Loyola University Chicago

On-Site
Instructor: Prof. John Nicholson

Meeting Day: Tuesday

Meeting Times: 9:30 am - 12: 30 pm

Note: Students should anticipate needing about €60.00 to cover entrance fees to museums, monuments, and galleries during this course.

Course Description and Objectives
The course is a study of painting, sculpture, and architecture from the late sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth centuries, the period kown in art history as the Baroque.  This term was originally used as an expression of contempt for works of art judged to be decadent and in bad taste.  In the nineteenth century, the Swiss-German art historians, Jacob Burckhardt and Heinrich Wolfflin, redefined the use of the term and gave it a positive meaning. Art historians agree that the Baroque style originated in Rome: "The cradle of the Baroque was Italy and the artistic capital of Italy was Rome." (Held & Posner, 21) There is also agreement that the Baroque arose from the new spirit in the Catholic Church following the sixteenth century Counter Reformation which reaffirmed the role of the arts in religious workship as a stimulus to devotion and a means of instruction. These requirements found expression in the new Baroque style.  Anthony Blunt says that this new art was essentially rhetorical in the sense that "Artists aimed at arousing astonishment, at creating strongly emotional effects, at imposing them immediately, even abruptly, on their audience ...  ."

The course emphasizes the origins and development of Baroque art in Rome.  Many artists, in varying ways, contributed to this: Caravaggio, Annibale Carracci, Francesco Borromini, Pietro da Cortona, and especially Gian Lorenzo Bernini who has been called the "artistic dictator" of the age.  From Rome the Baroque style spread to other parts of Europe, especially to the Catholic countries.  The course will also study some aspects of the international Baroque.

This study will be implemented through slide lectures, classroom discussion, and on-site visits for a direct contact with masters of the Roman Baroque and their works.  The main objective of the course is to know and appreciate the painting, sculpture, and architecture of the Baroque period in relation to historical context, iconography (content and meaning), and stylistic features. This will also serve as an introduction to the specific problems, methods, and terminology of the historical study of works of art.  A wider objective of the course is to enrich the student's knowledge and experience of Rome and its enduring contributions to the culture of Europe and the world. 

Required Texts
Julius Held & Donald Posner. 17th & 18th Century Art. Prentice - Hall (on reserve in the library)
Howard Hibbard. Bernini. Viking Penguin
Howard Hibbard. Caravaggio. Westview Press.                                                                                                                                            
John Varriano. Italian Baroque & Rococo Architecture. Oxford University Press (on reserve in the library)
On-site course packet and other photocopied material.

Course Requirements

• Examination Dates
  Fall: First examination, October _____. Second examination, November _____. Final examination, December _____.                                         Spring: First examination, February _____. Second examination, March _____. Final examination, April _____. 
  N.B. Changes in examination dates are not open to negotiation. Make-up examinaitons will not be given for travel-related absences. Cheating or dishonesty of any kind on an examination will be penalized with an F grade (0 points).

• Participation / Attendance
  Questions and discussion are encouraged during classroom and on-site meetings. Presence at these meetings will also be considered as a form of participation.
  N.B. Twenty points have been assigned for participation and attendance. Those absent from two class meetings will forfeit five points; those absent from more than two meetings will forfeit all twenty points.

Grading
Calculation of course grade: first exam, 20%; second exam, 30%; final exam, 30%; participation and attendance, 20%.
Grading system: A = 96-100. A- = 93-95, B+ = 89-92, B = 85-88. B- = 81-84, C+ = 77=80. C = 73-76. C- = 69-72, D+ = 65-68. D = 61-64. and F = 60 and below.

Office Hours (Bookstore)
Monday 1:30 - 3:00 pm; Tuesday, 3:45 - 4:30 pm; Wednesday, 1:30 - 3:00 pm, and by appointment.

On-Site Classes
Because of heavy traffic and crowded buses, you should leave the Rome Center more than one hour before the beginning of class. 
Iinformation on meeting sites and transportation will be posted on the bulletin board opposite the porter's desk.  Be sure to check this before leaving. 
You are asked not to smoke, eat, or take photographs during on-site lectures.

Lectures. Visits. Reading.

1. Classroom: Historical / Religious Background of the Baroque Period. Held & Posner, 11-24. 
   Anthony Blunt, Roman Baroque. 
2. On-Site: S. Pietro in Vaticano. On-Site Note #1.
3. Classroom: Bernini's Early Sculpture. Hibbard, Bernini, 23-67
   Caravaggio and the Reform of Painting. Hibbard, Caravaggio, 1 -88.
4. On-Site: S. Luigi dei Francesci. Doria-Pamphili Gallery (Admission Fee). On-Site Note #2.
5. First Examination
6. On-Site: S. Maria della Vittoria. S. Susanna. S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane. S. Andrea al Quirinale. Fontana di Trevi. On-Site Note #3.
7. Classroom: Classicism in Baroque Painting. Photocopied material. Caravaggio's later Painting. Hibbard, Caravaggio, 164-267. 
8. On-Site: Pantheon. S. Ignazio. Il Gesu. S. Andrea della Valle. On-Site Note #4
9. Second Examination
10. On-Site: Piazza di Spagna. Via del Corso. Piazza del Popolo. S. Maria del Popolo. On-Site Note #5.
11. Classroom: Painting in Flanders and Holland. Held & Posner, 196-281
12. On-Site: S. Ivo alla Sapienza. Piazza Navona. S. Maria della Pace. S. Maria in Vallicella. Ponte Sant'Angelo. On-Site Note #6.
13. Classroom: The Rococo. Origin and Stylistic Features. 18th Century Venetian Painting. Held & Posner, 339-355
    Late Roman Baroque Architecture. Varriano, 159-182.
14. Final examination