Syllabus, Seminar in Northern Renaissance Art

NORTHERN RENAISSANCE ART

Dr. Andrea Pearson ARTH 496/696; Spring 2014 [email protected] W 2:35-5:15pm Office: Katzen 221 Phone: x3428 Hours: MTH 10:15-11:30am and 1:00-2:30pm, or by appt. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

COURSE DESCRIPTION and GOALS: This seminar-style course engages with key themes in the scholarship on Northern Renaissance art (c. 1400-1550). Among our topics are: artistic practices and emerging workshop technologies; the built environment; devotional art; patronage in court, urban, and monastic contexts; the rise of new genres of representation, such as portraiture and landscape, and of new media, such as printmaking; and the relationship of the arts to gender, sexuality, and race. Most of the readings for the course were published relatively recently, so that by the end of the semester you will develop an understanding of current intellectual trends in the field. Additionally, the course will hone your ability to think analytically about scholarship and enable to you refine your skills as a researcher and writer, as exemplified by your project due at the end of the semester. Verbal skills will be enhanced through weekly discussions and by presenting your research formally to the class. The course is a 400/600 hybrid for advanced undergraduates and graduate students. Students taking such courses normally have significant experience with art history, yet not everyone will have completed a dedicated course on northern Renaissance art. With this in mind, I have organized our themes around a textbook: Jeffrey Chipps Smith’s The Northern Renaissance. As you’ll see from the schedule below, prior to each class meeting you will read a chapter or two in this text, which will build a visual and contextual foundation for the scholarly readings assigned for the week. Selected artists, images, and other material from the book will be introduced as well when, at the end of each class period, I discuss the readings for the next meeting. These two resources – Smith’s text and my presentations – will bridge the distance between the visual and contextual material and the scholarship that analyzes it. As we move forward with the readings, please keep in mind that all writing about art reveals particular scholars’ individual viewpoints, interpretations, and agendas, as do my choices in selecting the readings for this course. The "history" we learn is not ever just a given set of facts; it is always mediated by those who write it. It is therefore important to think critically about what you hear and read. I am excited about discussing these issues with you. Let’s work together to make our classroom vibrant and productive! LEARNING OUTCOMES: By the end of the course, engaged students will have:

1. Developed an understanding of current scholarly interests in the field of northern Renaissance art 2. Built an awareness of the relationship of these issues to various social, religious, and political

contexts of the period 3. Enhanced their ability to think deeply and critically about specialized scholarly writings 4. Honed research and analytical skills through classroom discussions and through the completion of a

major research project 5. Strengthened communication skills by: a.) Writing response papers and a research essay and b.)

Discussing scholarly articles and presenting research projects to the class

mailto:[email protected]

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GENERAL GUIDELINES and REQUIREMENTS: Electronics Policy: Our classroom is a cell phone-free space! Please remember to turn off your phone before class. Computers are for note-taking only – no email, web surfing, etc., unless directed by me. Please respect your peers and your professor: if computers becomes disruptive, they will be banned. Course Communication: Blackboard is the web-based course system used by most professors at American University. From our class Blackboard site you can access the syllabus, handouts, required readings etc. To reach our Blackboard site, go to https://blackboard.american.edu and log in with your AU ID and password. You will be automatically registered on the Blackboard class email list using your AU email address. If this is not the address you normally check, be sure to forward your AU email to your other account (Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, etc). Go to www.american.edu, click on my.american.edu, then look in the Technology section for forwarding instructions. This is a Green Teaching Certified Course: The Center for Teaching, Research and Learning and Eco-Sense piloted a Green Teaching Certificate during the 2008-09 academic year. This is part of an attempt to reward faculty members who are green teachers, while giving green courses a familiar face among students. The Green Teaching Certificate is based on a system of self-reporting. Faculty members at American University can qualify for a Green Teaching Certificate by answering a number of questions about their efforts to make their courses more sustainable. Upon evaluation, qualified courses will be rewarded with a seal representing one of five different levels of the Green Teaching Certificate, which can be put on syllabi and Blackboard pages to market courses as green. Let's keep our course as green as possible! Required Text and Suggested Resources: All students will read Jeffrey Chipps Smith’s book, The Northern Renaissance according to the schedule below. Additional foundational resources are available via BB or the Library:

Posted to BB

The course bibliography

Two lectures on the state of the field presented at a meeting of the Historians of Netherlandish Art held in Antwerp in 2002. You may wish to peruse these at the start of the semester:

Martha Wolff, “The State of Research in Fifteenth-Century Netherlandish Art," unpublished manuscript.

