Art History

The course provides a study of architecture and urbanism, focusing on primary theories, authors and works from 1750 to the present. It examines the history of production in architecture and urbanism, paying close attention to the diversity of elements common to human creativity, as well as the social use of art. Topics covered include: neoclassicism and romanticism in 19th century architecture; architectural rationalism in the second half of the 19th century; urban transformation and conservation of heritage; origins and strategies of the Modern Movement through the 1930s; postmodernism and new poetics.

"Made in Italy" may have been coined in the twentieth century, but the relationship between excellence in craftsmanship and the visual, performing, and decorative arts goes back centuries. Outstanding Italian quality, style, and know-how in a range of artistic traditions from architecture and fashion, to music, and theater have long been recognized internationally. This course examines the intersection between the Arts and Italy's reputation for luxury and high quality through a series of case studies beginning with the fifteenth century. It was Renaissance culture that first fueled the prosperity of the luxury sector in a time where the production and patronage of art was trendsetting. The course investigates how trans-Mediterranean trade inspired local craft industries like metal and stone work; the development of theatre and costume design and the theatrical influence on urban spaces and architecture across European capitals, and the effect of luxury goods on politics and economy. The course provides students the opportunity to interview local artists and artisans, and investigate and present on areas of interest of local excellence in craftsmanship and its connection with the Arts. The course visits the spaces, workshops, and ateliers in Rome that bear witness to this ongoing conversation.

This practical course encompasses both specialist skills and techniques from the jewelry and silversmithing industry in casting and modelling. The course also integrates design research and thinking alongside experience of working to professional competition briefs set by external organizations, agencies, and companies. During this project students learn carving and modelling techniques. Students are also introduced to different methods of casting metal from small-scale studios to larger foundries.

This course explores love and sexuality in Italian culture from circa 1350 to 1650. From the verses of Petrarch, to the writings of Ficino, Leone Ebreo, Aretino, and poems by Marino, love and sexuality were theorized and represented in the treatises, poetry, paintings, and sculptures of this period. Mainly on-site in the churches, palaces, and museums of Rome, this course considers the poetic, social, and visual aspects of the topic in an interdisciplinary study that examines both word and image. The course begins with Michelangelo's SISTINE CEILING and its reflection on the fall of Adam and Eve with their subsequent awareness of their sexuality. Following Leo Steinberg's theory about the sexuality of Christ, students explore the theology of nudity in Christian art as well as the “amor dei” (love for God) or mystic marriage through Baroque sculptures such as Bernini's SAINTS IN ECSTASY. The second part of the course focuses on the more secular, sensuous, and even lascivious aspects by considering the revival of ancient classical culture. Central to this evolution is the METAMORPHOSES by Ovid and the themes deriving from the many commentaries on it such as, unrequited love through Bernini's APOLLO AND DAPHNE, rape though Bernini's ABDUCTION OF PERSEPHONE, and love for the self through Caravaggio's NARCISSUS. The course concludes with exploring socio-historical, gendered topics such as marriage, courtesans, male virility, female chastity, homosexuality, androgyny, and hermaphroditism through a variety of art objects.

This course explores works of the Baroque period from the 17th century to the end of the 18th century including architecture, sculpture, and painting.

This course enables students to take a critical stance towards the developments within contemporary art as well as towards the manner in which art is dealt with both scientifically and in the economic practices that concern it. For this purpose it shows how the canonical conceptualization of art and the nature of art itself within the metaphysical tradition end in a crisis, in which the accomplishment of both the metaphysical way of thinking and the metaphysical form of art coexists with a new beginning of both these spheres. Rather than proceeding historically, the course involves students in a hands-on study of some core aspects of the outlined crisis, so as to foster both their artistic sense and their analytical capacities in a manner that is attuned to the environment in which they need to operate. The course discusses topics including what is philosophy of art; The first man was an artist; the economist as an artist (and vice versa); metaphysics, aesthetics, and metaphysical art; the path of modernity; art of the end and art of the beginning; space and time in painting, music, sculpture, and poetry; the science of space and time; the science of art; and artistic economics.