ARTHIST 236 Artists and Patrons in Renaissance Italy - Course Outlines

Course Prescription

A journey into the motivations and inspirations behind the production of art in Renaissance Italy, this course examines the social, economic, religious and political relationships between patrons, artists and artworks c.1400-c.1520 in a variety of civic, religious, familial, artistic and spatial contexts. It ranges from Florence to Milan, the Medicis to the Sforzas, Duccio to Donatello, Leonardo to Michelangelo.

Course Overview

This course takes you on a journey to Renaissance Italy to study the major players in artistic production: patrons and artists. We will approach the Renaissance through the 'period eye' of the time to understand the social, political and confessional factors as well as the physical environments that informed art production, display and consumption. Each module of the course focuses on a particular city or court, beginning with Florence and the Medici and then travelling to Milan, Mantua, Ferrara, Naples, Urbino, Rome and Venice. The course insists on the importance of an interdisciplinary study of Renaissance art that encompasses social history, political history, religious studies and material culture. The big names in Renaissance art are all here, including Donatello, Botticelli, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian. The course is largely focused on painting and sculpture but also includes furniture, textiles, plate, ceramics, jewellery and dress. The objective of the paper is for students to experience Italian Renaissance visual and material culture in a vivid, immediate way that is true to the how artworks operated for their original audiences and in their original environments.

Course Requirements

Prerequisite: 15 points at Stage I in Art History and 30 points passed Restriction: ARTHIST 336

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

Engage with cultural production in Renaissance Italy (Capability 1.1)
Discover the active role of patrons in the appearance of artworks and in their display (Capability 1.3)
Critically evaluate the agendas of artists and patrons in Renaissance Italy (Capability 2.1)
Understand and deploy a range of different methodologies for analysing Renaissance art (Capability 2.2)
Demonstrate skills in visual analysis, research and writing (Capability 4.1)
Become conversant with a range of primary sources from the Renaissance, including treatises, contracts, biographies, letters and inventories (Capability 2.1)

Assessments

Assessment Type	Percentage	Classification
Essay	30%	Individual Coursework
Final Exam	50%	Individual Examination
Inventory Assignment	20%	Individual Coursework
3 types	100%

Workload Expectations

This course is a standard 15 point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15 point course that they are enrolled in.

For this course, you can expect 2 hours of lectures, a 1 hour tutorial, 3 hours of reading and thinking about the content and 4 hours of work on assignments and/or test preparation.

Delivery Mode

Campus Experience

Attendance is expected at scheduled activities including tutorials.
Lectures will be available as recordings. Other learning activities including tutorials will not be available as recordings.
The course may include live online events including group discussions.
Attendance on campus is required for the test and the exam.
The activities for the course are scheduled as a standard weekly timetable.

Learning Resources

Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).

Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.

Student Feedback

At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.

Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.

Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.

SET feedback from 2019 for ARTHIST 236/336 was outstanding:

Student response rates for questions:

I found this course intellectually stimulating: 93.3% strongly agreed or agreed

This course helped me to development my thinking skills: 93.3% strongly agreed or agreed

Overall I was satisfied with the quality of this course: 93.3% strongly agreed or agreed

Student comments:

'Professor Griffey was enthusiastic and so passionate about the course, which helped to engage us as students'.

'The way our lecturer explained the artworks was very clear and precise. It was incredibly easy to understand and follow him and his train of thought'.

'I thoroughly enjoyed reading and using primary sources! Being able to see how the patrons and artists thought about and saw their own works was very enlightening and added a very valuable angle to my studies'.

Academic Integrity

The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against online source material using computerised detection mechanisms.

Class Representatives

Class representatives are students tasked with representing student issues to departments, faculties, and the wider university. If you have a complaint about this course, please contact your class rep who will know how to raise it in the right channels. See your departmental noticeboard for contact details for your class reps.

Inclusive Learning

All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.

Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website http://disability.auckland.ac.nz

Well-being always comes first
We all go through tough times during the semester, or see our friends struggling. There is lots of help out there - for more information, look at this Canvas page https://canvas.auckland.ac.nz/courses/33894, which has links to various support services in the University and the wider community.

Special Circumstances

If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.

If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.

This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.

Learning Continuity

In the event of an unexpected disruption, we undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and course assessment continues to meet the principles of the University’s assessment policy. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. You will be kept fully informed by your course co-ordinator/director, and if disruption occurs you should refer to the university website for information about how to proceed.

Student Charter and Responsibilities

The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html.

Disclaimer

Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.

In this course students may be asked to submit coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. In exceptional circumstances changes to elements of this course may be necessary at short notice. Students enrolled in this course will be informed of any such changes and the reasons for them, as soon as possible, through Canvas.

Capability 1:	Disciplinary Knowledge and Practice
Capability 2:	Critical Thinking
Capability 4:	Communication and Engagement

ARTHIST 236 : Artists and Patrons in Renaissance Italy

Arts

2023 Semester One (1233) (15 POINTS)