Art 269, Art in France and Italy:
the influence of Rome

Instructor: Pippin Michelli, ext 3098, or
Open to: Majors and non-majors
Designated Credits: WRI, HWC (culture), ALS-A

INTRODUCTION

The idea that art has a spiritual purpose is such a basic assumption that most of us do not know how to defend it when challenged, assuming vaguely that it must be something to do with the way art makes us feel. One of the great myths of the modern period is that each person's feelings are unique, that they cannot be explained, and that they are private. Magical, mysterious, and powerful, feelings are just about the only miracles left to us in the modern period. So we exalt them and deeply resent any attempt to explain them or to suggest that many people feel the same. But it wasn't always like that. Before the Scientific Revolution, there were many other miracles. Knowledge and reason were miraculous too. Art and architecture tap into knowledge and reason just as surely as they tap into feelings, and by exploiting all these aspects artists and architects can create a miracle of their own. They can reveal and manipulate the ultimate mystery in the universe, your own soul. This is the spiritual purpose of art: to show you your soul and help to save it. Notice, art and architecture do not simply remind you to save your soul yourself. They can do it for you. This job, and the way it is done, is very specific. We are going to see how it worked before the Industrial Revolution. We are going to look at Roman, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque art and architecture. We are going to see how each built on the legacy of the ones before to open the way to Heaven.

How will we do this? At the beginning of the course will establish the Ancient Roman concept of beauty, its appearance and function. We will spend a week in Paris looking at Roman, Gothic and Baroque landscapes; we will also look at the Great Gothic churches of St Denis, Notre Dame and La Sainte Chapelle, and take a day trip to see Chartres cathedral, too. On the way back, we will stop at Versailles and see what happened to the concept of gardens and landscapes there. We will spend another week in Venice, looking at Renaissance painted landscapes and Palladio's villas and their surrounding countryside; and we will relate their appearance to the Roman and Baroque landscapes we saw in Paris and consider the implications of moving from painted landscapes and villas to real ones. In between, we will take a two week coach trip through France looking at Roman remains and clusters of Romanesque and Gothic churches and abbeys. Nothing can replace the physical experience of a painting or building. When you see the real thing, you discover things that are invisible in photographs. We will walk around them, measure them, compare them, analyze them, test them for beauty, and experience them. We will notice our own responses and compare them with those of contemporary witnesses, and we will discover if these works can still do their job or whether we have moved beyond their cultural reach.

It all boils down to two areas: churches and landscapes. The connections between them will become clearer during the course.

Required texts:

Requirements: (subject to modification, depending on numbers)

Proposed Itinerary: (subject to confirmation)