Larry Silver, “Arts and Minds: Scholarship on Early Modern Art History," Renaissance Quarterly 59/2 (2006): pp. 351-373.

Two files with guidelines for writing in art history (see the books listed below as well).

Textbooks that complement Smith’s

Craig Harbison, The Art of the Northern Renaissance. London: Lawrence King, 2012.

James Snyder (revised by Larry Silver and Henry Luttikhuizen), Northern Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, and the Graphic Arts from 1350-1575. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall 2005.

Susie Nash, Northern Renaissance Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.

Books that help with writing

Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams, The Craft of Research, 3rd ed. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2008.

William Strunk and E.B. White, The Elements of Style, 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2000.

3 Attendance and Tardiness: Regular attendance is crucial to your success in this course, especially since a week’s worth of material is covered in one meeting. Therefore, all absences must be documented verifiably in writing and must pertain to a sudden family emergency, serious health issue, or University-sanctioned activity such as a conference. Examples of acceptable documentation include a note from a doctor for your illness or from a parent or guardian for a family emergency. Work due during a class period in which you were legitimately absent must be turned in for credit, on a schedule we develop together once the crisis or event ends: you must contact me to develop that schedule. Once the work is turned in, documented absences will be marked as excused. Each undocumented absence or failure to turn in required work for a documented absence will result in a reduction of the course grade by 1/3 of a letter (for example, a B would be reduced to a B-). For every two late arrivals to class, your course grade will be reduced by 1/3 of a letter.

Participation: Participation is crucial to success in this course. Preparation of specialized readings will represent a distinct grade percentage tied to class discussions. Read carefully, prepare the required responses described below, and be prepared to share your thoughts. I also hope you will participate generally by responding to my prompts and by asking questions. Let’s work together to make our classroom vibrant and productive! Readings, Response Papers, and Discussions: Students will prepare a series of response papers keyed to the weekly readings. Each paper must be ½ to 1 page in length, single-spaced. The papers require you to respond critically to the readings. You will:

1. Identify the thesis 2. Summarize the evidence 3. Evaluate the selection in terms of strength of thesis, evidentiary sufficiency, and

organization and clarity (you may choose categories as appropriate) 4. Discuss issues that particularly challenged or surprised you

The responses require you to read not only for information but also as a means to improve your own research, creative and critical thinking, and ability to communicate effectively in writing. Evaluating published papers in terms of thesis, structure, evidence, and clarity is key to this process. Response papers are due via Blackboard by the beginning of the corresponding discussion period indicated on the calendar below unless you provide written documentation for tardiness or absence: you may not complete a response paper during the class discussion or after the fact and expect to receive credit for it. DO NOT submit attachments. Instead, copy and paste your text into the Submission box in BB provided for that purpose. To find that, go to Content, then to a folder called Response Papers, and then to the appropriate category – Response 1, Response 2, etc. Click on the category heading and the Submission box will pop open. Response papers will not be graded, but each late or missing paper will lower your discussion grade by 1/3 of a letter (a B to a B-, for example). Any response paper that does not meet expectations of quality or length will be credited as missing and the discussion grade lowered accordingly. I will notify you if your papers do not meet the criteria. All graduate students, and undergrads who wish to challenge themselves more deeply (from here on called "advanced undergrads"), will prepare and be ready to discuss additional readings for most class periods, and each grad will be assigned at least one additional reading during the semester to present individually to the class for discussion. The grad presentations should achieve what a response paper would, as per the criteria listed above, although more summary will be necessary since the rest of the class will not have read that selection. For weeks when you are presenting a separate article, you must read the grad selections and

