This course provides an introduction to the history of Spanish architecture and painting, from the Middle Ages up to modern times. It will deal with the main creations of Spanish art taking into account the historical circumstances in which they were produced. As well as discovering the cultural and historical background of each period, students will learn how to look at a building or a painting from its own point of view, analyzing its style, its own visual and spatial language. Emphasis will be placed on the great examples of Spanish painting and architecture: from masterpieces like the Mezquita of Córdoba and the Alhambra in Granada to architects such as Gaudí, Moneo and Miralles, and from El Greco, Velázquez and Goya to Picasso and Dalí.
Prerequisites:
This course is of an introductory nature, so it will not request any specific background in art and architecture. Main trends and individual styles will be made clear by comparison with other examples by the same or other artists.
Method of presentation:
Classroom teaching combines lectures with visits to the most important sites and museums in Madrid, such as the Plaza Mayor, Palacio Real, El Retiro etc., and the Prado Museum, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and the Museo Reina Sofía. Lectures will be illustrated with powerpoint images. Thanks to the visits to the city and to the museums, students will have an extraordinary opportunity to appreciate by themselves the works under study.
LANGUAGE OF PRESENTATION: English
Required work and form of assessment:
First Midterm Exam (30%): The first midterm exam will consist on 4 powerpoint images of a building or a painting already seen in class. The student will have to answer briefly questions about its function,
meaning and style, and the historical conditions in which it was produced.
Paper (30%): At the end of the term students will deliver a paper analyzing an architectural or pictorical example of their choice.
Final Exam (40%): The final exam will be very much like the first one: 4 powerpoint images of a building
or a painting already seen in class. Students will have 10 minutes for each image and should analyze style (composition, volume, color, light, and the treatment of space) and iconography (function, meaning
and the context in which it was created).
content:
Week 1: Presentation and orientation.
Introduction: how to analyze a work of art: style and iconography (meaning and context)
Week 2: Concept of architecture: materials and techniques
Spain in the Early Middle Ages: Christian kingdoms (Prerromanesque Architecture:
visigothic and asturian periods; Islam (Mezquita de Córdoba) and religious cohabitation
(Toledo: Mosque of Cristo de la luz and Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca)
Week 3: Romanesque Arquitecture (the Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela) An urban culture: the Gothic cathedrals of León and Burgos
Week 4: The Miracle of La Alhambra
Renaissance: The Palace of Charles V in La Alhambra
Week 5: Review: first midterm exam
FIRST MIDTERM EXAM
Week 6: Flemish and Italian Renaissance: van der Weyden, Fra Angelico, Raphael. Visit to the Prado Museum
El Greco and the influence of Titian and Tintoretto
Visit to the Prado Museum
Week 7: Caravaggio and Rubens and their influence on Velázquez
Visit to the Prado Museum
Velázquez: as a court painter
Visit to the Prado Museum
Week 8: Velázquez masterpieces: The Spinners (Las Hilanderas) and Las Meninas
Visit to the Prado Museum
The Madrid of the Austrias
Visit of the Plaza Mayor and the Plaza de la Villa
Week 9: The Bourbon dinasty palace: El Palacio Real de Madrid
Visit of the Palacio Real
Goya: The Age of Enlightenment. Tapestry cartoons and court portraits Visit to the Prado
Museum
Week 10: Madrid in the Age of Enlightenment
Visit: Paseo del Prado, Jardín botánico and Museo del Prado
Goya: War paintings and Black Paintings (Las pinturas negras) Visit to the Prado Museum
Week 11: First steps to modern art
Visit to the Museum Thyssen-Bornemisza
Sorolla
Visit to the Sorolla Museum
Week 12: Gaudí and Barcelona
Visit to the Retiro (Palacio de Cristal y Palacio de Velázquez) and Antonio
Palacios (Palacio de Comunicaciones)
Week 14 Picasso: El Guernica
Visit to the Museum Reina Sofía
Dalí y Miró
Visit to the Museum Reina Sofía
Week 15: FINAL EXAMS: The day and time will be announced on time
Required readings:
Baccheschi, E., El Greco, Every Painting, Ed. David Piper, New York, 1980. Brown, J., Painting in Spain: 1500-1700, Yale University Press, 1998. Brown, J., The Golden Age of Painting in Spain, Yale University Press, 1991.
Brown and Mann, Spanish Painting of the 15th through 19th centuries, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1990
Brown, J., Images and Ideas in Seventeenth Century Spanish Painting, Princeton University Press, 1978. Brown, J. et al., El Greco of Toledo, Exhibition Catalogue, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1982.
