Italian Early Modern Sculpture

The course explores different approaches to Italian fifteenth- and sixteenth-century sculpture, both from the perspective of the workshop and from the point of view of contemporary beholders. Through primary and secondary texts, we will reconstruct the ideas about different materials and techniques, which informed the making and the appreciation of specific works of art.

The course explores different approaches to Italian fifteenth- and sixteenth-century sculpture, both from the perspective of the workshop and from the point of view of contemporary beholders. Through primary and secondary texts, we will reconstruct the ideas about different materials and techniques, which informed the making and the appreciation of various works of art. We will discuss regional differences that resulted from specific needs of individual patrons and communities The course proposes to look at celebrated artworks alongside lesser-known sculptural artefacts, and sculptures from hitherto neglected regions such as the Kingdom of Naples, Umbria or Le Marche. This course’s broad geographic perspective seeks to provide a thorough understanding of the variety of sculptural solutions offered by native and foreign artists working in Italy during the sixteenth century.

Detailed Timetable:

1. Introduction to Italian sixteenth-century sculpture.

2. Pomponius Gauricus and his De Sculptura (1504).

3. Michelangelo and his Patrons. The sixteenth-century interest in antique sculptures.

4. Experiencing bronze in the workshop of Benvenuto Cellini.

5. Jacopo Sansovino an example of a sculptor and an architect.

6. Sculptural drawings and drawings made by sculptors. Discussion of works by Baccio Bandinelli.

7. The Della Robbia and family workshop with their trade secrets.

8. Terracotta sculpture in the Marche.

9. Carving marble in Naples.

10. Sculpture and liturgy. Wooden crucifixes in Umbria.

11. Pietro Torrigiano and sculptors on the move.

12. Multisensory experience of sculpture in the sixteenth century.

13. Exhibitions of Sculpture

All texts required for the course will be emailed to students in PDF format.

Jeremy Warren, The Wallace Collection. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture, vols. 1-2, (London, 2016).

Marietta Cambareri et al., Della Robbia Sculpting with Color in Renaissance Florence, exh. cat., (Boston, 2016).

Michael Cole ed., Donatello, Michelangelo, Cellini. Sculptors’ Drawing from Renaissance Italy, (London, 2014).

Kathleen Wren Christian and David J. Drogin, Patronage and Italian Renaissance Sculpture, (Farnham, 2010).

Bruce Boucher ed., Earth and Fire. Italian Terracotta Sculpture from Donatello to Canova, (New Haven and London, 2001).

Geraldine A. Johnson, ‘In the Hand of the Beholder: Isabella d’Este and the Sensual Allure of Sculpture’, w: Sense and the Senses in Early Modern Art and Cultural Practice, eds Alice E. Sanger, Siv Tove Kulbrandstad Walker, (London and New York, 2012).

Sarah Blake McHam ed., Looking at Italian Renaissance sculpture, (Cambridge, 1998).

Francesco Abbate, La scultura napoletana del Cinquecento, (Rome, 1992).

Roger Ward ed., Baccio Bandinelli 1493-1560: drawings from British Collections, (Cambridge, 1988).

Kathleen Weil- Garris Brandt, ‘”Were this Clay but Marble”: A Reassessment of Emilian Terracotta Group Sculpture’ w: Le Arti a Bologna e in Emilia dal XVI al XVII secolo, ed. A. Emiliani, Bologna, 1983, pp. 61-79.

Pomponius Gauricus, De Sculptura (1504), ed. and trans. André Chastel and Robert Klein, (Geneva, 1969).

K2_W02; K2_W03; K2_W04; K2_W05; K2_W06; K2_W07; K2_U01; K2_U02; K2_U04; K2_U05; K2_U06; K2_U07; K2_U08; K2_U09;

K2_U10; K2_U13; K2_U14; K2_K01; K2_K03; K2_K04; K2_U10; K2_U11

Learning Outcomes:

The course will enable students to notice regional differences and similarities in relation to the sixteenth-century Italian sculpture. Students will gain a thorough understanding of sculptural materials both in artistic practice and in the context of sensory experience of the contemporary beholder. The course will encourage to read widely on the subject of Italian Early Modern sculpture and to question interpretations offered by previous scholars.

Course assessment:

a) Active participation in group discussions

Leading a discussion of a set text /or a written essay on one of two set topics.