4 participate in the discussions but response papers for those selections are not required (you must turn in the one assigned to all students, however). Evaluation. Your grade for this part of the course will be determined both by the number of response papers turned in, as described above, and mostly by participation. Participation will be evaluated by the level and quality of engagement, and, for the grad students, the presentation of a reading to the class. You cannot earn better than a B- for this part of the course if you hand in all papers on time but never or seldom participate. Research Project: Each student will complete a research-driven writing assignment as per the guidelines provided below. You may confer about the paper with me at any time. Paper deadlines are subject to revision only in case of a documented health crisis or family emergency. For any other reason, including technology failures, papers will receive a 1/3-letter grade markdown per day late, starting immediately after I call for them on the due date. Research topics and a preliminary annotated bibliography of at least 5 sources for undergrads and 10 for grads will be turned in for approval, as described below. Presentations and Synopses: Presentations are an important part of an art historian's professional life; you will be giving presentations in all types of settings, and the more you practice the better off you'll be. Therefore, all students will present their research projects to the class. Additionally, all students will write and turn in synopses―summaries of the presentations―due as indicated below. This requirement will motivate you to pay attention as a basis for engaging with your peers during Q&A. Make-up Presentations: Make-up presentations will be permitted only in the case of an unexpected family emergency or serious illness which must be verifiably documented in writing in ways described above under "Attendance." These presentations will take place during the final exam period for the course. All students are required to attend and turn in synopses for make-up presentations. Policy on Incompletes: Incompletes are possible for this course only with a last-minute severe illness or family emergency. All other requirements for the course to that point must have been met. The circumstances justifying the incomplete must be documented in writing as described above. To avoid scheduling problems that might prompt you to request an incomplete, plan your semester’s calendar from the start so that you can finish your work on time. It is important to establish such habits now, so that you don’t find yourself in trouble later in the professional workplace. This policy helps with that objective. Your future colleagues will thank me for it! Grade Weights and Major Due Dates:

A project proposal, presentation and synopses, and research paper must be completed to pass the course!

Response papers and discussions 30% Throughout the semester Project proposal with annotated bibl. 10% Feb. 19 Presentation 25% Apr. 16, 23, 30 Synopses of presentations 5% Apr. 30 Research paper 30% Apr. 30

Policy on the Calculation of Course Grades: Letter grades (A, A-, B+, B, B-, etc.) will be assigned according to the criteria below. As per AU policy, grades are not negotiable.

5 Explanation of Grading Standards:

A = goes beyond basic requirements of assignment or exam, excellent understanding of the topic/question, an insightful and thoughtful response to the material covered and the readings, persuasive and logical argumentation, and, for papers, no typographical or grammatical errors B = completes requirements of assignment efficiently, demonstrates competent understanding of the topic/question, adequate grasp of information and readings, logical argument, possibly a few organizational problems or grammatical errors, but shows overall coherence in discussion and, for papers, has few or no problems with grammar or typing C = meets minimum requirements of the assignment but reveals superficial preparation through problems with factual information (omissions or errors), little or poor responses to readings, and logical argument, and may have grammatical and/or typographical errors D = inadequate work, does not follow directions or refer to readings, poor use of resources, serious writing problems F = completely unacceptable in terms of assignment guidelines and information provided

Academic Support and Disability Services: If you experience difficulty in this course for any reason, please don’t hesitate to consult with me. In addition, a wide range of services are available to support you in your efforts to meet the course requirements.

1. Academic Support and Access Center (x3360, MGC 243) offers study skills workshops, individual instruction, tutor referrals, and services for students with learning disabilities. Writing support is available in the ASC Writing Lab or in the Writing Center – see below.

2. Counseling Center (x3500, MGC 214) offers counseling and consultations regarding personal concerns, self-help information, and connections to off-campus mental health resources.

If you have a disability and might require accommodations in this course, please notify me and provide ASAC documentation early in the semester so that we can address your needs. Writing Center: The Writing Center, in Battelle-Tompkins 228, is a place where American University students meet with other AU students to talk about writing. You may seek help from the Writing Center when preparing the papers required for this course. Check the hours of operation on the website (www.american.edu/cas/writing) and call 202-885-2991 for an appointment. Reminder of the Academic Integrity Code: All students should be aware that American University has an Academic Integrity Code that forbids both cheating and plagiarism. When you register for courses at AU, you accept these rules. Cheating includes obtaining assistance on exams or turning in papers that are not your own. Plagiarism includes quoting someone's exact words or reproducing another’s ideas without proper citation. If you are quoting, you must cite the author and source, with page number(s). If you are not quoting, you still may not “borrow” either the exact phrases (even two or three words) or the opinions (other than general facts) from your source. You must change the author’s phrases into your own words, and you must acknowledge any idea that is not your own by citing the author and source just as you do for a quote. When taking notes, be careful to differentiate clearly what you copy from your own ideas. If you need help, consult one of the manuals on style available in the Library or go to the campus Writing Center. I take academic dishonesty and plagiarism very seriously. If you turn in a plagiarized paper, the case will be reported for disciplinary action. Please do not put me in this position! EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS: In the event of a declared pandemic (influenza or other communicable disease), American University will implement a plan for meeting the needs of all members of the university community. Should the university

