Ateneo - UPO

PAINTING IN ROME IN THE AGE OF COUNTER-REFORMATION AND THE DECORATION OF THE ORATORIO DEL GONFALONE

Giulio Carlo Argan, Storia dell'arte italiana, Florence 1968, the chapters on the art from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century; 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; Claudio Strinati, Roma anno 1600. Studio di pittura, in “Ricerche di Storia dell’arte”, 10, 1980, pp. 15-48; Luigi Spezzaferro, Il recupero del Rinascimento, in Storia dell’arte italiana, 6.1, Cinquecento e Seicento, Turin 1981, pp. 183-274; Paolo Prodi, Ricerca sulla teorica delle arti figurative nella riforma cattolica (1962), Bologna 1984; Fabrizio D’Amico, Daniela Gallavotti Cavallero and Claudio Strinati, L’arte in Roma nel secolo XVI. 2. La pittura e la scultura, Bologna 1992; Alessandro Zuccari, I pittori di Sisto V, Rome 1992; L’Oratorio del Gonfalone, ed. Maria Grazia Bernardini, Rome 2002; Nerida Newbigin and Barbara Wisch, Acting on Faith. The Confraternity of Gonfalone in Renaissance Rome, Philadelphia 2013; Immagini e Arte Sacra nel Concilio di Trento, ed. Lydia Salviucci Insolera, Rome 2016; Matteo Provasi and Federica Veratelli, Fonti per la Storia dell’arte moderna, Milan 2024; Antonio Vannugli, Artisti, affreschi e committenti nell’Oratorio del Gonfalone, Todi 2021, 2nd edition, revised, Todi 2022; besides, the Holy Gospel and Bonaventure of Bagnoregio (pseudo), Meditationes vitae Christi, Venice 1478. More literature will be given during the lessons.

Educational objective A: Knowledge
• Knowledge and understanding: by studying the fresco decoration of the Oratorio del Gonfalone in Rome (1568-1577), the course aims to examine the transformations that took place in Italian painting between the middle and the end of the sixteenth century, and in particular the transition between late Mannerism and the art of the Counter-Reformation, as a consequence of the decrees of the Council of Trent, including the progressive separation between sacred and profane art. 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 recognise 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 beginning of the Sixteenth Century to the beginning of the Seventeenth Century. 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 Autumn 2022 - but this is probably a dream - a three-day trip to Rome may be organized.

Those with physical disabilities, Learning Disabilities or Special Education Needs can request specific services and tools via the Staff Sviluppo e Coordinamento Carriere e Servizi alle Studentesse e agli Studenti, consulting the University webpage: https://www.uniupo.it/en/services/services-students-physical-or-learning-disabilities. Once they have contacted the University Staff, persons with disabilities, learning disabilities or special education needs can refer to the tutor in charge of the course to define the examination modalities, concerning academic aspects.
Those 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 personally 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, one or two of which will be of a general nature on the contents of the course and three will concern the analysis and commentary of art works, through digital images shown on the computer or transmitted via whatsapp 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 decoration of the Oratory of the Gonfalone and the production of the painters who took part in it, as well as, on a broader scale, 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 1600, 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, recognising their authors in the case of the great masters as Michelangelo, Raphael etc., by means of photographs shown on the computer or transmitted via whatsapp on the mobile phone (20% of the overall assessment);
• 2. Autonomy of judgement: to analyse 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 in Rome and Florence between 1520 and c. 1550 (6
hours).
Unit 2: The High Mannerism around 1550 (6 hours).
Unit 3: Painting after the Council of Trent (6 hours).
Unit 4: Late Mannierist painting through the work of the artists of the Oratorio del Gonfalone (6 hours).
Unit 5: The painting of the Counter-Reformation through the work of the artists of the Oratorio del Gonfalone (6
hours).
Within the course, a lesson will be devoted to gender integration, considering the role of women painters in the frame of Renaissance and Baroque art.

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, recognising 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 Early Mannerism, Great Mannerism, Late Mannerism and the Counter-Reformation, 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 discipline, modulating it appropriately according to the various genres and types of artistic representation.