Art History

ANTONIO IACOBINI

The main objective of the Course is to provide art-historic knowledge of a single topic, i.e. a fundamental case study in Byzantine Art History.
Among the specific objectives are refining the ability to read and to frame the Byzantine artistic production on the base of an in-depth historiographical and critical approach.
To this end, during the course a Seminar will be held for students who will be motivated to acquire more advanced critical categories and a more articulated methodological approach to research by group and individual work.
A parallel objective will be also the development of an adequate awareness about artistic heritage and its valorization.
The topics of the course, such as the competencies and abilities to learn, are part of the core curriculum of the Study Programme in Art History Masters Degree.

As regards specific outcomes, students are expected to learn:

a) the art-historic knowledge of a single topic, i.e. a fundamental case study in Byzantine Art History;
b) the ability to read and to frame the Byzantine artistic production on the base of an in-depth historiographical and critical approach;
c) an adequate awareness about artistic heritage and its valorization.

There are no requirements

Byzantium and Italy: patrons, masters and artistic circulation, 11th-13th centuries

This course will investigate the artistic contacts between Byzantium and Italy in the Comnenian era, through paintings and other works of art directly imported from Constantinople, together with the great mosaics executed by byzantine masters in Italy between the 11th and the 13th centuries. After an historical introduction dedicated to the political, cultural and religious relations between the byzantine Empire, the Papacy and the Italian powers from the East-West Schism (1054) to the Fourth Crusade (1204), a particular attention will be devoted to the following aspects: the presence of byzantine masters in Montecassino and Rome; the arrival of byzantine bronze doors in Italy from Constantinople; the mosaics in Sicily under the Normans; the mosaics in Venice and in Northern Adriatic area until the latin conquest of Constantinople.

Course articulation:
Lessons 1-4: Course presentation. Three emblematic patrons: Arnulfus II of Milan, Oddo of Novara, and Gerhard of Siponto. Byzantine mosaics as "colonial art". Methods and techniques of Byzantine wall mosaics. The reconstruction of the Montecassino Abbey and Leo Marsicanus' "Chronica". Desiderius' basilica: the architecture of the Gregorian Reform and the ideology of reuse. Liturgical furniture, mosaic decoration, and "tituli". Montecassino bronze door: Desiderius, Maurus de Comite Maurone, and Oderisius II.
Lesson 5: Seminar.
Lesson 6: Amalfi's bronze door and Byzantine bronze doors in Italy: art, artists, patrons, and inscriptions.
Lesson 7: Seminar.
Lessons 8-11: Byzantine bronze doors: their modular design, the agemina technique, and the issue of its origins. Montecassino and Rome: San Clemente and its apse mosaic. The “Renovatio Ecclesiae primitivae formae” and the revival of early Christian visual models. Normans in Italy: an historical introduction. Palermo under the reign of Roger II and the Cappella Palatina, its architecture and decoration. The cathedral of Cefalù: French-Norman architecture and Byzantine mosaics. George of Antioch and Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio.
Lesson 12: Seminar.
Lessons 13-16: The architecture and secular decoration in Palermo after Roger II. William II and the cathedral of Monreale, its architecture and its late-Komnenian mosaics. Venice and Byzantium in the eleventh century: an historical introduction. The cathedral of Torcello, its architecture, liturgical furniture, and wall mosaics. The Last Judgement in Byzantine iconography. Contarini's San Marco and the church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople.
Lesson 17: Seminar.
Lessons 18-19: San Marco, its mosaic decoration, and its development (11th-13th centuries). The dissemination of the Sicilian mosaic style in southern and central Italy: the frescoes in the narthex of Sant’Angelo in Formis and the mosaics in the cathedral of Salerno. Grottaferrata and Rome under Innocentius III.
Lessons 20-21: Seminar.

Attending students

- Mara Bonfioli, Antonio Iacobini, Enrico Zanini, I Bizantini in Italia, «ArcheoDossier», 97, 1993, pp. 54-111;

- Otto Demus, «Arte coloniale», in L’arte bizantina e l’Occidente, a cura di F. Crivello, Einaudi, Torino 2008, capitolo IV, pp. 133-177;

- Antonio Iacobini, Il mosaico in Italia dall’XI all’inizio del XIII secolo: spazio, immagini, ideologia, in L’arte medievale nel contesto (300-1300). Funzioni, iconografia, tecniche, a cura di Paolo Piva, Jaca Book, Milano 2006, pp. 463-499;

- Antonio Iacobini, Le porte bronzee bizantine in Italia: arte e tecnologia nel Mediterraneo medievale, in Le porte del Paradiso. Arte e tecnologia bizantina tra Italia e Mediterraneo, a cura di Antonio Iacobini, Campisano Editore, Roma 2009 (Milion. Studi e ricerche d’arte bizantina, 7), pp. 13-52;

- Maria Andaloro, Montecassino: memoria di una fabbrica perduta, in Cantieri medievali, a cura di Roberto Cassanelli, Jaca Book, Milano 1995, pp. 51-69;

- Antonio Iacobini, Immagini, ideologie, storiografia: il mosaico absidale del duomo di Salerno e l’arte della Riforma gregoriana, in Medioevo: immagini e ideologie, Atti del Convegno internazionale di studi, Parma, 23-27 settembre 2002, a cura di Arturo Carlo Quintavalle, Electa, Milano 2005, pp. 288-301;

- Antonio Iacobini, Roma anno 1200: pittura e mosaico al tempo della IV Crociata, in Venezia, la IV Crociata e le arti, Atti del Convegno, Venezia, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, 3-4 maggio 2004 = “Saggi e memorie di Storia dell’Arte”, 28 (2004) [2006], pp. 33-62;

- Per Jonas Nordhagen, s.v. Mosaico, in Enciclopedia dell’arte medievale, VIII, Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Roma 1997, pp. 563-574.