6 be required to close for a period of time, we are committed to ensuring that all aspects of our educational programs will be delivered to our students. These may include altering and extending the duration of the traditional term schedule to complete essential instruction in the traditional format and/or use of distance instructional methods. Specific strategies will vary from class to class, depending on the format of the course and the timing of the emergency. Faculty will communicate class-specific information to students via AU e-mail and Blackboard, while students must inform their faculty immediately of any absence due to illness. Students are responsible for checking their AU e-mail regularly and keeping themselves informed of emergencies. In the event of a declared pandemic or other emergency, students should refer to the AU Web site (www.prepared.american.edu) and the AU information line at (202) 885-1100 for general university-wide information, as well as contact their faculty and/or respective dean’s office for course and school/ college-specific information.

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COURSE SECHEDULE AND READINGS:

The following schedule maps our subjects and corresponding required readings for each class meeting, along with other due dates. Note: The schedule and requirements are subject to change. Due dates will remain the same, however, unless extremely unusual and unavoidable developments arise (snow day, etc.).

The readings are posted to Blackboard under E-Reserves, with the exception of the textbook.

Jan. 15 Introduction Course objectives, structure, and requirements; key issues and approaches Introduction to the next class period Grads only: organization of discussion assignments for the semester

Jan. 22 The Beholder’s Eye: Art, Artists, and the Marketplace

All students

Read Smith, “Introduction,” pp. 4-12 and Chapter 1, “The Beholder’s Eye,” pp. 13-32.

Turn in response papers for and be prepared to discuss:

Ewing, Dan. "Marketing Art in Antwerp, 1450-1560: Our Lady's Pand." The Art Bulletin 72, no. 4 (1990): 558-584.

Stewart, Alison G. “Sebald Beham: Entrepreneur, Printmaker, Painter.” JHNA. Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art 4, no. 2 (2012): 1-13.

Grads and advanced undergrads


Jonckheere, Koenraad. “Nudity on the Market: Some Thoughts on the Market and Innovations in Sixteenth-Century Antwerp.” In Aemulatio. Imitation, Emulation and Invention in Netherlandish Art from 1500 to 1800. Essays in Honor of Eric Jan Sluijter, ed. Anton W.A. Boschloo, Jacquelyn N. Courté, Stephanie S. Dickey and Nicolette C. Sluijter-Seijffert, pp. 25-36. Zwoll: Waanders, 2011.

Dewilde, Brecht. "On Noble Artists and Poor Craftsmen: Networking Painters in Renaissance Bruges." In Family Ties: Art Production and Kinship Patterns in the Early Modern Low Countries, ed. Koenraad Brosens, Leen Kelchtermans, and Katlijne Van der Stighelen, pp. 85-101. Turnhout: Brepols, 2012.

Assigned grads

Present and help lead a discussion on:

Powell, Amy. “The Errant Image: Rogier van der Weyden’s Deposition from the Cross and its Copies.” Art History 29, no. 4 (2006): 540-562.

Dijkstra, Jeltje. “The Brussels and the Merode Annunciation Reconsidered.” In Robert Campin: New Directions in Scholarship, ed. Susan Foister and Suzie Nash, pp. 95-104. Turnhout: Brepols, 1996.

Dr. Pearson: Introduction to the next class period

8 Jan. 29 An Emerging Reality: Court Art and the Ars Nova

All students

Read Smith, Chapter 2, “An Emerging Reality,” pp. 33-66.


Nash, Susie. “Claus Sluter’s ‘Well of Moses’ for the Chartreuse de Champmol Reconsidered,” The Burlington Magazine Part I, 147 (2005): 798-809; Part II, 148 (2006): 456-467; Part III, 150 (2008): 724-741. Posted to BB in three separate entries.

Lindquist, Sherry C.M. “Visual Meaning and Audience at the Chartreuse de Champmol: A Reply to Susie Nash’s Reconsideration of Claus Sluter’s ‘Well of Moses’.” Different Visions: A Journal of New Perspectives on Medieval Art. Online: 3 (Sept. 2011).



Helfenstein, Eva. "The Burgundian Court Goblet: On the Function and Status of Precious Vessels at the Court of Burgundy." In Staging the Court of Burgundy: Proceedings of the Conference “The Splendour of Burgundy”, ed. Anne van Oosterwijk, pp. 159-166. Turnhout: Brepols, 2013.

