Courses in Florence
Note: For students participating in the Florence winter quarter/trimester, course credits should be equivalent to those of a full quarter/trimester. Please contact ACM and/or the Registrar at your college for any questions about the distribution of quarter/trimester credits.
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Singing and dancing to an Italian song during Italian language class
Video courtesy of Clarissa Thiessen |
Italian Language
Instructor: Linguaviva staff
Required course
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2 semester credits (15- week students)
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5 semester credits (10 and 18- week students)
Instruction emphasizes spoken colloquial Italian so that students may quickly acquire conversational ability. Classes are taught in Italian at Linguaviva, an Italian language institute in Florence. 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.
The Medici as Patrons of the Arts
Instructor: Josephine Rogers Mariotti, Program Director
Elective course (Spring 2012), 3 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 trace the family’s history as art patrons during the course of the 15th and early 16th century, examining the relations between specific members of the dynasty and the art produced under their auspices. Beginning with the late 14th century, at the debut of the rise in wealth and power of the family, we will explore the history and profiles of various members of the family from Giovanni di Bicci, Cosimo the Elder, Piero the Gouty, Lorenzo il Magnifico to the Medici popes, Leo X and Clement VII; our studies will also include other Florentine families and patrons who share a common culture with the leading family. On site experience of the art they promoted will allow us to explore: how each patron relates to the artists employed; how the patron’s choice of artist reflects personal philosophy and persona; how patronage relates and contributes to 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 to visit during the course of the term. Thus, this course will focus on the major personalities of the early branch of the Medici, concluding with the initial stages of the Cinquecento (1500's) and the early life of Michelangelo, one of the Medici’s most beloved artists.
Renaissance Men and Women in Dialogue
Elective course (Spring 2012), 4 semester credits
Click here to see a course syllabus
This course will focus on the relationship between men and women in Renaissance Italy, as seen in selected primary sources. In the period between 1300 and 1600, classical models were important not only in visual art but also literature, where the influence of Plato and Cicero resulted in dialogues that used real people as interlocutors who spoke not only about abstract topics but also of how to live one’s life. In this course we will read some actual dialogues, but we will also imagine the dialogue created by the juxtaposition of works written independently by men and women, often in response to each other. During site visits in Florence and other parts of Italy we will determine to what extent these conversations are contextualized in the visual art and material surroundings of the time. By the end of this course, the student should be able to 1) identify and discuss the significance of some important male and female writers of the Italian Renaissance, 2) situate these writers in their material and historical reality in order to appreciate the use of primary sources in constructing historical knowledge, including that of gender, and 3) discuss the idea of dialogue and conversation and comment on contemporary Italian culture with reference to its distinguished past.
Saints in the Art of Medieval and Early Renaissance Florence
Instructor: Gail Solberg
Elective course (Spring 2012, Jan-March session only), 3 semester credits
Click here to see a course syllabus
This course serves as an introduction to the making, placement, and use of images of divine figures and saints in Florence in the late medieval and early renaissance period to about 1450. Preliminary discussion treats the contemporary world view in which saints were models and helpmates on earth, where life was, ideally, a prelude to bliss in eternity with the ranks of the elect. The premise was an all-powerful trinitarian God, sometimes benevolent, sometimes wrathful, and always in control of events on earth. This is the context for veneration of God and saints in the city which coalesced before images. Particularly important was the super-saint, Mary the Virgin. We will ask who the Florentine saints were, how they joined the canon, how they are depicted, and why images of them drew viewers. What was their utility? How did the saints and representations of them rank among themselves, and why were some more important than others? How were they categorized and controlled, and where were they venerated? What forces were at work in their presentation? A main goal is to delineate patterns in worship and images of saints. Our test case is Florence, which is exemplary of religious, social and civic life across Europe in the period. Following consideration of the nature of sainthood and the utility of saints in Florentine life, we examine holy figures in the public realm by looking to the heavenly patrons of the local church, of the city government, of the guilds, and of social service organizations. Some protectors of Florence worked miracles and we will consider how these figures and their images were protected and promoted. The founders of religious orders such as Francis and Dominic were relative late comers to the group, but they took a significant place in Florentine attentions. Family and personal patron saints introduce problems of micro history and in some instances gendered patterns of reception and appeal. Great artworks in painting and sculpture are the means for dealing with these issues.
The Sight-Size Tradition: Drawing and Portraiture
Instructor: Staff of the Charles H. Cecil Studios
Elective course (Spring 2012), 3 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.
Florence Through the Eyes of the Victorians
Elective course (Spring 2013), 4 semester credits
Click here to see a course syllabus
Just as the artists of the Renaissance drew on the works of the Classical era, artists in Victorian England drew heavily on the works of the Renaissance. In each case the artists felt that the works of the earlier period represented a view of humanity that was more harmonious, balanced, and desirable than the art of their own time. This course will use the writings and drawings of John Ruskin, the artwork, illustrations, and poetry of the Pre-Raphaelites, and the writings of art critic Walter Pater as lenses through which to view Renaissance Florence. Through this examination we will be able to understand how the Victorians were influenced by the Italians and apply our own cultural perspective to that relationship. The course will be structured around readings by Victorian artists and art critics and around visits to Florentine locations that are important in those texts. Students will complete formal and informal writing assignments as well as sketchbook work where the students follow the example of the Victorians and create visual studies of the artwork in Florence.