LATE ANTIQUE AND EARLY MEDIEVAL ART HISTORY

The class is included among the similar or supplementary training activities of the Master's Degree "History of Arts and Conservation of Artistic Heritage" (programme: "Medieval and Byzantine"). The course aims to deepen the knowledge of various expressive forms of Late Antique and Early Medieval art (architecture, sculpture, mosaics, sumptuary art).

- Knowledge and Understanding: Students will assimilate the notions, reflections, and concepts presented during the lectures.
- Applying Knowledge and Understanding: Students will be able to contextualize the works of art and artistic phenomena discussed in class within their socio-cultural and historical-temporal spheres.
- Making Judgements: Students will be able to grasp the most significant aspects of each work of art, whether they belong to the formal, iconographic, iconological, symbolic, socio-cultural, or aesthetic domains.
- Communication Skills: Students will be able to describe the works of art and artistic phenomena discussed in class using the specific terminology of the discipline, and to express the acquired notions, reflections, and concepts in a clear and grammatically correct manner.
- Learning Skills: By the end of the course, students should be able to provide a reading of the works of art and artistic phenomena that is both analytical and critical, integrating the knowledge acquired during lectures with the reading of the assigned texts.

No prerequisite is required.

This course aims to deepen knowledge of Early Christian art by analyzing the material heritage of Late Antique and Early Medieval Rome. This heritage is of essential significance for the study of artistic production at the dawn of the Christian era. The study of existing material evidence will be consistently accompanied by an analysis of the sources that preserve the memory of important lost works.
The lectures will chronologically trace the artistic periods that succeeded one another in Rome between the 4th and 7th centuries. There will also be comparisons with the artistic production of other significant cities from the Paleochristian period, such as Aquileia, Milan, and Ravenna.
The focus will be primarily on monumental evidence in architecture (ecclesiastical buildings with central and basilical plans, baptisteries, mausoleums), sculpture (sarcophagi and liturgical furnishings), and decorative elements (floor and wall mosaics, paintings, opus sectile). The in-depth study of these works will examine their technical and executive methods, material components, iconographic themes, formal aspects, patronage, and function. The goal is to provide students with the necessary tools to understand the language that shaped Christian art during its formative stage.

° Introduction to Early Christian art
An essay of your choice from among
- Bisconti F., La pittura delle catacombe, 2006, pp. 206-214
- Bisconti F., I sarcofagi cristiani antichi, 2020, pp. 259-307
- Bisconti F., Pittura cristiana della Tarda Antichità, 2020, pp. 309-343

° The Lateran complex
- Brandenburg H., L’età di Costantino, 2004, pp. 16-54
An essay of your choice from among:
- Leardi G., Il volto di Cristo della perduta abside di San Giovanni in Laterano, 2006, pp. 358-361
- Bisconti F., L’abside piena, l’abside vuota, 2014, pp. 229-236
- Guidobaldi F., Architettura paleocristiana, 2014, pp. 361-443
- De Blaauw S., A classic question. The origins of the church basilica and liturgy, 2016, pp. 553-562

° S. Pietro in Vaticano
- Brandenburg H., San Pietro in Vaticano, 2004, pp. 92-103
- Moretti F.R., Liverani P., I mosaici perduti di San Pietro in Vaticano di età costantiniana, 2006, pp. 87-91

° The ambulatory basilicas and the mausoleum of S. Costanza
- Brandenburg H., Le basiliche a deambulatorio costantiniane di Roma, 2004, pp. 89-92
An essay of your choice from among:
- Piazza S., I mosaici esistenti e perduti di Santa Costanza, 2006, pp. 54-86
- Piazza S., La memoria dell’oculus romano nelle cupole di Santa Costanza, della Rotonda di San Giorgio e del Battistero degli Ortodossi, 2014, pp. 243-248

° S. Pudenziana
An essay of your choice from among:
- Angelelli C., Titulus Pudentis: nuove acquisizioni, 2012, pp. 63-76
- Andaloro M., Il mosaico absidale di Santa Pudenziana, 2006, pp. 114-124

° S. Sabina
An essay of your choice from among:
- Brandenburg H., Titulus Sabinae (S. Sabina), 2004, pp. 167-177
- Leardi G., I mosaici e la decorazione ad opus sectile di Santa Sabina, 2006, pp. 292-304

° S. Maria Maggiore
- Brandenburg H., Ecclesiae Sanctae Dei Genitricis (S. Maria Maggiore), 2004, pp. 178-189

° S. Paolo f.l.m., San Pietro in Vaticano and the chapels of the Lateran Baptistery
Two essays of your choice from among:
- Viscontini M., I cicli vetero e neo testamentari della navata di San Pietro in Vaticano, 2006, pp. 411-415
- Viscontini M., I mosaici e i dipinti murali esistenti e perduti di San Paolo fuori le mura, 2006, pp. 366-378
- Bordi G., Il mosaico dell’arco trionfale, 2006, pp. 395-402
- Bisconti F., Ferri G., I monumenti cristiani sulla via Ostiense dal III al VII secolo d.C., 2018, pp. 101-190
- Moretti F.R., Alfano Gaetano, I mosaici e la decorazione ad opus sectile dell’atrio del Battistero Lateranense, 2006, pp. 348-357
- Brandt O., The Lateran Baptistery in the fourth and fifth centuries: new certainties and unresolved questions, 2020, pp. 221-238
- Pennesi S., I mosaici delle cappelle del Battistero Lateranense, 2006, pp. 425-436

° S. Maria Antiqua
- Santa Maria Antiqua tra Roma e Bisanzio, exhibition catalogue (Roma 2016), essays pp. 11-69

° SS. Cosma e Damiano
- Brandenburg H., SS. Cosma e Damiano, 2004, pp. 222-231

° S. Lorenzo outside the wall
- Brandenburg H., La basilica a deambulatorio di S. Lorenzo fuori le mura, 2004, pp. 87-89
- Mondini D., San Lorenzo fuori le mura. Storia del complesso monumentale nel Medioevo, 2016, pp. 9-19

° Icons
- Andaloro M., Dal ritratto all’icona, 2000, pp. 31-67

° Sant'Agnese outside the walls
- Croci C., Gianandrea M., L'abside di Sant'Agnese fuori le mura: uno sguardo tra passato e futuro, 2022, pp. 129-153

° S. Stefano Rotondo
- Taddei A., La committenza di papa Teodoro (642-649) : Primo e Feliciano nella chiesa di Santo Stefano Rotondo, 2022, pp. 173-211

The oral exam will be based on the content of the lectures and the specified texts (see above, “Testi di riferimento”).

oral

The grade for the exam's outcome will be expressed in thirtieths.
The exam is considered passed with a minimum grade of 18/30.

The course will consist of lectures with PowerPoint presentations, which will include textual and illustrative material prepared specifically by the professor.
The Moodle platform will be used to provide students with textual and illustrative materials in PDF format.

Attendance at the course is strongly recommended.