ora Lerman critique
25 Giovanni Boccaccio and Christine de Pisan
DUE: The mystical visions!
27 Discussion: Boccaccio and Christine
DUE: Image Day Reflection #1
4 March Test I
6 The Geography of Gender in the Renaissance (Brown and Davis,
chapter 1)
Gender and the Rites of Honor in Italian Renaissance cities
(Brown and Davis, chapter 2)
11 Women, men and society: painted marriage furniture
Imaginative Conceptions in Renaissance Italy (Johnson, 2)
DUE: Boccaccio’s ladies!
13 Disrobing the Virgin: the Madonna Lactans in 15th -century
Florentine Art (Johnson, 7)
18 Daughters and Oligarchs: Gender and the Early Renaissancec
State (Brown and Davis, chapter 3)
Profile portraits in the Quattrocento: virtue and status
Portraits 1480-1560: beauty and power
20 Regarding women in sacred space (Johnson, 1)
25 Women and Work in Renaissance Florence (Brown and Davis,
chapter 5)
Medicine and Magic: The Healing Arts (Brown and Davis, chapter 6)
27 Lavinia Fontana and Female Life-Cycle Experience in Late 16th -century Bologna (Johnson, 5)
1 April IMAGE DAY
3 Gender and Sexual Culture in Renaissance Italy (Brown and Davis, chapter 7)
1 Donna/Dono: Chivalry and Adulterous Exchange in the Quattrocento (Johnson, 8)
6 METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: TEST II (Take-home)
7 Female nudes in Renaissance art
DUE: Image Day Reflection #2
10 Idol or Ideal: The Power and Potency of Female Public Sculpture (Johnson, 9)
15 Spiritual Kinship and Domestic Devotions (Brown and Davis, chapter 8)
DUE: TAKE-HOME TEST 2
The cult of female saints: images of devotion and exempla
17 Renaissance women patrons: proper conduct (King, 1)
22 Renaissance women patrons: wives and widows (King, 2, 3)
24 Commissioning from the grave (King, 4)
29 Commemorating dead men (King, 5)
6 May Self-Portraits (King, 6)
DUE: Research Papers
8 IMAGE DAY [Part III of Final Exam]