ONLINE ART HISTORY COURSE "Chisel & Brush: Making Italian Renaissance Masterpieces"

Course Description:

How did Giotto apply gold leaf to a panel to create a glittering altarpiece? Why are fresco paintings such an important part of the Italian visual tradition and why were Venetian artists the first to fully embrace painting on canvas? Where did Michelangelo get the marble for his sculptures and what tools did he use to carve and polish them? Why did bronze cost so much more than marble and why was casting it such a difficult and dangerous process? This course answers these questions and more by providing an in-depth exploration of the techniques Italian Renaissance artists used to create their innovative and striking works from c. 1400 to 1600.

Virtual Classroom: Full access to an online educational platform with videos of recordings, syllabus, and reading list.

Location: LIVE INTERACTIVE ON-LINE ART HISTORY LECTURES

Optional Readings: Information will be provided upon registration.

Complete syllabus will be provided upon registration.

• ALL LECTURES WILL BE RECORDED AND AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING AT YOUR CONVENIENCE IN OUR VIDEO LIBRARY FOR TWO WEEKS AFTER THE COURSE HAS ENDED.

LECTURE 1 - Gold Leaf, Egg Tempura, & Oil Glazes: The Art of Painting on Panel & Canvas from Giotto to Titian

Wednesday, March 25

Beginning in the late medieval period with artists such as Giotto and Duccio, this class explores the transformation of Italian painting techniques from the production of gold-ground panels executed in tempera, to the gradual abandonment of gold leaf in the fifteenth century in favor of greater naturalism and illusionism and the adoption of new mediums such as painting in oil on canvas supports, as evinced in the work of the celebrated Venetian artist Titian.

LECTURE 2 - Magnificent Murals: The Art of Fresco Painting in Late Medieval and Renaissance Italy

Wednesday, April 1

Some of the most compelling artworks made during the later Middle Ages and Renaissance in Italy are the frescoes that decorate the walls and ceilings of churches, chapels, and private palaces. Famous examples that come to mind are Giotto’s Scrovegni (Arena) Chapel in Padua, the Brancacci Chapel by Masolino, Masaccio, & Filippino Lippi in Florence, and the Sistine Chapel in Rome. This class delves into the mechanics of painting in fresco, why it typically was preferred over other mural-painting techniques, and what could, and did, go wrong if the proper “true fresco” (buon fresco) technique was not followed.

LECTURE 3 - Carving & Casting: The Art of Sculpture in Renaissance Italy  

Wednesday, April 8

Leonardo da Vinci described the art of sculpting as a “most mechanical exercise” and noted in his notebook that “marble dust flours [the sculptor] all over so that he looks like a baker […] and his house is made filthy by the flakes and dust of stone.” In addition to being messy, marble carving was one of the most physically demanding of Renaissance artistic techniques. The medium of bronze, on the other hand was very expensive and the casting and gilding of bronze sculptures could be deadly. By focusing on famous statues and reliefs such as Michelangelo’s Rome Pietà, Donatello’s bronze David, and Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise, this class investigates what it took to produce Renaissance sculptures.

Dr. Sally J. Cornelison is the director of the Florence Graduate Program in Italian Renaissance art for Syracuse University and a specialist in the history of Italian late medieval and Renaissance religious art. She teaches a variety of courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels on the history of sacred, as well as secular, art and architecture in early modern Italy. Many of her publications concern art, devotion, ritual, and patronage as they relate to the cult of saints and relics in Renaissance Florence. More recently, the focus of her research has been the sacred art of Giorgio Vasari, and she is currently completing a book on Giorgio Vasari’s work at the prestigious church of the Pieve in his hometown of Arezzo