Courses
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Singing and dancing to an Italian song during Italian language class
Video courtesy of Clarissa Thiessen
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Italian language
Instructors: Linguaviva staff
Required course, 4 semester credits
Classes are taught in Italian at Linguaviva, an Italian language institute in Florence. Linguaviva has been honored with multiple Star Awards from Language Travel Magazine and has received the Excellence Award in numerous years from LanguageCourse S.L. Instruction emphasizes spoken colloquial Italian and is most intensive during the first four weeks so that students may quickly acquire conversational ability. Classes are taught completely in Italian. Students who have previosuly studied Italian will be placed in language classes appropriate to their levels of proficiency. The Linguaviva instructors are not just language teachers but also rich sources of information about Italian culture, and they help students solve the daily problems which Italians and foreigners share.
Patrons and Artists in Renaissance Florence
Instructor: Josephine Rogers Mariotti, Program Director
Elective course, 4 semester credits
At the debut of the 15th century, Florence was at the crossroads of two artistic ages: the last phase of the flourishing International Gothic Style and the burgeoning “new style” of Florentine origin, both intricately tied to the humanist movement underway since at least the beginning of the preceding century. The Medici and other corporate, religious and private patrons are intrinsic to this history. Their interests and aspirations are reflected in the transformations in style that constitute the Renaissance style in the arts originating in Florence at that point of development. The course intends to explore: the art produced under the auspices of the Medici and other members of Florentine society who share their common culture; the relationship of each patron to the artists employed; the connection between the art sponsored and the personal philosophy and persona of both patron and artist; the reciprocal influences and interactions linking patronage and art production to contemporary history, culture and philosophy.
A choice of salient episodes of artistic patronage in Florence from the time of Cosimo de' Medici to the “golden age" of his grandson Lorenzo il Magnifico will furnish an ample view of the 15th century cultural and artistic milieu in which the Renaissance style in the arts was born and developed. The transformations underway at the end of the century will be our next focus as we witness Florence mute from the ‘golden age of Lorenzo’ to a period of political and spiritual upheaval that pervaded all of contemporary Italy. Interesting to note, the response to this period of crisis on the part of patrons and artists in Florence and beyond was the creation of some of the greatest masterpieces of all time. Our studies lead us outside Florence, for example, as in the case of the Sistine chapel, the history of which spans two generations of artists under papal patronage: the team of painters sent by Lorenzo il Magnifico to Sistus IV and the subsequent intervention of the Florentine Michelangelo Buonarroti. It is with the Vatican cycles of Michelangelo and Raffaello that we then return full circle to the Medici and Florence during the papacy of Leo X, born Giovanni de’ Medici, son of Lorenzo il Magnifico. Our conversations will focus on his patronage within his native city, once again with Buonarroti and the so-called ‘early Florentine mannerists’, creators of an aesthetic ideal that will characterize the refined artistic culture of the Medicean Duchy.
The Sight-Size Tradition: Drawing and Portraiture
Instructor: Staff of the Charles H. Cecil Studios
Elective course, 4 semester credits
Click here to see a course syllabus
This Studio Art course will teach a historic technique for drawing from a live model, from casts of famous statues, and from the city itself. Live models will be used for full figure drawing and casts for portraiture. Classroom instruction will take place in the Charles H. Cecil Studios, the most historic Florentine atelier still in active use. At the end of the semester, there will be an exhibit of the student work and a final critique.
Decorative Complexes of the Earliest Florentine Renaissance
Instructor: Gail Solberg
Elective course, 4 semester credits
This course focuses on major monuments of the first period of the Florentine Renaissance, understood to be about 1300-1400. By decorative complexes it intends ensembles and it insists on scrutinizing them in situ so that the dynamic interaction of various components is revealed. We will organize by typologies. Consideration of the cathedral square, with its baptistery, basilica, and campanile opens the semester. The buildings are presented with special attention to their décor so as to suggest that together they constitute an encyclopedic ensemble much greater than the sum of parts. In family chapels we study the orchestration of painted altarpieces, frescoed walls and sculpted tombs for their commemorative and devotional qualities. Complex housings for miraculous objects are another category of interest. Religious houses for men and women, particularly of their cloisters, refectories, and dormitories are dispersive ensembles whose decoration we will consider near end term. Ideally the decoration of public buildings will be included. There are no prerequisites, but some knowledge of medieval and renaissance art and history in Italy will be helpful.
Esotericism and Art: Imagination and Landscape in The Florentine Renaissance
Elective course (Fall 2013), 4 semester credits
Click here to see a course syllabus
The Renaissance was characterized by the reemergence of classical sources of knowledge and the rise of a humanist and rationalist tradition. Rediscovery of ancient wisdom was not limited to humanism, but was also seen to correspond with the recovery of similarly ancient, but secret and esoteric religious and philosophical ideas, including Magic, Astrology, Kabbalah, Hermeticism and Neo-Platonism. This course will explore the influence of these unusual understandings of religion and philosophy upon the artists and architects of Florence in order to discover how rationalism and esotericism defined their intellectual environment and artistic efforts. We will study, contrast and reconcile the esotericism and rationalism of Florentine humanism, and examine the worldview of the time as a means to inform our encounter with the artistic legacy of the Florentine landscape.
