Ateneo - UPO

ORAZIO BORGIANNI (1574-1616). A ROMAN PAINTER IN SPAIN AND ITALY AMONG MANNERISM, NATURALISM AND BAROQUE

G.C. Argan, Storia dell'arte italiana, Florence 1968 and later editions, or I. Baldriga, Dentro l'arte edizione rossa, 2, Dal Rinascimento al Rococò, Milan 2016 and later editions, the chapters on XVI-and XVII-century art; Giulio Mancini, Considerazioni sulla pittura (ms. 1617-1621), eds. Adriana Marucchi and Luigi Salerno, Rome 1956-1957; Giovanni Baglione, Vite de' pittori scultori et architetti. Dal Pontificato di Gregorio XIII. del 1572. In fino a' tempi di Papa Urbano Ottavo nel 1642, Rome 1642; L. Spezzaferro, Il recupero del Rinascimento, and Maurizio Marini, Caravaggio e il naturalismo internazionale, both in Storia dell’arte italiana, 6.1, Cinquecento e Seicento, Turin 1981, pp. 183-274 and pp. 345-445 respectively; G. Papi, Orazio Borgianni, Soncino 1993; M. Gallo, Orazio Borgianni pittore romano (1574-1616) e Francisco de Castro conte di Castro, Rome 1997; A. Vannugli, La collezione del segretario Juan de Lezcano. Borgianni, Caravaggio, Reni e altri nella quadreria di un funzionario spagnolo nell’Italia del primo Seicento, Rome 2009; A. Zuccari, ed., I Caravaggeschi. Percorsi e protagonisti, Milan 2010; G. Papi, ed., Orazio Borgianni. Un genio inquieto nella Roma di Caravaggio, exhibition catalogue (Rome, Palazzo Barberini), Milan 2020; G. Papi and Y. Primarosa, Orazio Borgianni. Bilanci e nuovi orizzonti, Rome 2022. Further literature will be given during the lessons. Alternative texts will be suggested to non attending-students.

Educational objective A: Knowledge
• Knowledge and understanding: by studying the life and works of Orazio Borgianni (Rome, 1574-1616), the course will examine the revolution in painting that took place in Italy and Europe between 1580 and 1640, and especially the reformed Mannerism, the early Classicism, the so-called Caravaggesque movement and the beginning of the Baroque. At a basic level, the broad objective is to get to know the main lines of Italian art history between the sixteenth and the eighteenth centuries; at an advanced level, to command the basic concepts that help to assign an artist or an individual work of art to a specific period, a stylistic current and a regional school, with particular focus on the sixteenth and the early seventeenth centuries.
Educational objective B: Skills
• 1. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding: at a basic level, to refer a painting or sculpture to a specified period in the Early Modern Age;
• 2. Autonomy of judgement: at an advanced level, to refer an art work to a specified period, more precisely for the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, explaining the reasons for the judgement expressed, and then to a stylistic current, a regional school and, in the case of the most important ones, to an author; besides, to recognize its iconography and thus to make plausible hypotheses about its original destination and function;
• 3. Learning skills: at a transversal level, to obtain the basics enabling to study further paintings of the sixteenth and seventeenth from life, and cope with new topics and artists of the same period.
Educational objective C: Communication
• Communication skills: at a basic level, to describe the personality of a major artist in general and the fundamental characteristics of art works with an essential property of language; at an advanced level, to be able to explain, with clarity and full mastery of terminology, the style and the various levels of interpretation of a single work of art as well as of an entire movement.

A good general knowledge of European political, economic, religious and cultural history during the Early Modern age, between the second half of the Sixteenth Century (1559) to the first half of the Seventeenth Century (1648). Besides, a general acquaintance with the outlines of art history of the Renaissance and the Baroque.

Oral lessons and, if possible, one or more visits to museums of art and/or temporary exhibitions. Some time will be devoted to innovative teaching methods, including search of visual, documentary and literary materials on the internet and an introduction to the use of most common databases. In Spring 2024, we will possibly make a three-day study journey to Rome.

Students who cannot attend are asked to contact the teacher at least one month before the exam to agree on the texts of study and to receive any material electronically. In case of failure to register for exams electronically, will be eligible to take the test ONLY those who have, at least three days in advance, contacted the teacher in person or sent a message to his email address. No exceptions will be allowed.

Oral exam, c. 20/30’ long, consisting of four or five questions, two of which will be of a general nature on the contents of the course and two or three will concern the analysis and commentary of art works, through digital images shown on the computer or sent by e-mail in real time, to be seen on the mobile phone. For the purposes of the learning objectives, the following will be assessed in particular:
Educational objective A: Knowledge
• Knowledge and understanding: to know the life and works of Orazio Borgianni and, on a broader scale, the production of the main currents and the most important painters active in Italy between the High Renaissance and the eighteenth century, and more specifically those who worked in Rome between 1520 and 1650, also in relation to other artistic expressions and contemporary thought (50% of the overall assessment will be attributed to this aspect).
Educational objective B: Skills
• 1. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding: to attribute art works of the Modern Age to a specific period and stylistic ambience, recognizing their authors in the case of the great masters as Michelangelo, Raphael etc., by means of photographs shown on the computer or sent via e-mail on the mobile phone (20% of the overall assessment);
• 2. Autonomy of judgement: to analyze with critical property the style and iconography of art works belonging to the period studied in the course (15% of the overall assessment).
Educational objective C: Communication
• Communication skills: to express oneself in a clear, appropriate and correct terminology (15% of the overall assessment).
An exam demonstrating a knowledge of the programme limited to a brief exposition of the main topics, without personal critical evaluations and using essential and only partially appropriate and correct terminology, will be considered sufficient.
The exam will be judged excellent if it demonstrates an articulate, detailed and precise knowledge of the programme and the topics discussed along the course, excellent judgement and synthesis skills, a full command of terms and fluency of language

Unit 1: Mannerist painting and the art of Counter-Reformation (6 hours).
Unit 2: The reform of the Carracci and the birth of Classicism (6 hours).
Unit 3: Caravaggio and his followers (6 hours).
Unit 4: Orazio Borgianni: his youth and the Spanish years (6 hours).
Unit 5: Borgianni in Rome and his works between 1605 and 1615 (6 hours).

Educational objective A: Knowledge
• Knowledge and understanding: at a basic level, to acquire a fundamental knowledge of the greatest masters and the most important trends in the visual arts of the Modern Age in Italy and Europe; at an advanced level, to orientate oneself among the various artistic currents that followed and overlapped during the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, also in relation to the other kinds of creative expression and to contemporary religious and philosophical culture.
Educational objective B: Skills
• 1. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding: at a basic level, to place a single work of art of the Modern Age in the right century, recognizing the author in the case of the most famous ones;
• 2. Autonomy of judgement: at an advanced level, to explain the reasons of style that allow to identify the moment and the school to which a work of art belongs, with particular regard to the sixteenth century among Mannerism, the art of the Counter-Reformation, Classicism, Naturalism and the Baroque, as well as to make a correct interpretation of its iconography, both in the religious and the profane fields;
• 3. Learning skills: at a transversal level, to acquire the critical and methodological tools useful for deepening studies on the period, not only in art history but also, more generally, in any field of the history of culture.
Educational objective C: Communication
• Communication skills: at a basic level, to acquire a minimum mastery of art-historical terminology in relation to the period discussed in the course; at an advanced level, to apply with autonomy and ease the technical language of the subject, modulating it appropriately according to the various genres and types of artistic representation.