The course will discuss mainly classical Baroque painting of the first half of 17th century from Italy (Rome, Bologna), Spain, France, and the Flemish and Dutch Centers (Antwerp, Brussels, Utrecht, Amsterdam).
The course will take place mainly in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Liechtenstein Collection, and the Painting Collection of the Academy of Fine Arts. Its content is based on the rich examples of Southern and Northern Baroque painting in the above mentioned collections.
Special stress will also be laid on the history and the various types of Viennese collections (Imperial- Kunsthistorisches Museum, princely - Liechtenstein, and “bourgeois” – Academy of Fine Arts).
Prerequisites:
Basic art history course; basic art theory course or background as well as basic knowledge of Western or Southern European political and economic history.
Learning outcomes:
Upon completing this course, students will be able to:
Describe Baroque painting and its most important representatives
Identify painterly qualities and techniques of this era
Explain the historical and cultural contexts of this period in art history
Conduct research of Baroque painting
Method of presentation:
Viewing and discussions, mainly in the above mentioned collections in front of the exhibited objects as well as in the class room with powerpoint and/or slide presentation carried out in a seminar-like fashion. If feasible a visit to the restoration lab either in KHM or the Liechtenstein collection.
Required work and form of assessment:
Active participation in class/museum discussions, reading assignments, students will be asked to give short oral reports on assigned art objects, a term paper is to be developed out of these reports.
Oral reports + Term paper (written) 50%
Midterm (oral) 25%
Final (written) 25%
content:
The course will start out with the revolutionary innovations of Caravaggio and the Carracci family and follow the evolution of Baroque painting among their Italian and northern followers (Gentileschi father and daughter, Manfredi, Valentin de Boulogne, Honthorst, Terbrugghen, Guido Reni, Lanfranco), who will consequently be juxtaposed to Poussin, Velazquez, Rubens, Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Frans Hals and selected artists of the Golden Age in Spain and the Netherlands.
Week 1) Introduction; Caravaggio.
• Reading: Freedberg, Sidney J., Circa 1600. A Revolution of Style in Italian Painting, Cambridge, Mass (The Belknap Press), 1983, pp. 52-79; Langdon, Helen. Caravaggio: A Life, London 1998; John Varriano, Caravaggio: The Art of Realism, University Park 1992.
Week 2) Carracci family
• Reading: Mahon, Sir Denis, Studies in Seicento Art and Theory, London 1947 pp. 193-229, and later editions (the Carracci and their students, Guercino, Caravaggio); Freedberg, Sidney J., Circa 1600. A Revolution of Style in Italian Painting, Cambridge, Mass ( The Belknap Press), 1983, pp. 1-50, 81-114; Brown, Beverly L. (Ed.), Exhibition Catalogue: The Genius of Rome 1592 - 1623, The Royal Academy, London 2001, pp. 116-139 (International art in Rome around 1600); Dixon, Susan M. (Ed.), Italian Baroque Art, Oxford 2008 (various authors. reader on important aspects of Italian art of the 17th century; esp. for the Carracci family: pp. 87-97); Wittkower, Rudolf, Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600-1750; The Pelican History of Art, Harmondsworth 1958, pp.57-71, 78-89, and later corrected editions (classic introduction to Italian art of the period).
Week 3) Italian/French Followers of Caravaggio (Gentileschi father and daughter, Caracciolo, Manfredi, Valentin etc.)
• Reading: Wittkower, Rudolf, Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600-1750; The Pelican History of Art, Harmondsworth 1958, pp. 73-89, and later corrected editions (classic introduction to Italian art of the period); Brown, Beverly L. (Ed.), Exhibition Catalogue: The Genius of Rome 1592 - 1623, The Royal Academy, London 2001, pp. 42-66,Blunt, Anthony, Art and Architecture in France, 1500-1700, The Pelican History of Art 1953, pp. 259-265; Nicolson, Benedict, Vertova, Luisa (Ed.), Caravaggism in Europe, 3 vol., Turin 1990, pp. 19-28; Rosenberg, Pierre, Exhibition Catalogue: France in the Golden Age. Seventeenth-Century French Paintings in American Collections, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1981, pp. 51-85; Spear, Richard, Caravaggio and His Followers, New York London, 1975, pp. 1-38, 203-242.
Week 4) Northern Followers of Caravaggio (Honthorst, Terbrugghen, etc.)