Brown, J., Velázquez: Painter and Courtier, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1986.
du Gué Trapier, E., Goya and his sitters, Hispanic Society of America, New York, 1964. Elliot, J.H., Imperial Spain 1469 – 1716, Penguin Books, London , 1963.
Elliott, J.H., A Palace for a King. The Buen Retiro and the Court of Philip IVth, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1980.
Freedberg, S.J., Painting in Italy 1500-1600, London, 1975.
Gassier, P., and J. Wilson, The Life and Complete Work of Francisco Goya, New York, 1981. Glendinning, N., Goya and His Critics, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1977.
Gombrich, E.M., The Story of Art, Oxford, Phaidon Press, 1985.
Harris, T., Goya.Lithographs and Engravings, San Francisco, Alan Wolsy Fines Arts, 1983. Janson, H.W., and E.A. Janson, A Basic History of Art, Prentice Hall, 1987.
Jordan, W., Spanish Still life in the Golden Age: 1600-1650, Kimbell Art Museum, 1985
Lassaigne,J., Spanish Painting From Velázquez to Picasso, Skira, 1952.
MacGregor, N., Painting in Spain during the Later Eighteenth century, Washington, National Gallery, 1989.
MacLaren, N., The Spanish School, National Gallery Catalogue, 1952, reprinted 1998.
Pérez Sánchez, A.E., and E.A. Sayre, Goya and the Spirit of Enlightenment, Boston, Catalogue of the exhibition in the Museum of Fine Arts, 1989.
Stoichita, V., Visionary experience in the Golden Age of Spanish Art, Reaktion Brooks, London, 1995.
Stratton-Pruitt, Velázquez.Las Meninas, Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Sullivan and Mallory, Painting in Spain 1650-1700 from North American Collectors, Princeton Museum of
Art, University Press, 1982. Tomlinson, J., Goya, Phaidon, London, 1994.
Tomlinson, J., Graphic Evolutions. The Print Series of Francisco de Goya, Columbia University Press, New York, 1989.
Tomlinson, J., Goya and the Twilight of Enlightenment, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1992. VVAA., Goya. The Disasters of War and selected Prints, The Spanish Institute, New York, 1985. VVAA., Velázquez in Seville, National Gallery of Scotland, 1996.
Wethey, H.E., El Greco and his School, Princeton University Press, 1962.
Spanish Art And Architecture
This course provides an introduction to the history of Spanish architecture and painting, from the Middle Ages up to modern times. It will deal with the main creations of Spanish art taking into account the historical circumstances in which they were produced. As well as discovering the cultural and historical background of each period, students will learn how to look at a building or a painting from its own point of view, analyzing its style, its own visual and spatial language. Emphasis will be placed on the great examples of Spanish painting and architecture: from masterpieces like the Mezquita of Córdoba and the Alhambra in Granada to architects such as Gaudí, Moneo and Miralles, and from El Greco, Velázquez and Goya to Picasso and Dalí.
This course is of an introductory nature, so it will not request any specific background in art and architecture. Main trends and individual styles will be made clear by comparison with other examples by the same or other artists.
Classroom teaching combines lectures with visits to the most important sites and museums in Madrid, such as the Plaza Mayor, Palacio Real, El Retiro etc., and the Prado Museum, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and the Museo Reina Sofía. Lectures will be illustrated with powerpoint images. Thanks to the visits to the city and to the museums, students will have an extraordinary opportunity to appreciate by themselves the works under study.
LANGUAGE OF PRESENTATION: English
First Midterm Exam (30%): The first midterm exam will consist on 4 powerpoint images of a building or a painting already seen in class. The student will have to answer briefly questions about its function,
meaning and style, and the historical conditions in which it was produced.
Paper (30%): At the end of the term students will deliver a paper analyzing an architectural or pictorical example of their choice.
Final Exam (40%): The final exam will be very much like the first one: 4 powerpoint images of a building
or a painting already seen in class. Students will have 10 minutes for each image and should analyze style (composition, volume, color, light, and the treatment of space) and iconography (function, meaning
and the context in which it was created).
Week 1: Presentation and orientation.
Introduction: how to analyze a work of art: style and iconography (meaning and context)
Week 2: Concept of architecture: materials and techniques
Spain in the Early Middle Ages: Christian kingdoms (Prerromanesque Architecture:
visigothic and asturian periods; Islam (Mezquita de Córdoba) and religious cohabitation
(Toledo: Mosque of Cristo de la luz and Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca)
Week 3: Romanesque Arquitecture (the Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela) An urban culture: the Gothic cathedrals of León and Burgos
Week 4: The Miracle of La Alhambra
Renaissance: The Palace of Charles V in La Alhambra
Week 5: Review: first midterm exam
FIRST MIDTERM EXAM
Week 6: Flemish and Italian Renaissance: van der Weyden, Fra Angelico, Raphael. Visit to the Prado Museum
El Greco and the influence of Titian and Tintoretto
Visit to the Prado Museum
Week 7: Caravaggio and Rubens and their influence on Velázquez
Visit to the Prado Museum
Velázquez: as a court painter
Visit to the Prado Museum
Week 8: Velázquez masterpieces: The Spinners (Las Hilanderas) and Las Meninas
Visit to the Prado Museum
The Madrid of the Austrias
Visit of the Plaza Mayor and the Plaza de la Villa
Week 9: The Bourbon dinasty palace: El Palacio Real de Madrid
Visit of the Palacio Real
Goya: The Age of Enlightenment. Tapestry cartoons and court portraits Visit to the Prado
Museum
Week 10: Madrid in the Age of Enlightenment
Visit: Paseo del Prado, Jardín botánico and Museo del Prado
Goya: War paintings and Black Paintings (Las pinturas negras) Visit to the Prado Museum
Week 11: First steps to modern art
Visit to the Museum Thyssen-Bornemisza
Sorolla
Visit to the Sorolla Museum
Week 12: Gaudí and Barcelona
Visit to the Retiro (Palacio de Cristal y Palacio de Velázquez) and Antonio
Palacios (Palacio de Comunicaciones)
Week 14 Picasso: El Guernica
Visit to the Museum Reina Sofía
Dalí y Miró
Visit to the Museum Reina Sofía
Week 15: FINAL EXAMS: The day and time will be announced on time
Baccheschi, E., El Greco, Every Painting, Ed. David Piper, New York, 1980. Brown, J., Painting in Spain: 1500-1700, Yale University Press, 1998. Brown, J., The Golden Age of Painting in Spain, Yale University Press, 1991.
Brown and Mann, Spanish Painting of the 15th through 19th centuries, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1990
Brown, J., Images and Ideas in Seventeenth Century Spanish Painting, Princeton University Press, 1978. Brown, J. et al., El Greco of Toledo, Exhibition Catalogue, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1982.
Brown, J., Velázquez: Painter and Courtier, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1986.
du Gué Trapier, E., Goya and his sitters, Hispanic Society of America, New York, 1964. Elliot, J.H., Imperial Spain 1469 – 1716, Penguin Books, London , 1963.
Elliott, J.H., A Palace for a King. The Buen Retiro and the Court of Philip IVth, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1980.
Freedberg, S.J., Painting in Italy 1500-1600, London, 1975.
Gassier, P., and J. Wilson, The Life and Complete Work of Francisco Goya, New York, 1981. Glendinning, N., Goya and His Critics, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1977.
Gombrich, E.M., The Story of Art, Oxford, Phaidon Press, 1985.
Harris, T., Goya.Lithographs and Engravings, San Francisco, Alan Wolsy Fines Arts, 1983. Janson, H.W., and E.A. Janson, A Basic History of Art, Prentice Hall, 1987.
Jordan, W., Spanish Still life in the Golden Age: 1600-1650, Kimbell Art Museum, 1985
Lassaigne,J., Spanish Painting From Velázquez to Picasso, Skira, 1952.
MacGregor, N., Painting in Spain during the Later Eighteenth century, Washington, National Gallery, 1989.
MacLaren, N., The Spanish School, National Gallery Catalogue, 1952, reprinted 1998.
Pérez Sánchez, A.E., and E.A. Sayre, Goya and the Spirit of Enlightenment, Boston, Catalogue of the exhibition in the Museum of Fine Arts, 1989.
Stoichita, V., Visionary experience in the Golden Age of Spanish Art, Reaktion Brooks, London, 1995.
Stratton-Pruitt, Velázquez.Las Meninas, Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Sullivan and Mallory, Painting in Spain 1650-1700 from North American Collectors, Princeton Museum of
Art, University Press, 1982. Tomlinson, J., Goya, Phaidon, London, 1994.
Tomlinson, J., Graphic Evolutions. The Print Series of Francisco de Goya, Columbia University Press, New York, 1989.
Tomlinson, J., Goya and the Twilight of Enlightenment, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1992. VVAA., Goya. The Disasters of War and selected Prints, The Spanish Institute, New York, 1985. VVAA., Velázquez in Seville, National Gallery of Scotland, 1996.
Wethey, H.E., El Greco and his School, Princeton University Press, 1962.