NORTHERN RENAISSANCE ART

Department of Art / University of Northern Iowa

600:148 01 / Spring 2011 / 3 credit hours

Section I 5:00 – 6:15/ Tues. and Thurs. / 270 KAB

Professor: Dr. Elizabeth Sutton

Office: 214 KAB

Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:15-4:15 pm, or by appointment

Email:

Phone: 319.273.6260

Course Website: http://elearning.uni.edu/

Objectives: This course is designed to introduce students to the artists, institutions, themes, and theoretical frameworks of art produced in Northern Europe between c. 1350 and 1600. By the end of the course, students will be able to:

§  Identify major artists, works, and cultural developments in the visual culture of Northern Europe c. 1350-1600

§  Explain the significance of these artists and works

§  Analyze the visual material using relevant terminology

§  Explain key themes of artistic and intellectual engagement in Northern Europe 1350-1600

§  Integrate the significance of the art and artists into the larger cultural context

§  Evaluate selections of written primary and secondary historical sources

Textbooks: Jeffrey Chipps Smith, The Northern Renaissance (Phaidon, 2004)

Suggested: James Snyder, revised by Larry Silver and Henry Luttikhuizen, Northern Renaissance Art, 2nd ed. (Prentice Hall, 2005). On reserve in Rod Library and VRC

elearning: Additional readings will be on elearning. Important handouts, powerpoint lectures, and announcements will be posted regularly to elearning. The grade book component will also be updated periodically. Please note that the official grade book for the course (with the most up-to-date data) is kept by the professor and may not be reflected on elearning.

Requirements: Students are expected to engage fully with the course material by completing all assignments, participating actively in discussions, asking questions as needed, and attending class meetings.

Attendance: Consistent attendance is required and is absolutely necessary for your success in this class. You are responsible for content from class. If you miss an assignment, quiz, or paper deadline because of a serious family emergency or for medical reasons and you would like a make-up or extension, you will need to provide appropriate documentation verifying your excuse. If you cannot attend a class meeting, you are responsible for obtaining the information presented from a peer or by making an appointment with me. I will not re-teach a missed class for you via email.

Class conduct: Do not arrive late, leave class early, or wander in and out of class unless absolutely necessary. Cell phones, Blackberries, iPhones, iPods, computers, etc. must be silenced and put away during class meetings. Emailing, texting, websurfing, playing games, etc. are all expressly forbidden. Caps, hats, phones, computers, and other electronic devices are not allowed during exams. If you use devices improperly, you will be asked to leave.

At all times your behavior must communicate the utmost respect for others. Talking while others are speaking, texting, sleeping, being openly disrespectful, or in any way impeding the free exchange of ideas will result in your being asked to leave.

Academic Honesty: Cheating or plagiarism of any kind will not be tolerated. It is your responsibility to understand what constitutes plagiarism and cheating. See Academic Ethics and Discipline in the student handbook available at http://www.uni.edu/policies/301. Ask me if you have questions.

Accessibility and SDS: If you have a documented disability and anticipate needing accommodations in this course, please meet with me within the first two weeks of class. Please request that Student Disability Services (SDS) staff send a SAAR form verifying your disability and specifying the accommodation you will need. SDS is located at 103 Student Health Center, (319) 273-2676.

Academic Learning Center Resources:

I encourage you to use the Academic Learning Center’s free assistance with writing, reading, and learning strategies. UNI’s Academic Learning Center is located in 008 ITTC. The Writing Center offers one-on-one writing assistance and the Reading and Learning Center provides consultations on reading, note-taking, and other academic success strategies. http://www.uni.edu/unialc/. Phone 319-273-2361 for more information.

ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADES

Attendance and Behavior:

Come to class having thoroughly read the assigned text(s).

Participate actively in discussion and class activities.

Note that more than one unexcused absence will result in a deduction of 5 points per class missed. Tardiness, texting, sleeping, and rude behavior will also result in automatic point deductions.

Group Presentation and Website: (75 pts)

(20 pts presentation/20 pts group site/30 pts individual page/5 pts example site)

In groups of 3-4, you will research an object and its medium and present an overview of the object to your peers. Using google sites, you will collaborate to construct a website and individual page showcasing your research. Guidelines are available on elearning.

Keynote Response: (1 @ 10 pts)

You are required to attend the Art History juror Rob Bork’s presentation Friday, March 25, and write a response to it. Guidelines are available on elearning.

Quizzes: (6@ 15 points)

Quizzes will be approximately every other week and may contain vocabulary terms and images for which you will identify Artist, Title of work, Date, location if architecture, and significance. Quiz questions may be based on content from lecture, the textbook, course website, and readings. Quizzes may include questions about the readings assigned for that day. They may include a comparison essay and/or unknowns. All IDs will be from images provided in class. Comparisons will ask you to identify the two works shown, and discuss in short-essay form how the images together elucidate certain ideas.