Love, Beauty and Eros
Elective course (Fall 2013), 4 semester credits
Click here to see a course syllabus
There can be little doubt that the Italian Renaissance has become virtually synonymous with beauty, love and sensuality - and that the qualities of the time have been embodied in the art and culture of Florence as nowhere else. Nevertheless, we misunderstand these wonders when we only view them through modern sensibilities. The Renaissance worked within its particular historical, mythological, philosophical and social context to give birth to subtle, spiritual and libidinous expressions of love and eros. This course will investigate notions of love, beauty and eros of the Italian Renaissance through comparison of literary works, philosophical and political writings, and testaments to the social environment. Through study of sources, relics and art of Florence, we will encounter the range of Renaissance views on love and eros, and reconcile the ideals of the time with their social and historical realities.
The Medici as Patrons of the Arts
Instructor: Josephine Rogers Mariotti, Program Director
Elective course (Fall 2012), 4 semester credits
Click here to see a course syllabus
The Medici family is arguably the single most important family in Florentine history, generation after generation, all active patrons of the arts during centuries in which the city experienced its greatest cultural and artistic flourishing. This course will focus on the major personalities of the early branch of the Medici, tracing the family’s history as art patrons during the course of the 15th and examining the relations between specific members of the dynasty and the artists they employed. Beginning with the late 14th century, at the debut of the rise in wealth and power of the Medici, we will explore the history and profiles of various members of the family from Giovanni di Bicci, Cosimo the Elder, Piero the Gouty concluding with Lorenzo il Magnifico. Our studies will also include episodes of cooperate and private patronage involving other members of Florentine society who shared their common culture. On site experience will allow us to witness and explore: how each patron relates to the artists employed; how the art produced can reflect personal philosophy and persona in both patron and artist; how patronage relates, contributes to, and reflects contemporary culture and philosophy; how the art produced under their auspices fits within the cultural, political and social make-up of the city. We will also see the significant role the Medici played in the complex game of art and politics with regard to other centers in Italy, some of which we will have the opportunity of visiting during the course of the term. Sessions will be held on-site and also in the class room intended to help consolidate knowledge acquired on the field.
Narration and Meaning in the Music and Visual Arts of Florence 1300-1700
Elective course (Fall 2012), 4 semester credits
Click here to see a course syllabus
What does a work of art – painting, sculpture, fresco – tell the viewer? Overt messages, allegorical representations, thinly veiled political and social commentary, and sensuous enjoyment abound in art and have their aural counterpart in music – songs, motets, Masses, music for the stage and ballets. The Baptistry doors and Giotto’s frescoes in Santa Croce tell a story; so does a motet by Francesco Landini and an opera by Jacopo Peri. The goal of this course is to hear and learn about music of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and early Baroque that complements art of the same periods. Students will come away from the course with an appreciation of the multi-dimensionality of the arts, artists, and culture of Florence from 1300 to 1650.
In-class lectures on musical styles and listening examples will alternate with on-site explorations of art and architecture in Florence. Beyond comparing stylistic commonalities in music and art of the same periods, the course will examine how musicians are depicted in paintings and drawings in Florentine churches and museums. Paintings of the Nativity, in particular, commonly feature angels playing musical instruments. We will learn about the instruments and their associations (e.g., with chamber music, secular singing and dancing, and sacred music) and listen to examples of period music itself. As part of our study of instrumental music, the class will visit churches to see and hear historic organs and learn about their role in the music of the Church throughout the centuries. Assigned readings will supplement lectures. Written work will consist of several listening exams to identify musical works studied in class and weekly essays comparing visual art and musical works that they discover on their own. A reflection paper on selected expeditions will round out the coursework.
Patronage, Gender, and Power in Early Modern Florence
Elective course (Fall 2012), 4 semester credits
Click here to see a course syllabus
Art and music have always been used in the service of religion and politics. The patronage system served musicians, artists, dancers, and poets alike in Florence: the resulting works were created to glorify the city, mythologize its past, and further the political and social goals of powerful families and institutions. Who were the patrons and the audiences for music created in early modern Florence? What role did gender play in the commissioning of art and music, in the subject matter, in the portrayal of women? The ways in which both men and women used the arts in the process of self-fashioning – to create symbolic responses to historical events and assert the legitimacy of an individual ruler – will be a subject of inquiry in the course.
A prime focus of the course will be discussions of life under the Medicis. Examples of self-fashioning began with Cosimo I, the first Medici duke, who appropriated the Sala Grande in the Palazzo della Signoria, filling the rooms with allegorical paintings of himself. A particularly fascinating period in Florence was the regency of Christine of Lorraine and her daughter-in-law, Maria Magdalena of the Hapsburg line, both of whom commissioned works of art and music in which women feature prominently.
Students in this course will develop their analytical skills in order to uncover deeper meaning/s in the art and music being studied. By seeing these works and others in situ, reading libretti, and listening to music either in concert or on recordings, students will explore the methods and mediums by which meaning is conveyed, namely, myth, allegory, technical control (brushwork, color, chiaroscuro, symbolism, and in the case of art; text, structure, line, harmony, and rhythm in music), and function. How do art and music reflect the concerns and the qualities valued by the people who commission it, and by the people who receive it? These are timeless issues that students will continue to wrestle with for the rest of their lives.
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The Beloit College Florence Program is registered with the Italian Ministry for Universities and Research and recognized as a private non-profit institution of higher education in Italy. Beloit College is a founding affiliate of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM) and a member of the American Association of College and University Programs in Italy (AACUPI). The Beloit College Florence Program is facilitated in the U.S. by the ACM on behalf of Beloit College and the other ACM affiliates. |
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