Notes: the pdf of the texts will be made available on Classroom.


Students who have never attended a course on Byzantine Art History are required to read and study the following works:

- Introduzione all’arte bizantina, Dispense, volume unico;

- Antonio Iacobini, Il mosaico in Italia dall’XI all’inizio del XIII secolo: spazio, immagini, ideologia, in L’arte medievale nel contesto (300-1300). Funzioni, iconografia, tecniche, a cura di Paolo Piva, Jaca Book, Milano 2006, pp. 463-499;

- Antonio Iacobini, Le porte bronzee bizantine in Italia: arte e tecnologia nel Mediterraneo medievale, in Le porte del Paradiso. Arte e tecnologia bizantina tra Italia e Mediterraneo, a cura di Antonio Iacobini, Campisano Editore, Roma 2009 (Milion. Studi e ricerche d’arte bizantina, 7), pp. 13-52;

- Per Jonas Nordhagen, s.v. Mosaico, in Enciclopedia dell’arte medievale, VIII, Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Roma 1997, pp. 563-574.

Notes: the pdf of these texts will be made available on Classroom.

Non-attending students

In addition to the over-listed contributions for Attending students, Non-attending students are encouraged to read the following book:

- Otto Demus, L’arte bizantina e l’Occidente, a cura di F. Crivello, Einaudi, Torino 2008.

None

The course will be held through frontal classes supported by keynote presentations.

Moreover, students will also have to attend a Seminar with some in-depth lessons on themes and problems of Byzantine art.

The attendance to the course is strongly suggested.
All over the academic year the professor will be available to receive students following the timetable published online on the University website. Any possible variations or suspensions of office hours will be promptly notified.

Erasmus students must contact the professor at the beginning of the course.

The exam will be oral and it will take place at the end of the course (intermediate tests will not be held).

The oral exam will be focused on the topics of the programme (by using pictures) in order to verify:
1) the depth and breadth of the acquired knowledge;
2) the specific vocabulary;
3) a more advanced ability to link themes and problems critically.

Students will be asked questions about individual works of art, monuments, or artistic movements included in the course, with the aid of images.

• Lessons
  1-4: Course presentation. Three emblematic patrons: Arnulfus II of Milan, Oddo
  of Novara, and Gerhard of Siponto. Byzantine mosaics as "colonial
  art". Methods and techniques of Byzantine wall mosaics. The reconstruction
  of the Montecassino Abbey and Leo Marsicanus' "Chronica". Desiderius'
  basilica: the architecture of the Gregorian Reform and the ideology of reuse.
  Liturgical furniture, mosaic decoration, and "tituli". Montecassino
  bronze door: Desiderius, Maurus de Comite Maurone, and Oderisius II.
  • Books: See Texts


• Lesson
  5: Seminar.
  • Books: See Texts


• Lesson
  6: Amalfi's bronze door and Byzantine bronze doors in Italy: art, artists,
  patrons, and inscriptions.
  • Books: See Texts


• Lesson
  7: Seminar.
  • Books: See Texts


• Lessons
  8-11: Byzantine bronze doors: their modular design, the agemina technique, and
  the issue of its origins. Montecassino and Rome: San Clemente and its apse
  mosaic. The “Renovatio Ecclesiae primitivae formae” and the revival of early
  Christian visual models. Normans in Italy: an historical introduction. Palermo
  under the reign of Roger II and the Cappella Palatina, its architecture and
  decoration. The cathedral of Cefalù: French-Norman architecture and Byzantine
  mosaics. George of Antioch and Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio.
  • Books: See Texts


• Lesson
  12: Seminar.
  • Books: See Texts


• Lessons
  13-16: The architecture and secular decoration in Palermo after Roger II.
  William II and the cathedral of Monreale, its architecture and its
  late-Komnenian mosaics. Venice and Byzantium in the eleventh century: an
  historical introduction. The cathedral of Torcello, its architecture,
  liturgical furniture, and wall mosaics. The Last Judgement in Byzantine
  iconography. Contarini's San Marco and the church of the Holy Apostles in
  Constantinople.
  • Books: See Texts


• Lesson
  17:  Seminar.
  • Books: See Texts


• Lessons
  18-19: San Marco, its mosaic decoration, and its development (11th-13th
  centuries). The dissemination of the Sicilian mosaic style in southern and
  central Italy: the frescoes in the narthex of Sant’Angelo in Formis and the
  mosaics in the cathedral of Salerno. Grottaferrata and Rome
  under Innocentius III.
  • Books: See Texts


• Lessons 20-21: Seminar.
  • Books: See Texts