Specific images for which you will be responsible will be posted approximately one week before each quiz on elearning. Quizzes must be taken in class; a missed quiz is a ‘0’ for that quiz. No make-ups will be given. If all 7 quizzes are taken, one quiz score may be dropped.

Final Exam: (25 points) Final, Tuesday, May, 3, 5:00-6:50 pm May 3

Grading Scale: 200 points total

94-100% A 90-93% A- 88-89% B+ 84-87% B 80-83% B-

78-79% C+ 74-77% C 70-73% C- 68-69% D+ 64-67% D

Please note: Students are encouraged to speak with me about their progress throughout the semester. Please do not hesitate to let me know if you need additional help in this course.

Other Guidelines: Please, NO email submissions of any assignments and/or excuses. If you email me, make sure you employ common courtesies, including proper salutation and closing. Eg: Dear Dr. Sutton, thank you, your name.

All assignments (except in-class work) are to be typed: Times New Roman or Calibri, 11-12 pt, double spaced, one-inch margins, black ink, white paper.


SCHEDULE

All readings must be completed before the class period under which they are listed.

*This schedule is subject to change at the discretion of the professor.

WEEK 1

1/11 Introduction. Geographies.

Read: Syllabus and Smith pp. 4-12

1/13 Web project explanation and google sites tutorial and copyright; group formation
WATCH ONLINE before class: http://panopto1.its-et.uni.edu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer/Default.aspx?id=9f14764a-bef5-44ca-b003-9663a8bcdb8f (link also on elearning) BRING LAPTOP TODAY IF YOU OWN ONE

You will be creating a google username, google site, “sharing” the site, and emailing me the site domain in class.

WEEK 2

1/18 Production—Art, Artists, Marketplace

Read: Smith Ch. 1, pp. 15-32

1/20 Production cont’d

Read: Ainsworth, "Workshop Practice in Early Netherlandish Painting: An Inside View"

in From Van Eyck to Bruegel, 205-211. On elearning.

WATCH: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrd3hdosby8 (link on elearning)

WEEK 3

1/25 Painting production, technique, and technical examination; Discussion

Read: Dijkstra “Technical Examination” in Early Netherlandish Painting, 292-328. On elearning

Quiz I

1/27 Patronage—Court Art

Read: Smith Ch. 2 pp. 35-64

WEEK 4

2/1 continue Court Art

Sluter Well of Moses group presents

2/3 Cities and Civic Commissions

Read: Smith ch. 3 pp. 69-92

Bruges town hall group presents

WEEK 5

2/8 Portraiture and Domestic Art

Read: Smith ch. 4 pp. 95-118

2/10 Discuss Portraiture

Read: Koster, “The Arnolfini Double Portrait: A Simple Solution, “ Apollo (2003) 3-14. On

elearning. Arnolfini DVD

WEEK 6

2/15 Quiz II

2/17 Private Devotional Art: Books of Hours

Read: Smith ch. 5 120-146

Mary of Burgundy group presents

WEEK 7

2/22 Private Devotional Art: Diptychs. Discussion.

Read: Gelfand and Belozerskaya from Essays in Context: Unfolding the Netherlandish Diptych pp. 47-71. On elearning.

2/24 Post Website Example and response to elearning and share pros/cons in class: Explore for example http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2006/diptych/diptych.shtm

WEEK 8

3/1 Church Commissions

SUGGESTED Read: Henk Van Os, "Devotional Themes" in The Art of Devotion, 87-129.

On elearning.

Quiz III

3/3 Ghent video
Read: Smith ch. 6 pp. 149-196

WEEK 9

3/8 Devotional and Church Altarpieces—Discussion and Ghent altarpiece redux

Read: Harbison “Visions and Meditations in Early Flemish Painting” Simiolus (1985) 87-

118. On elearning.

3/10 Reliquary of St. Ursula group presents

Altarpiece of Holy Blood group presents

Quiz IV

WEEK 10 Spring Break!

WEEK 11

3/22 Art and Dying Well

Read: Smith ch. 7 pp. 199-238 and Gibson Bosch and Last Judgment

3/24 Prints

Read: Smith ch. 8 pp. 241-272

Master of the Playing Cards group presents

3/25 Juried Art History Presentations; Rob Bork Keynote—Required

WEEK 12

3/29 Prints cont’d

K. Moxey, "Master E.S. and the Folly of Love," Simiolus 11 (1980): 125-148. On elearning.

Quiz V

3/31 Catch up and Review; discuss issues/how tos on webpages; discuss

writing; meet with groups

*Responses to Keynote due on elearning

WEEK 13

4/5 Read: Smith ch. 9 pp. 275-308

4/7 Website text due in class; workshop with cohorts

WEEK 14

4/12 Artists’s portraits; Dürer

Read: Joseph Koerner, “Dürer Disfigured” in The Moment of Self-Portraiture in German Renaissance Art, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993)249-273. On elearning.