Eichberger, Dagmar. "A Noble Residence for a Female Regent: Margaret of Austria and the 'Court of Savoy' in Mechelen." In Architecture and the Politics of Gender in Early Modern Europe, ed. Helen Hills, pp. 25-46. Aldershot, Hampshire, Eng.; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2003.

Assigned grads

Present and help lead a discussion on

Belozerskaya, Marina. "Perceiving Value: The Hierarchy of the Arts and their Uses." Chapter 3 in Rethinking the Renaissance: Burgundian Arts Across Europe, pp. 76-145. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Buettner, Brigitte. "Past Presents: New Year's Gifts at the Valois Courts, ca. 1400." The Art Bulletin 83, no. 4 (2001): 598-625.


Feb. 5 Pride of Place: Art in the Cities

All students

Read Smith, Chapter 3, “Pride of Place,” pp. 67-92.


Rothstein, Bret. "Looking the Part: Ruminative Viewing and the Imagination of Community in the Early Modern Low Countries." Art History 31, no. 1 (2008): 1-32.

Köhl, Sascha. “Princely Architecture: Town Halls in the Burgundian Netherlands.” In Staging the Court of Burgundy: Proceedings of the Conference “The Splendour of Burgundy”, ed. Anne van Oosterwijk, pp. 191-200. Turnhout: Brepols, 2013.

9 Grads and advanced undergrads


Veldman, Ilja. “Lucas van Leyden: Painter of Civic Life.” The Low Countries. Arts and Society in Flanders and the Netherlands 19 (2011): 210-217.

Porras, Stephanie. "Producing the Vernacular: Antwerp, Cultural Archaeology and the Bruegelian Peasant." JHNA. Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art 3, no. 1 (2011): 1-13.

Assigned grads


Lane, Barbara. "Hospital Altarpieces," Chap. 9 in Hans Memling: Master Painter in Fifteenth-Century Bruges, pp. 175-195. Turnhout: Brepols/Harvey Miller, 2009.

Jacobs, Lynn F. "The Triptych Unified: Memling, David, and Later Fifteenth-Century Painters in Bruges," Chapter 5 in Opening Doors: The Early Netherlandish Triptych Reinterpreted, pp. 151-188. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012.


Feb. 12 Dr. Pearson attending CAA. Class will not meet. Work independently on your project proposal due next time.

Feb. 19 **Project proposal due**

Tangible Success: Early Portraits and Domestic Art and The Inner Gaze: Private Devotional Art

All students

Read Smith, Chapter 4, “Tangible Success,” pp. 93-118 and Chapter 5, “The Inner Gaze,” pp. 119-146.


Pearson, Andrea. “Nuns and Clerics: Ambiguous Authority in a Devotional Portrait Diptych,” Chapter 4 in Envisioning Gender in Burgundian Devotional Art, 1350-1530: Experience, Authority, Resistance, pp. 136-161. Aldershot, Hampshire, Eng., and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2005.

Bailey, Meryl. “Savatrix Mundi: Representing Queen Elizabeth I as a Christ Type.” Studies in Iconography 29 (2008): 176-215.


Turn in response papers for and be prepared to discuss

Graham, Jenny. “Portrait of the Artist as a Posthumous Work in Progress: Van Eyck and the Politics of Posterity.” The Low Countries. Arts and Society in Flanders and the Netherlands 17 (2009): 247-254.

Scholten, Frits. "Joost van Cranevelt’s Prayer Nut." Simiolus 36, nos. 3-4 (2013): 123-141.

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Assigned grads


Rudy, Kathryn M. "Kissing Images, Unfurling Rolls, Measuring Wounds, Sewing Badges and Carrying Talismans: Considering Some Harley Manuscripts through the Physical Rituals they Reveal." Electronic British Library Journal (2011): Article 5, pp. 1-56.

Colenbrander, Herman Th. “’In Promises Anyone Can be Rich!:’ Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Double Portrait: A ‘Morgengave.’” Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 68 (2005): 413-424.


Feb. 26 The Well-Dressed Church: The Materialization of Faith

All students

Read Smith, Chapter 6, “The Well-Dressed Church,” pp. 147-196.