• Reading: Reading: Nicolson, Benedict, Vertova, Luisa (Ed.), Caravaggism in Europe, 3 vol., Turin 1990, see index; Slive, Seymour, Dutch Painting 1600-1800, The Pelican History of Art/Yale University Press, New Haven, London 1995, pp. 18-27; Spicer, J.(Ed.), Exhibition Catalogue: Masters of Light, Dutch Painters in Utrecht during the Golden Age, Baltimore San Francisco, London, New Haven 1997, pp. 114-121; Exhibition Catalogue: The Genius of Rome 1592 - 1623, The Royal Academy, London 2001, pp. 304-337.
Week 5) Domenichino, Guercino, Guido Reni, Lanfranco, Poussin
• Reading: Mahon, Sir Denis, Studies in Seicento Art and Theory, London 1947, pp. 9-108, and later editions; Exhibition Catalogue: The Genius of Rome 1592 - 1623, The Royal Academy, London 2001, pp. 338-371; Blunt, Anthony, Art and Architecture in France, 1500-1700, The Pelican History of Art 1953, pp.272-297, and many subsequent editions; Rosenberg, Pierre, Exhibition Catalogue: France in the Golden Age. Seventeenth-Century French Paintings in American Collections, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1981, pp. 87-101; Wittkower, Rudolf, Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600-1750; The Pelican History of Art, Harmondsworth 1958, pp.78-89,and later corrected editions (classic introduction to Italian art of the period).
Week 6) Velazquez
• Reading: Brown, Jonathan, The Golden Age of Painting in Spain, New Haven, London 1991, pp. 128-153, 213-221; Engass, Robert; Brown, Jonathan, Italian and Spanish Art 1600-1750: Sources and Documents, Northwestern University Press 1970.
Week 7) Rubens
• Reading: Vlieghe, Hans, Flemish Art and Architecture 1585-1700, The Pelican History of Art/Yale University Press, New Haven, London 1998, pp. 13-130; Sutton, Peter C. (Ed.), Exh. Cat.: The Age of Rubens, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Ludion Press, Ghent) 1993/94, pp. 107-145.
Week 8) Van Dyck
• Reading: Vlieghe, Hans, Flemish Art and Architecture 1585-1700, The Pelican History of Art/Yale University Press, New Haven, London 1998, pp. 27-68, 131-137; Sutton, Peter C. (Ed.), Exh.
Cat.: The Age of Rubens, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Ludion Press, Ghent) 1993/94, pp. 321-344; Barnes, Susan J., Nora de Poorter, Oliver Millar, Horst Vey, Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven and London 2004.
•
Week 9) Rembrandt and Frans Hals
• Reading: Rosenberg, J., Slive, Seymour, ter Kuile, E. H., Dutch Art and Architecture 1600- 1800, The Pelican History of Art, Harmondsworth 1972, 47-138, and later editions; Slive, Seymour, Dutch Painting 1600-1800, The Pelican History of Art/Yale University Press, New Haven, London 1995, pp. 2-6, 28-97.
Week 10) Final Discussion and feedback.
Required readings:
(chapters and page numbers will be indicated in separate reading lists handed out at the beginning of the semester):
General:
Martin, John Rupert, Baroque (Icon Edition) 1977.
Sutherland Harris, Ann, Seventeenth Century Art and Architecture, Prentice Hall 2008 (= 2nd edition, Paperback).
Southern Netherlands (today Belgium):
Vlieghe, Hans, Flemish Art and Architecture 1585-1700, The Pelican History of Art/Yale University
Press, New Haven, London 1998.
Sutton, Peter C. (Ed.), Exh. Cat., Boston, Toledo(Ohio), The Age of Rubens, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Ludion Press, Ghent) 1993/94.
Spain/Italy:
Freedberg, Sidney J., Circa 1600. A Revolution of Style in Italian Painting, Cambridge, Mass (The Belknap Press), 1983
Spear, Richard, Caravaggio and His Followers, New York London, 1975.
Nicolson, Benedict, Vertova, Luisa (Ed.), Caravaggism in Europe, 3 vol., Turin 1990. Mahon, Sir Denis, Studies in Seicento Art and Theory, London 1947 and later editions (the
Carracci and their students, Guercino, Caravaggio).
Brown, Beverly L. (Ed.), Exhibition Catalogue: The Genius of Rome 1592 - 1623, The Royal Academy, London 2001 (international art in Rome around 1600).
Jaffé, Michael, Rubens and Italy, Oxford 1977.
Rosenberg, Pierre, Exhibition Catalogue: France in the Golden Age. Seventeenth-Century French Paintings in American Collections, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1981.
Langdon, Helen. Caravaggio: A Life, London 1998.
Varriano, John. Caravaggio: The Art of Realism, University Park 1992.
Dixon, Susan M. (Ed.), Italian Baroque Art, Oxford 2008 (various authors. reader on important aspects of Italian art of the 17th century).
Brown, Jonathan, Painting in Spain, 1500-1700, The Pelican History of Art, New Haven, 1998. Engass, Robert; Brown, Jonathan, Italian and Spanish Art 1600-1750: Sources and Documents, Northwestern University Press 1970.
Wittkower, Rudolf, Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600-1750; The Pelican History of Art, Harmondsworth 1958 and later corrected editions (classic introduction to Italian art of the period).
Haskell, Francis, Patrons and Painters, A Study in the relations between Italian Art and Society, London 1963 and later editions.
Northern Painting
Spicer, J.(Ed.), Exhibition Catalogue: Masters of Light, Dutch Painters in Utrecht during the Golden Age, Baltimore San Francisco, London, New Haven 1997.
Jaffé, Michael, Rubens and Italy, Oxford 1977.
Franits, Wayne (Ed.), Looking at seventeenth century Dutch art. Realism reconsidered, Cambridge /New York 1997, esp. pp. 78-88.
Franits, Wayne, Dutch seventeenth-century genre painting: its stylistic and thematic evolution, New Haven, London (Yale University Press) 2004.
Montias, John M., Socio-Economic Aspects of Netherlandish Art from the 15th to the 17th Century: A Survey, The Art Bulletin 72, 1990, pp. 358-73.
Northern Netherlands (today Holland):
Rosenberg, J., Slive, S., ter Kuile, E. H., Dutch Art and Architecture 1600- 1800, The Pelican
History of Art, Harmondsworth 1972, pp. 47-138, and later editions
Slive, Seymour, Dutch Painting 1600-1800, The Pelican History of Art/Yale University Press, New
Haven, London 1995.
Barnes, Susan J., Nora de Poorter, Oliver Millar, Horst Vey, Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven and London 2004.
France:
Blunt, Anthony, Art and Architecture in France, 1500-1700, The Pelican History of Art 1953 and many subsequent editions.
Brief Biography of Instructor:
Wolfgang Prohaska, PhD at the University of Vienna (1973); Curator of Italian, Flemish, French and Spanish baroque painting of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (since 1976); Position at the Institute of Fine Arts in the University of Vienna: seminars and lectures on Italian, Flemish and Central European painting, museology, scientific investigation of paintings (since 1986); Research Assistant at the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, Munich, Germany; Guest Curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York as well as the Bibliotheca Hertziana-Max Planck Institut, Rome.
Italian and Northern European Baroque Painting
The course will discuss mainly classical Baroque painting of the first half of 17th century from Italy (Rome, Bologna), Spain, France, and the Flemish and Dutch Centers (Antwerp, Brussels, Utrecht, Amsterdam).
The course will take place mainly in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Liechtenstein Collection, and the Painting Collection of the Academy of Fine Arts. Its content is based on the rich examples of Southern and Northern Baroque painting in the above mentioned collections.
Special stress will also be laid on the history and the various types of Viennese collections (Imperial- Kunsthistorisches Museum, princely - Liechtenstein, and “bourgeois” – Academy of Fine Arts).
Basic art history course; basic art theory course or background as well as basic knowledge of Western or Southern European political and economic history.
Upon completing this course, students will be able to:
Viewing and discussions, mainly in the above mentioned collections in front of the exhibited objects as well as in the class room with powerpoint and/or slide presentation carried out in a seminar-like fashion. If feasible a visit to the restoration lab either in KHM or the Liechtenstein collection.
Active participation in class/museum discussions, reading assignments, students will be asked to give short oral reports on assigned art objects, a term paper is to be developed out of these reports.
Oral reports + Term paper (written) 50%
Midterm (oral) 25%
Final (written) 25%
The course will start out with the revolutionary innovations of Caravaggio and the Carracci family and follow the evolution of Baroque painting among their Italian and northern followers (Gentileschi father and daughter, Manfredi, Valentin de Boulogne, Honthorst, Terbrugghen, Guido Reni, Lanfranco), who will consequently be juxtaposed to Poussin, Velazquez, Rubens, Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Frans Hals and selected artists of the Golden Age in Spain and the Netherlands.
Week 1) Introduction; Caravaggio.
• Reading: Freedberg, Sidney J., Circa 1600. A Revolution of Style in Italian Painting, Cambridge, Mass (The Belknap Press), 1983, pp. 52-79; Langdon, Helen. Caravaggio: A Life, London 1998; John Varriano, Caravaggio: The Art of Realism, University Park 1992.