Quiz VI

4/14 Nature and the Natural World

Read: Smith ch. 10 pp. 311-350

Read: Gibson on Bosch

Suggested: Charles Zika, “She-Man: Visual Representations of Witchcraft and Sexuality,” in Exorcising our Demons, (Leiden: Brill, 2003)269-304. On elearning.

WEEK 15

4/19 Bosch and Breugel

Walter Gibson, "Calendar and Kermis" in Bruegel, (London, 1977) 146-175. On elearning.

4/21 The Reformation

Read: Smith ch. 11 pp. 353-380

WEEK 16

4/25 Mannerism and Court art in the 16th c.

Read: Smith ch. 12; Gossaert exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum

Peruse website: http://www.metmuseum.org/special/jan_gossart/more.asp

Quiz VII

4/27 Continuities into the 17th c.

Read: Smith Epilogue pp. 411-420

Sunday, May 1 11 pm all websites must be live and link added to elearning

Finals Week Final, Tuesday, May, 3, 5:00-6:50 pm May 3

Objects for Group Presentation and Webpages

1.  Stone Sculpture: Claus Sluter, Well of Moses, 1482, figs. 25-26

2.  Civic Architecture: Bruges town hall, 1376-1402 fig. 33

3.  Manuscript Illumination: Hours of Mary of Burgundy, c. 1480, fig. 69

4.  Oil on wood: Hans Memling, Reliquary of St. Ursula, 1489, fig. 105

5.  Wood retable: Tilman Riemanschnieder, Altarpiece of Holy Blood, 1501-05, fig. 109

6.  Engraving: Master of the Playing Cards, Queen of Wild Men, c. 1440, fig. 151

IMPORTANT DUE DATES:

My Group Presents:______

My group members are:______

7 Quizzes 1/25, 2/15, 3/1, 3/10, 3/29, 4/12, 4/25

Website Example Deconstruction due on elearning 2/24 by 5 pm

Keynote response due typed on elearning: 3/31 by 5 pm

Webtexts to workshop in class and post on elearning: 4/7

Website live and link posted: 5/1 by 11 pm

I have carefully read, and fully understand, the content of this syllabus detailing the requirements and expectations for 600:148, Spring 2011.

Print your name

Signature

Date


NORTHERN RENAISSANCE ART

Group Object Presentation and Website/75 points

Part I: The Basics. Group Presentation DUE: various 20 pts (10 pts group/10 pts individual)
Each group will deliver a presentation of their object’s basics on their assigned day. Presentations should be 10 to 15 minutes long, divided roughly equally among group members. You will be assessed both as a group, and individually. I will specifically be looking for:

·  How well your group explained the required components:

o  Description of object medium

o  Process of construction

o  Siting/function of object

o  comparison object

·  Quality and clarity of presentation and supplementary materials

·  On the day of the presentation, each group member is required to turn in to me a typed paragraph summarizing his/her component of the presentation, accompanied by bibliographic references used, in Chicago Style.

·  Ability to adhere to the prescribed time limit

Part 2: Website Example Deconstructed, due on elearning 2/24 (5 pts individual)

Each person in the class will search online and post a legitimate, informational website s/he found that deals with some aspect of the Northern Renaissance. The assignment is due on elearning, under “assignments.” You will accompany your weblink post with responses to the following questions:

1)  How can you tell the information is legitimate?

2)  If you can’t tell, what would help you decide?

3)  What kind of writing is used? Do you notice errors? How does the presence or lack thereof influence your perception of the information and the site as a whole?

4)  Is the site user-friendly? If so, what specific aspects of the design help navigability? If not, what would improve it?

5)  Other pros/cons?

Part 3: The Website. DUE MAY 1, 11 pm (20 pts group)

Each group member will further research a particular aspect of the object, artist, or same kind of object, and write segments of informational text to include on the group’s website. Each member will construct his/her own webpage contributing original research to the site. Text for the pages should be organized, free of spelling and grammatical errors, and coherent to the group’s website as a whole.

A link to the entire site must be posted on elearning, under “assignments” by 11 pm, May 1.

The group may wish to map out their site; most websites have a “welcome” page, and an index to other pages. A cohesive theme or thesis (the objective of the website as a whole) under which each individual’s research could logically be placed would be appropriate for the “welcome” page. You may also wish to think about logical titles for each to integrate the pages within the site.

You may wish to have each group member follow the same template for his/her page, and follow a naming convention for that page.

Part 4: Individual Webpage. Text due in class, 4/7 on site 5/1 (30 pts individual)

Each individual page should contain thoroughly-researched information, fully cited and within copyright regulations. Each individual’s text segment should be no less than 1000 words. Each member may wish to further explore the object itself, or s/he may wish to situate the object within one of the following themes, or s/he may come up with a different theme or research question appropriate for exploration in relation to your object: