ART HISTORY SYLLABUS

Instructor: Lisa Schultz

REQUIREMENTS:
1. Each participant in the seminar will present one topic/monument/site to the group. It will be a fairly specific research topic that you will define and begin working on long before you arrive in Rome. It can be something chosen from/related to the list below, or something else that interests you: a specific painting, sculpture, building, object, or site. You will work with me to refine your particular angle, sources, research questions, etc, before presenting your results to the group on site.

2.Students will create a 5-7 page, written version of their main presentation on the Honors Rome blog. This paper will follow a specific outline and may include images, photographs, maps,drawings, diagrams, etc. This must be completed within 4 days of the student’s on-site presentation.

3. Renaissance Florence was the center of a true flowering of art and culture and produced some of the world’s greatest artists; Brunelleschi, Donatello, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo, to name but a few. The city becomes our classroom as we explore the paintings and sculptures, churches and palaces, streets and piazzas. In lieu of on-site presentations students will participate in (and be graded on) “The Quest”. The Quest is a creative writing assignment covering matters of history, culture, art, literature, local color and obscure facts, which is handed out daily, and is to be turned in on the last day in Florence. It requires students to pay close attention when they're on their walks with the group, and to be engaged as they explore Florence on their own.

4. There are family coats of arms all over Rome marking buildings, public works or individual works of art with the heraldic imagery of the family who commissioned for the piece. During the course of our stay in Rome, each apartment will develop its own coat of arms. At the end of the quarter, the residents of each apartment will give a “tour” and explanation of the crest. The crest must have a title and a detailed history – real or fictional. A photo of your crest will be posted on the website along with a written narrative about the history and theme.

5. Participation in discussion and on-site group exercises.

6. Each student will be responsible for recording the activities for one assigned day in the Honors blog Daily Diary.


APPROXIMATE GRADING PERCENTAGES:
Main Presentation 30
Website paper 20
Florentine Quest 10
Heraldic Crest 10
Participation 30


READINGS (subject to change):
*Ross King, Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling
*Students should also arrive with a good map of the city such as Artwise Rome
*A course reading packet will be printed and available for purchase once we arrive in Rome.

In addition, the following text is highly recommended for summer reading:
*Christopher Hibbert, Rome: The Biography of a City