Program Overview

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ARTISTIC LITERATURE

The course aims to offer bachelor students a detailed overview, in a rigorous chronological path, of the sources and artistic historiography relating to the figurative arts between the Thirteenth and Eighteenth centuries.

OVERVIEW

Texts relating to artistic techniques, artist biographies, public and private collecting, and the birth of the first museums as well as art academies will be taken into consideration.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to propose a careful relationship between the work of artists and the artistic treatises developed over the centuries under consideration (13th-18th century), in order to highlight the cultural context in which these texts were created.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to provide students with the tools to learn, read and interpret the discussions on works of art, the work of artists and the value of artistic making developed during the indicated chronological period (13th-18th century).

PREREQUISITES

It would be advisable for students to know the main artists and the most significant works of art, particularly in Italy, of the period under consideration (13th-18th century).

TEACHING METHODS

Classes are held in presence. Attendance, although not compulsory, is recommended.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Program for students taking the course:

1. Classification of the subject, reference bibliographic works and course objectives; the age of Giotto and Dante: the artist's praise;
2. il Libro dell'arte by Cennino Cennini and the success of technical treatises;
3. Leon Battista Alberti: De pictura and De statua ;
4. the artistic treatises of the Fifteenth century: the by Ghiberti; the of Filippo Brunelleschi and Le Vite di XIV uomini singhulari in Firenze by Antonio di Tuccio Manetti; and the De viris illustribus by Bartolomeo Facio;
5. the artistic treatises of the Fifteenth century: Antonio Filarete and Giovanni Santi;
6. Jacopo de' Barbari, De la ecelentia de pitura ; Pomponio Gaurico, De sculptura , Florence 1504 and Francesco Lancellotti, _Tractato di pictura, Rome 1509;
7. the Prevasarian artistic treatises in Lombardy, Venice and Rome: Paolo Giovio and the _ Leonardi Vincii, Michaelis Angeli and Raphaelis Urbinatis Vitae_; the Musaei Ioviani Descriptio ; Paolo Pino, Dialogo di pittura (1548);
8. the Prevasarian artistic treatises in Florence: the by Antonio Billi, the _ Vite_ by Giovanni Battista Gelli and the Anonymous Magliabechiano (or Gaddiano); Anton Francesco Doni, Il Disegno (1549); Benedetto Varchi and the maggioranza delle arti);
9. Vasari's : the 1550 edition; Vasari's Lives: the 1568 edition;
10. after Vasari's Lives: _Ascanio Condivi, _Vita di Michelagnolo Buonarroti(1553); Lodovico Dolce, Dialogo della pittura (1557); Benvenuto Cellini, La vita and the (1568);
11. the Council of Trent and the norms on the figurative arts: the role of Carlo Borromeo and Gabriele Paleotti; Gregorio Comanini, Il Figino 1591); Raffaello Borghini, Il Riposo ; Francesco Bocchi and the Bellezze della città di Fiorenza (1591); F. Sansovino, Venezia, città nobilissima e singolare (1581); G. B. Paggi and the Diffinizione ossia divisione della pittura (1607);
12. G.B. Armenini, De' veri precetti della pittura , 1586; Giovan Paolo Lomazzo: the Trattato dell'arte de la pittura, scoltura et architettura and the Idea del tempio della pittura);
13. Federico Zuccari, the Accademia di S. Luca and the Rome of the Connoisseurs:Giovanni Battista Agucchi, Benedetto Giustiniani and Giulio Mancini;
14. Gaspare Celio and the Vite degli artisti ;Giovanni Baglione, Le vite di pittori, scultori e architetti dal pontificato di Gregorio XIII del 1572 fino all'epoca di papa Urbano Ottavo nel 1642 ;
15. Giovan Pietro Bellori, Le Vite de' pittori, scultori et architetti moderni (1672); Luigi Scaramuccia, Le finezze de' pennelli italiani(1674);
16. Between ancients and moderns: Francesco Scannelli, Microcosmo della pittura (1657) and the Vite de pittori antichi scritte e illustrate da Carlo Dati nell'Accademia della Crusca lo Smarrito (1667);
17. Seventeenth-century Venice: Carlo Ridolfi,Le meraviglie dell'arte ovvero le Vite degli illustri pittori veneti e dello Stato (); and M. Boschini, La carta del navegar pitoresco (1660) and Le miniere della pittura (1664);
18. Le Vite de' pittori, scultori e architetti genovesi e de' forestieri che in Genova operarono (1674) by Raffaele Soprani and the Felsina pittrice (1678) by Carlo Cesare Malvasia;
19. Filippo Baldinucci and the Notizie de' professori del disegno da Cimabue in qua );
20. L. Pascoli,Vite de' pittori, scultori ed architetti moderni , Rome 1730; G.B.Passeri, Vite de' pittori, scultori ed architetti che ànno lavorato in Roma, morti dal 1641 fino al 1673 , Rome 1772 and C.G. Ratti, de' pittori, scultori, ed architetti genovesi , Genoa 1769.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography for students taking the course:

• J. Schlosser Magnino,La letteratura artistica: manuale delle fonti della storia dell'arte moderna , Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1997
• A. Blunt, _Artistic Theories in Italy, _ , Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1962

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

• ELIANA CARRARA
• GIULIA FOPPIANI
• ANDREA PAOLINI
• ELENA PUTTI

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Classes will begin during the week of February 9, according to the established schedule.

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available on the university's website.

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The examination will take place through an oral interview.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The oral examination will be aimed at ascertaining knowledge of the topics covered in the lectures and the texts assigned for reading.

Exam schedule

• 18/12/2025
• 16/01/2026
• 06/02/2026
• 12/06/2026
• 25/06/2026
• 16/07/2026
• 11/09/2026

FURTHER INFORMATION

Examinations will be held in presence and in the lecturer's office.

Students with disabilities or learning disorders.
Students with disabilities or learning disorders are entitled to specific adjustments, provided they upload the relevant certifications and documents on the University's dedicated webpage.