User:Nsatkinson/sandbox

ARTH 14700 | PROFESSOR NIALL ATKINSON | DEPT. OF ART HISTORY | UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO BUILDING RENAISSANCE ITALY URBAN DESIGN AND SOCIAL LIFE

Instructor: Niall Atkinson (nsatkinson@uchicago.edu) Course assistant: Elizabeth Woodward (ejwoodward@uchicago.edu)

Office hours: Tuesdays, 1:30–3:00pm Class times: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 12:00-1:20pm



Course Description This is an introductory course and survey of the major patrons, architects, and building programs that defined the spatial contexts of the Renaissance in Italy and meets the general education requirement in the Humanities Core.

Between the 15th and 16th centuries, the political aspirations of governments, popes, princes, and merchants demanded a more articulated architectural environment that would facilitate increasingly complex modes of public and private life. They were aided in this endeavor by the emergence of a newly professionalized class of architects, who turned their eyes towards both a systematic study of the classical past and a critical assessment of their contemporary world. Renaissance urban palaces – both civic and private – and rural villas provided the stages upon which a new art of living could be performed. New inventions in military engineering responded to rapidly advancing technologies of warfare. Urban planning techniques created new topographies of spiritual and political triumph and reform, while treatises on ideal cities laid the foundations for the modern integrated multi-functional city.

Between Venice, Florence, Rome and their rural surroundings, this course will focus on a range of important patrons such as Roman Popes, Venetian Doges, princely courts and private merchants, and will explore what made the works of such architects as Filippo Brunelleschi, Giuliano da Sangallo, Leon Battista Alberti, Francesco di Giorgio, Michelangelo, Jacopo Sansovino, and Andrea Palladio, so creative, innovative, and influential well into our own contemporary architectural landscape.

Assignments: choose between one of the following for your main assignment Assignment 1a: Wikipedia article Your assignments for this class.

Assignment 1b: Designing Utopia The second assignment is

Assignment 2: exam

Assignment 3: reading responses

Assignment 2: in-class exam | feb. 16 You will also be expected to write a short in class exam on architectural vocabulary. Consult the chalk site for glossaries and compile a list of those most used in and out of class (in readings, etc.). A list of those you are familiar with will be made available. If this date changes due to unforeseen changes in the course calendar, you will be notified.

Deadlines All deadlines are at midnight of Friday in each corresponding week of class N.B. all assignments should be submitted through the assignments page on Chalk

Week 2 You must declare which assignment that you will be working on. If you choose the Wikipedia assignment, you must also declare your.

Week 4 .

Week 7 .

Week 11 .

NB. IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBTS AT ALL ABOUT MEETING ANY OF THESE DEADLINES YOU MUST CONSULT WITH ME WELL IN ADVANCE TO MAKE OTHER ARRANGEMENTS. FAILING TO DO SO WILL RESULT IN GRADING PENALTIES.

Grades Wikipedia | Utopia 35% Exam – 25% reading responses – 20% Seminar participation – 20% (includes attendance, preparedness, active critical engagement with the readings and themes of the course, and discussion board postings)

Explanation of grades A (94-100)	designates consistently excellent work and highly original thinking, sophisticated synthetic application of ideas A- (90-93)	designates excellent work, well-developed historical writing and research capabilities B+ (87-89)	designates very good work, strong academic abilities and potential for improvement B (84-86)	designates good work B- (80-83)	designates fairly good work C+ (77-79)	designates satisfactory work C (74-76)	designates satisfactory work C- (70-73)	designates barely satisfactory F (0-69)	designates failing work

You may use computers in the seminar but web-surfing, email, and any other non course-related activities will not be tolerated.