Week 2) Carracci family
• Reading: Mahon, Sir Denis, Studies in Seicento Art and Theory, London 1947 pp. 193-229, and later editions (the Carracci and their students, Guercino, Caravaggio); Freedberg, Sidney J., Circa 1600. A Revolution of Style in Italian Painting, Cambridge, Mass ( The Belknap Press), 1983, pp. 1-50, 81-114; Brown, Beverly L. (Ed.), Exhibition Catalogue: The Genius of Rome 1592 - 1623, The Royal Academy, London 2001, pp. 116-139 (International art in Rome around 1600); Dixon, Susan M. (Ed.), Italian Baroque Art, Oxford 2008 (various authors. reader on important aspects of Italian art of the 17th century; esp. for the Carracci family: pp. 87-97); Wittkower, Rudolf, Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600-1750; The Pelican History of Art, Harmondsworth 1958, pp.57-71, 78-89, and later corrected editions (classic introduction to Italian art of the period).
Week 3) Italian/French Followers of Caravaggio (Gentileschi father and daughter, Caracciolo, Manfredi, Valentin etc.)
• Reading: Wittkower, Rudolf, Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600-1750; The Pelican History of Art, Harmondsworth 1958, pp. 73-89, and later corrected editions (classic introduction to Italian art of the period); Brown, Beverly L. (Ed.), Exhibition Catalogue: The Genius of Rome 1592 - 1623, The Royal Academy, London 2001, pp. 42-66,Blunt, Anthony, Art and Architecture in France, 1500-1700, The Pelican History of Art 1953, pp. 259-265; Nicolson, Benedict, Vertova, Luisa (Ed.), Caravaggism in Europe, 3 vol., Turin 1990, pp. 19-28; Rosenberg, Pierre, Exhibition Catalogue: France in the Golden Age. Seventeenth-Century French Paintings in American Collections, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1981, pp. 51-85; Spear, Richard, Caravaggio and His Followers, New York London, 1975, pp. 1-38, 203-242.
Week 4) Northern Followers of Caravaggio (Honthorst, Terbrugghen, etc.)
• Reading: Reading: Nicolson, Benedict, Vertova, Luisa (Ed.), Caravaggism in Europe, 3 vol., Turin 1990, see index; Slive, Seymour, Dutch Painting 1600-1800, The Pelican History of Art/Yale University Press, New Haven, London 1995, pp. 18-27; Spicer, J.(Ed.), Exhibition Catalogue: Masters of Light, Dutch Painters in Utrecht during the Golden Age, Baltimore San Francisco, London, New Haven 1997, pp. 114-121; Exhibition Catalogue: The Genius of Rome 1592 - 1623, The Royal Academy, London 2001, pp. 304-337.
Week 5) Domenichino, Guercino, Guido Reni, Lanfranco, Poussin
• Reading: Mahon, Sir Denis, Studies in Seicento Art and Theory, London 1947, pp. 9-108, and later editions; Exhibition Catalogue: The Genius of Rome 1592 - 1623, The Royal Academy, London 2001, pp. 338-371; Blunt, Anthony, Art and Architecture in France, 1500-1700, The Pelican History of Art 1953, pp.272-297, and many subsequent editions; Rosenberg, Pierre, Exhibition Catalogue: France in the Golden Age. Seventeenth-Century French Paintings in American Collections, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1981, pp. 87-101; Wittkower, Rudolf, Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600-1750; The Pelican History of Art, Harmondsworth 1958, pp.78-89,and later corrected editions (classic introduction to Italian art of the period).
Week 6) Velazquez
• Reading: Brown, Jonathan, The Golden Age of Painting in Spain, New Haven, London 1991, pp. 128-153, 213-221; Engass, Robert; Brown, Jonathan, Italian and Spanish Art 1600-1750: Sources and Documents, Northwestern University Press 1970.
Week 7) Rubens
• Reading: Vlieghe, Hans, Flemish Art and Architecture 1585-1700, The Pelican History of Art/Yale University Press, New Haven, London 1998, pp. 13-130; Sutton, Peter C. (Ed.), Exh. Cat.: The Age of Rubens, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Ludion Press, Ghent) 1993/94, pp. 107-145.
Week 8) Van Dyck
• Reading: Vlieghe, Hans, Flemish Art and Architecture 1585-1700, The Pelican History of Art/Yale University Press, New Haven, London 1998, pp. 27-68, 131-137; Sutton, Peter C. (Ed.), Exh.
Cat.: The Age of Rubens, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Ludion Press, Ghent) 1993/94, pp. 321-344; Barnes, Susan J., Nora de Poorter, Oliver Millar, Horst Vey, Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven and London 2004.