Ridderbos, Bernhard. "Creating Frameworks: The Social Function of the Ghent Altarpiece." In Vision in Text and Image: The Cultural Turn in the Study of Arts, ed. Herman W. Hoen and Mary G. Kemperink, pp. 33-52. Leuven: Peeters, 2008.

Bennett, Judith M. "Two Women and their Monumental Brass." Journal of the British Archeological Association 161 (2008): 163-184.



Neuchterlein, Jeanne. “Hans Memling’s St. Ursula Shrine: The Subject as Object of Pilgrimage.” In Art and Architecture of Late Medieval Pilgrimage in Northern Europe and the British Isles, ed. Sarah Blick and Rita Tekippe, I: pp. 51-75. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2005.

Weigert, Laura. "Theatricality in Tapestries and Mystery Plays and its Afterlife in Painting." Art History 33, no. 2 (2010): 224-235.

Assigned grads


Merback, Mitchell B. "Fount of Mercy, City of Blood: Cultic Anti-Judaism and the Pulkau Passion Altarpiece." The Art Bulletin 87, no 4 (2005): 589-642.

Kavaler, Ethan Matt. "Jan Gossart as Architect." In Man, Myth, and Sensual Pleasures: Jan Gossart’s Renaissance, ed. Maryan Ainsworth, pp. 30-43. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010.


http://search.proquest.com.proxyau.wrlc.org/iba/pubidlinkhandler/sng/pubtitle/The+Art+Bulletin/$N/40583/DocView/222961357/abstract/142765E58D7346F996E/4?accountid=8285

http://search.proquest.com.proxyau.wrlc.org/iba/pubidlinkhandler/sng/pubtitle/The+Art+Bulletin/$N/40583/DocView/222961357/abstract/142765E58D7346F996E/4?accountid=8285

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Mar. 5 Dancing with Death: The Art of Dying Well

All students

Read Smith, Chapter 7, “Dancing with Death,” pp. 197-238.


Baert, Barbara. “The Gaze of Death: The Head of Saint John the Baptist on a Platter between North and South.” Arte Cristiana, no. 870-872 (May-October 2012): 215-223.

Gibson, Walter S. "Invented in Hell: Bosch’s Tree-Man," in Invention: Northern Renaissance Studies in Honor of Molly Faries, ed. Julian Chapuis, pp. 163-173. Turnhout: Brepols, 2008.



Helt, J.S.W. "Memento Mori: Death, Widowhood, and Remembering in Early Modern England.” In Widowhood and Visual Culture in Early Modern Europe, ed. Allison Levy, pp. 39-53.

Gertsman, Elina. “The Gap of Death: Passive Violence in the Encounter between the Three Dead and the Three Living.” In Beholding Violence in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, ed. Allie Terry-Fritsch; Erin Felicia Labbie, pp. 85-104. Farnham, Surrey, Eng., and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2012.

Assigned grads

Present and help lead a discussion on

Silver, Larry. “Ungrateful Dead: Bruegel’s Triumph of Death Re-Examined.” In Excavating the Medieval Image: Manuscripts, Artists, Audiences. Essays in Honor of Sandra Hindman, ed. David S. Areford and Nina A. Rowe, pp. 265-283. Aldershot and Burlington: Ashgate, 2004.

Dixon, Laurinda S. "Privileged Piety: Melancholia and the Herbal Tradition." JHNA. Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art 1, no. 2 (2009): 1-14.


Mar. 12 Spring Break!

Mar. 19 Mass Communication: Prints and Printmaking and Reading Pictures: The Reformation’s Challenge

All students

Read Smith, Chapter 8, “Mass Communication,” pp. 239-272 and Chapter 11, “Reading Pictures,” pp. 351-380.

http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3ATerry-Fritsch%2C+Allie.&qt=hot_author

http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3ALabbie%2C+Erin+Felicia.&qt=hot_author

http://www.jhna.org/index.php/past-issues/volume-1-issue-2/114-privileged-piety

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Smith, Charlotte Colding. “’Depicted with Extraordinary Skill’: Ottoman Dress in Sixteenth-Century German Printed Costume Books.” Textile History 44, no. 1 (2013): 25-50.

Roper, Lyndal. "Venus in Wittenberg: Cranach, Luther, and Sensuality." In Ideas and Cultural Margins in Early Modern Germany. Essays in Honor of H.C. Erik Midelfort, ed. Marjorie Elizabeth Plummer and Robin B. Barnes, pp. 81-98. Farnham, Surrey, Eng., and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2009.



