This online course will survey Italian art and architecture of the sixteenth century, a period that has been called “the season of giants.” These “giants”, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Titian and Raphael, revolutionized artistic style and even the conception of “the artist.” We will explore the historical context in which they lived and worked, their patrons, their biographies, and their techniques and materials, in order to better understand the meanings, settings, audiences, receptions and intentions of their art. Objectives Students will differentiate between the styles, functions, meanings and appearances of Renaissance art in different cities/regions in Italy and in different moments of the century. Students will be able to identify the most significant sociological, political and religious events and movements that took place in the century and determined in some way art and art making of the period. Students will be able to interpret, at least on a beginning level, Italian Renaissance art based on the research they conduct, the readings done, and the material covered in class. Students will be able to describe the types and motivations for patronage during the sixteenth century in Italy. Students will apply their knowledge, critical and visual analytical skills and research skills in the form of a research paper or project on a topic of their choice. Students will read and understand advanced scholarship in Renaissance studies and be able to discuss it. Students will be able to critically analyze texts in terms of their research methods and ideas.

Course set up This course is entirely online and relies on Brightspace. I will post a new module every Monday. The module will contain instructions about what has to be done that week. There are a series of screencast lectures to watch each week, blackboard quizzes about the material, and discussion boards for each week. Some weeks, we will do different sorts of interactive activities as well. See below for details. Your instructions for the week, quizzes, some of your readings, and discussions will take place on Brightspace. The module for each week must be completed by midnight on Saturday.

Assessment Students’ progress will be monitored with weekly essay quizzes (15% each; 60% total); screencast quizzes (15% total); discussion participation and summaries (15% total); your object in-depth presentation (10%). Weekly quizzes: The quizzes will be on the material covered in the screencasts and in the readings. Students will have approximately 10 essay questions to answer each week. Screencast quizzes:There are short quizzes to do after each screencast. This is to help reinforce key points and make sure you picked up on what you needed to in the screencast. (You can take the quizzes twice to improve on your initial score, if you wish.)