Art History

ALESSANDRO TADDEI

This monographic course is designed to provide students with a research methodology that will be useful when writing their Master's thesis in Art History. The course's fundamental objectives will be:
a) to study architecture and art history in a peripheral area of the Byzantine Empire;
b) To provide a historical framework for artistic phenomena, including local ones.
c) To achieve a level of thematic depth preparatory to designing a Master thesis.

Regular attendance to the course does not depends upon the attainment of preparatory credits or exams.

The monastic complex of Hosios Loukas in Boeotia (Greece)

The lessons will focus on the history of the monastery, which was founded in the mid-10th century near the ancient city of Steiris. Developed from the cult of its founder, the miracle-working saint and 'physician' Luke of Steiris, the monastery grew until it reached the size of a large monastic community in the 12th century. The course will examine the origins of the complex and its main buildings, including the two churches and the refectory, as well as the outbuildings, such as churches, chapels, small monasteries, houses and agricultural settlements, that it acquired or built over two centuries in a vast region stretching from Boeotia to Euboea. The architecture of the monastery's two ecclesiastical buildings — the Church of Panagia, dating from the end of the tenth century, and the Katholikon, dating from around 1030–1040 — will be examined in detail. In addition to architecture, ample time will be devoted to analysing the sculptural decorations, liturgical furnishings and mosaic and fresco wall coverings of the two churches.

1. Basic companion: Ch. BOURAS, The Architecture of the Hosios Loukas Monastery, Athens 2018 (available at the SARAS Department Library)

2. The study and comment of Bouras' monograph must be integrated with the following articles (to be downloaded from the course's Moodle webpage):

Ch. KOILAKOU, Byzantine Thebes, in Heaven & Earth. Cities and Countryside in Byzantine Greece, ed. by J. Albani and E. Chalkia, Athens 2013, pp. 181-191
H.MAGUIRE, The Cycle of Images in the Church, in Heaven on Earth. Art and the Church in
Byzantium, ed. by L. Safran, University Park 1998, pp. 121-151.

The course will be based upon class attendance. Power-points and slides will be provided in order to support the lectures.

Class attendance is strongly recommended.

The final (oral) exam is based on assigned readings in textbooks and in lecture notes. The course does not imply any sort of midterm test.
In order to pass the exam, a final grade corresponding to 18 points out of 30 is needed. Students are expected to be acquainted with the basic notions of the subject and, more precisely, they should demonstrate to have attained a proper knowledge of the development of Byzantine art through the centuries together with the relevant geo-political, historical and cultural frame.
To pass the exam with full marks - 30 points out of 30 cum laude - students must show a high proficiency in all the learning outcomes and a full understanding of the issues that were dealt with during classes. They are requested to be able to work out in a logical and coherent way the data and information they have acquired.

The exam is divided into three sections.
- A general question on the topography of the region in which the monumental complex covered by the course is located.
- A question on the architecture of one or more buildings that make up the complex.
- A question on sculptural decoration in an architectural context and liturgical furnishings in ecclesiastical buildings.
- A question on the historiography and critical history of the complex.

• Introduction: The situation in mainland Greece in the first half of the 10th century. History and sources.
  • Books: PPT Presentations


• The origins and development of the monastic institution of Hosios Loukas. Documentation and material evidence
  • Books: PPT Presentations +Ch. KOILAKOU, Byzantine Thebes, in Heaven & Earth. Cities and Countryside in Byzantine Greece, ed. by J. Albani and E. Chalkia, Athens 2013, pp. 181-191.H.MAGUIRE, The Cycle of Images in the Church, in Heaven on Earth. Art and the Church inByzantium, ed. by L. Safran, University Park 1998, pp. 121-151.


• The architectural layout of the monastery, encompassing its buildings and interior decorative elements.
  • Books: PPT Presentations +Ch. BOURAS, The Architecture of the Hosios Loukas Monastery, Athens 2018