Weekes, Ursula. "Convents as Patrons and Producers of Woodcuts in the Low Countries around 1500." In The Woodcut in Fifteenth-Century Europe, ed. Peter Parshall, pp. 258-275. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009.

Schmidt, Peter. "The Multiple Image: The Beginnings of Printmaking, Between Old Theories and New Approaches." In Origins of European Printmaking: Fifteenth-Century Woodcuts and their Public, ed. Peter Parshall and Rainer Schoch, pp. 37-56. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, in association with Yale University Press, 2005.

Assigned grads


Woollett, Anne T. “Michiel Coxcie and the Revitalization of Religious Painting in the Southern Netherlands after 1566.” In Art after Iconoclasm. Painting in the Netherlands between 1566 and 1585, ed. Koenraad Jonckheere and Ruben Suykerbuyk, pp. 75-94. Turnhout: Brepols, 2012.

Areford, David S. "Print Trouble: Notes on a Medium In Between." In From Minor to Major: The Minor Arts in Medieval Art History, ed. Colum Hourihane, pp. 228-254. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University in association with Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012.


Mar. 26 Beyond Mere Craft: The Knowledgeable Artist

All students

Read Chapter 9, “Beyond Mere Craft,” pp. 273-308.


Parshall, Peter. "Graphic Knowledge: Albrecht Dürer and the Imagination." The Art Bulletin 95, no. 3 (2013): 393-410.

Other activities to be announced


13 Apr. 2 Dr. Pearson attending a professional conference. Class will not meet. Work independently on your research projects and presentations.

Apr. 9 Theater of the World: Exploring Nature and Human Nature

All students

Read Smith, Chapter 10, “Theater of the World,” pp. 309-350.


Onuf, Alexandra. "Local Terrains: Imaging the Vernacular Landscape in Sixteenth-Century Antwerp." In The Transformation of Vernacular Expression in Early Modern Arts, ed. Joost Keizer and Todd M. Richardson, pp. 229-270. Leiden: Brill, 2011.

Hults, Linda C. "Inventing the Witch in the European Heartland: Dürer and Baldung," Chapter 3 in The Witch as Muse: Art, Gender, and Power in Early Modern Europe, pp. 57-107. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005.



Dakker, Boudewijn. "Bosch, Patinir and Bles: Worlds of Allegory," Chap. 6 in Landscape and Religion from Van Eyck to Rembrandt, trans. Diane Webb, 91-114. Aldershot, Hampshire, Eng., and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2012.

Magin, Christine and Falk Eisermann. "Two Anti-Jewish Broadsides from the Late Fifteenth Century." In The Woodcut in Fifteenth-Century Europe, ed. Peter Parshall, pp. 190-203. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009.

Assigned grads


Sullivan, Margaret. “Bruegel the Elder, Pieter Aertsen, and the Beginning of Genre.” The Art Bulletin 93, no. 2 (2011): 127-149.

Houghton, Charlotte. "This Was Tomorrow: Peter Aertsen's Meat Stall as Contemporary Art." The Art Bulletin 86, no. 2 (2004): 277-300.

Apr. 16 **Presentations**



**Papers due in hard copy** **Synopses due in hard copy or by email**

14 RESEARCH PROJECT and PRESENTATIONS:

Your research paper may focus on any issue, artist, or image(s) that interests you, as long as the topic relates to the theme of the course. I hope you will find an intriguing, focused subject that motivates excellence. Format and Length of the Essay: For undergraduates, the final version of the paper must be 6-8 double-spaced pages in a 12-point font, with 1-inch margins on all sides, plus separate pages for endnotes, a bibliography, and captioned illustrations. Graduate students will write a 12-14 page paper with the same font, margin, endnote, bibliographic, and illustration requirements. The essay must have an introduction ending in a thesis, a main body that provides support for the thesis, and a conclusion that summarizes the most important points. Use endnotes for documentation and attach a bibliography and images (see below). Use the Chicago Manual of Style to format the endnotes and bibliography. To be sure that you take advantage of the guidance I am here to provide, all topics and bibliographies (annotated for grads), must be approved by me in the form of a proposal (see below). You may not change your topic after its approval without consulting with me. There is no opportunity to rewrite your paper for a better grade after the fact: do your best work from the start. For this course, the research project consists of three major steps:

