HISTORY OF BYZANTINE ART (ADVANCED COURSE)

Academic year
2018/2019 Syllabus of previous years
Official course title
STORIA DELL'ARTE BIZANTINA SP.
Course code
FM0210 (AF:273122 AR:159776)
Modality
On campus classes
ECTS credits
6
Degree level
Master's Degree Programme (DM270)
Educational sector code
L-ART/01
Period
3rd Term
Where
VENEZIA
The course of History of Byzantine Art is scheduled among the characterizing activities of the Master's Degree “History of Arts and Conservation of Artistic Heritage” (programme: " Medieval and Byzantine”), and among the the similar and integrative training activities of the Master's Degree “Italian Philology and Literature” (programme: Medieval/Renaissance"). This year's course aims to promote the knowledge of the Byzantine artistic heritage in the Veneto area.
- Knowledge and understanding: assimilation of the notions, reflections and concepts transmitted during the lessons;
- Ability to apply knowledge and understanding: to be able to bring back the works of art and the artistic phenomena treated in class in the socio-cultural and spatial-temporal areas of belonging;
- Ability to judge: to be able to grasp the most significant aspects of each work of art, whether they belong to the formal, iconographic, iconological, symbolic, socio-cultural, aesthetic fields;
- Communication skills: knowing how to describe works of art and artistic phenomena treated in class using the specific terminology of the discipline; be able to express clearly, and grammatically correct, notions, reflections and concepts acquired during the lessons;
- Learning skills: at the end of the course the student must be able to provide a reading at the same time analytical and critical of the works of art and artistic phenomena treated, integrating the knowledge acquired during the lessons to read the texts indicated.

No prerequisite is required.
The course aims to introduce the student to the knowledge of Byzantine art through the analysis of its testimonies present in the Venetian lagoon. The monumental works (architecture, sculpture, mosaics) and those belonging to the minor arts (bronzes, jewelery, glass, ivories, ceramics, illuminated codes and textiles) will be taken into consideration. Particular attention will be paid to the different channels of origin of Greek-Oriental art in Venice: the imitation of models (iconographic, formal, technical-executive, aesthetic, symbolic, liturgical, cultual, political-propaganda) and the phenomena of direct importation (of materials, artifacts and savoir faire), which will take into account, as far as possible, the distinction between objects stolen by the Venetians during the Latin occupation of Constantinople (1204-1261) and specimens acquired through commercial exchanges, devotional circuits or donations. The monumental complex of San Marco (with the basilica, the Museum and the Treasury), the mosaics of the churches of Santa Maria Assunta in Torcello and San Donato in Murano, the Byzantine manuscripts of the Biblioteca Marciana and the Museum of Icons of the Hellenic Institute, will allow students to familiarize themselves with the topics covered during the lessons through direct contact with the work of art.
MANDATORY READINGS:

° Architecture

- Bouras, Charalampos, Il tipo architettonico di San Marco nella prospettiva degli edifici di Costantinopoli del periodo alto e mediobizantino, in “Storia dell’arte marciana”, Atti del convegno internazionale di studi, Venezia, 11-14 ottobre 1994, a cura di Renato Polacco, Venezia, Marsilio, 1997, vol. 1 (“Architettura”), pp. 164-175.
- Mainstone, Rowland J., La storia della costruzione della basilica, in “Storia dell’arte marciana”, Atti del convegno internazionale di studi, Venezia, 11-14 ottobre 1994, a cura di Renato Polacco, Venezia, Marsilio, 1997, vol. 1 (“Architettura”), pp. 201-206.

° Wall mosaics

- Rizzardi, Clementina, Mosaici altoadriatici: il rapporto artistico Venezia-Bisanzio-Ravenna in età medievale, Ravenna, Edizioni del Girasole, 1985.

° Sculptures and sumptuous Arts

- Grabar, André, Opere bizantine, in “Il tesoro di San Marco”, a cura di H. R. Hahnloser, vol. 2 (“Il tesoro e il museo”), Firenze, Sansoni, 1971, pp. 13-97.
- Polacco, Renato, La pala d’oro, in “San Marco: basilica patriarcale in Venezia. I mosaici, le iscrizioni, la pala d’oro”, a cura di M. Andaloro et alii, Milano, Fabbri, 1991, pp. 227-238.
- Volbach, Fritz W., Opere antiche, tardo-antiche e protobizantine, in “Il tesoro di San Marco”, a cura di H. R. Hahnloser, vol. 2 (“Il tesoro e il museo”), Firenze, Sansoni, 1971, pp. 1-11.

° For the preparation for the exam, in addition to the texts listed above, the reading of ONE essay chosen from the following is required:

- Cassanelli, Roberto, Furti d’arte: il Tesoro di San Marco da Bisanzio a Venezia, in "Il mediterraneo e l’arte nel medioevo, Milano, Jaca Book, 2000, pp. 219-235.
- Minguzzi, Simonetta, Plutei mediobizantini conservati in San Marco, in “Storia dell’arte marciana”, Atti del convegno internazionale di studi, Venezia, 11-14 ottobre 1994, a cura di Renato Polacco, Venezia, Marsilio, 1997, vol. 3 (“Sculture, tesoro, arazzi”), pp. 113-124.
- Paribeni, Andrea, Le porte ageminate della basilica di S. Marco a Venezia tra storia e committenza, in “Le porte del paradiso: arte e tecnologia bizantina tra Italia e Mediterraneo”, a cura di Antonio Iacobini, Roma, Campisano, 2009, pp. 301-317.
- Richardson, Joan, Elementi bizantini nell'architettura delle chiese di San Marco, di Santa Fosca di Torcello e del duomo di Jesolo, in “Storia dell’arte marciana”, Atti del convegno internazionale di studi, Venezia, 11-14 ottobre 1994, a cura di Renato Polacco, Venezia, Marsilio, 1997, vol. 1 (“Architettura”), pp. 176-183.
- Tigler, Guido, I pilastri "acritani": genesi dell’equivoco, in "Florilegium artium. Scritti in memoria di Renato Polacco", a cura di Giordana Trovabene, Padova, Il Poligrafo, 2006, pp. 161-172.
- Verzone, Paolo, I due gruppi in porfido di S. Marco in Venezia ed il Philadelphion di Costantinopoli, in “Palladio”, 8, 1958, pp. 8-14.

° For specific themes and works of art, other bibliographic references can be reported during the lessons. The texts cited that should be untraceable will be provided in pdf format.
The oral exam will focus on the contents of the lessons and compulsory texts (see above, "Reference texts").
Lectures with PowerPoint support specially prepared by the professor.
Italian
Course attendance is strongly recommended.
oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development

Definitive programme.
Last update of the programme: 18/06/2018