•
Week 9) Rembrandt and Frans Hals
• Reading: Rosenberg, J., Slive, Seymour, ter Kuile, E. H., Dutch Art and Architecture 1600- 1800, The Pelican History of Art, Harmondsworth 1972, 47-138, and later editions; Slive, Seymour, Dutch Painting 1600-1800, The Pelican History of Art/Yale University Press, New Haven, London 1995, pp. 2-6, 28-97.
Week 10) Final Discussion and feedback.
(chapters and page numbers will be indicated in separate reading lists handed out at the beginning of the semester):
General:
Martin, John Rupert, Baroque (Icon Edition) 1977.
Sutherland Harris, Ann, Seventeenth Century Art and Architecture, Prentice Hall 2008 (= 2nd edition, Paperback).
Southern Netherlands (today Belgium):
Vlieghe, Hans, Flemish Art and Architecture 1585-1700, The Pelican History of Art/Yale University
Press, New Haven, London 1998.
Sutton, Peter C. (Ed.), Exh. Cat., Boston, Toledo(Ohio), The Age of Rubens, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Ludion Press, Ghent) 1993/94.
Spain/Italy:
Freedberg, Sidney J., Circa 1600. A Revolution of Style in Italian Painting, Cambridge, Mass (The Belknap Press), 1983
Spear, Richard, Caravaggio and His Followers, New York London, 1975.
Nicolson, Benedict, Vertova, Luisa (Ed.), Caravaggism in Europe, 3 vol., Turin 1990. Mahon, Sir Denis, Studies in Seicento Art and Theory, London 1947 and later editions (the
Carracci and their students, Guercino, Caravaggio).
Brown, Beverly L. (Ed.), Exhibition Catalogue: The Genius of Rome 1592 - 1623, The Royal Academy, London 2001 (international art in Rome around 1600).
Jaffé, Michael, Rubens and Italy, Oxford 1977.
Rosenberg, Pierre, Exhibition Catalogue: France in the Golden Age. Seventeenth-Century French Paintings in American Collections, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1981.
Langdon, Helen. Caravaggio: A Life, London 1998.
Varriano, John. Caravaggio: The Art of Realism, University Park 1992.
Dixon, Susan M. (Ed.), Italian Baroque Art, Oxford 2008 (various authors. reader on important aspects of Italian art of the 17th century).
Brown, Jonathan, Painting in Spain, 1500-1700, The Pelican History of Art, New Haven, 1998. Engass, Robert; Brown, Jonathan, Italian and Spanish Art 1600-1750: Sources and Documents, Northwestern University Press 1970.
Wittkower, Rudolf, Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600-1750; The Pelican History of Art, Harmondsworth 1958 and later corrected editions (classic introduction to Italian art of the period).
Haskell, Francis, Patrons and Painters, A Study in the relations between Italian Art and Society, London 1963 and later editions.
Northern Painting
Spicer, J.(Ed.), Exhibition Catalogue: Masters of Light, Dutch Painters in Utrecht during the Golden Age, Baltimore San Francisco, London, New Haven 1997.
Jaffé, Michael, Rubens and Italy, Oxford 1977.
Franits, Wayne (Ed.), Looking at seventeenth century Dutch art. Realism reconsidered, Cambridge /New York 1997, esp. pp. 78-88.
Franits, Wayne, Dutch seventeenth-century genre painting: its stylistic and thematic evolution, New Haven, London (Yale University Press) 2004.
Montias, John M., Socio-Economic Aspects of Netherlandish Art from the 15th to the 17th Century: A Survey, The Art Bulletin 72, 1990, pp. 358-73.
Northern Netherlands (today Holland):
Rosenberg, J., Slive, S., ter Kuile, E. H., Dutch Art and Architecture 1600- 1800, The Pelican
History of Art, Harmondsworth 1972, pp. 47-138, and later editions
Slive, Seymour, Dutch Painting 1600-1800, The Pelican History of Art/Yale University Press, New
Haven, London 1995.
Barnes, Susan J., Nora de Poorter, Oliver Millar, Horst Vey, Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven and London 2004.
France:
Blunt, Anthony, Art and Architecture in France, 1500-1700, The Pelican History of Art 1953 and many subsequent editions.
Wolfgang Prohaska, PhD at the University of Vienna (1973); Curator of Italian, Flemish, French and Spanish baroque painting of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (since 1976); Position at the Institute of Fine Arts in the University of Vienna: seminars and lectures on Italian, Flemish and Central European painting, museology, scientific investigation of paintings (since 1986); Research Assistant at the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, Munich, Germany; Guest Curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York as well as the Bibliotheca Hertziana-Max Planck Institut, Rome.