1. Choosing a topic and sources: Start by considering the artists, works, and subjects that most interest you. Because we are still in the early part of the course, look ahead at the course schedule below to see if something we haven’t addressed yet captures your attention. Explore these possibilities further via Library catalogue and database searches to find appropriate scholarly, peer reviewed sources. Beware: Your sources must be peer reviewed. If you don't know how to find scholarly sources pertaining to this course, you must see me right away: not all bibliography you find on a particular subject will fall into this category. You may not use websites or blogs without prior approval by me. No Wikipedia allowed! Use Oxford Art Online, available through the Library's database webpage, for factual information if necessary. This does not count as one of the five or ten sources. As you search for a topic, cast a relatively wide net at first so that you don’t box yourself in. Gradually narrow your focus until you are ready to write a project proposal.

2. The project proposal: The proposal consists of a synopsis of your subject (normally two paragraphs in length) and an annotated bibliography of the key scholarly sources you plan to use: at least five for undergraduates and ten for graduate students. An annotation is a brief summary of a source’s content, about 250 words in length, with attention to the thesis and evidence. This process advances your project by asking you to think about its application to it.

3. Organizing and writing the paper. Your essay must be structured around a thesis, a debatable statement you wish to argue, which is to be supported by convincing evidence presented in a carefully reasoned way. The goal of your paper is to compel the reader to agree with you by developing strong evidence, thoughtfully and deeply considered. Organization is important: I suggest starting with an outline. It is probable that you'll need to produce several drafts, each one more fully refined, before you're done. Be sure to check for errors in typing, grammatical, punctuation, etc., since these will negatively impact your grade.

15 In order to avoid plagiarism (see above) you must use endnotes to credit authors whose ideas you use in your paper, and you must include a separate bibliography of the sources formatted to the Chicago Manual of Style. Please include in your paper reproductions of the works you discuss, each labeled by a consecutive figure number and identified with a caption, a feature you may have noticed in the published articles you’ve read.

Presentations and Synopses: For the course capstone, you will present your research paper to the class. Graduate students choosing the presentation option will present their projects in 20 minutes each with an additional 10-15 minutes for questions. Undergrads have 10 minutes with an additional 5-10 minutes for questions. Each student should prepare a PowerPoint file for this purpose. Presentations are an important part of an art historian's professional life. You will be giving presentations in all types of settings, and the more you practice the better off you'll be. All students will be required to pay attention to the presentations by writing synopses―summaries of the presentations―due as indicated in the course calendar. Make-up Presentations: Make-up presentations will be permitted only in the case of an unexpected family emergency or serious illness which must be verifiably documented in writing in ways described above. These presentations will take place during the final exam period for the course. All students are required to attend and turn in synopses for make-up presentations. Evaluation: Papers and presentations will be evaluated according to the appropriate rubric below. Turning your paper in late is permitted only in case of a documented health crisis or family emergency. For any other reason, including technology failures, papers will receive a 1/3-letter grade markdown per day late, starting immediately after the due-date class period.

Please review the Academic Integrity Code above and contact me with questions before handing in your paper ― emphasis on ***before***!

Grading Rubric for the Paper:

Excellent - A Good - B Fair - C Poor - D

CHOICE OF SUBJECT AND FOCUS

addresses topic that is appropriate in depth and complexity

connects topic to appropriate historical and cultural contexts

EVIDENCE OF RESEARCH SKILLS

develops in-depth bibliography, including primary sources if appropriate

locates appropriate images to demonstrate argument

EVIDENCE OF CRITICAL THINKING

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paper opens with argumentative thesis statement

demonstrates ability to apply appropriate art historical approaches

uses quotations selectively and integrates them correctly into text

includes discussion of visual qualities of artworks to support analysis

ORGANIZATION AND WRITING

argument is organized in logical way and makes series of points that develop analysis

paper is well written with few grammar mistakes, spelling errors, or typos

uses citation format correctly for footnotes and bibliography

illustrations are identified correctly as Figure 1, etc. and with correct data

Grading Rubric for the Presentation:

Excellent - A Good - B Fair - C Poor - D

Thesis: clear and sufficiently argumentative

Intellectual rigor: substantive

Evidence: demonstrates the thesis

Organization: coherent

Delivery: engaging and intelligible

Images: appropriately applied to the content

PowerPoint: professionally executed

Timing: adheres to 20 minutes

Syllabus, Seminar in Northern Renaissance Art

Documents

Transcript of Syllabus, Seminar in Northern Renaissance Art