BASA040 - L'ATTUALITA' DELLA STORIA DELL'ARTE MEDIEVALE: ICONOGRAFIA E ICONOLOGIA

courses
ID:
BASA040
Duration (hours):
42
CFU:
6
SSD:
STORIA DELL'ARTE MEDIEVALE
Located in:
CHIETI
Url:
CULTURAL HERITAGE: ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY OF ART/CORSO GENERICO Year: 2
Year:
2026
Course Catalogue:
https://unich.coursecatalogue.cineca.it/af/2026?co...

Overview

Date/time interval

Secondo Semestre (01/03/2027 - 31/05/2027)

Syllabus

Course Objectives


The course aims to:

develop the ability to recognise the persistence and transformation of medieval iconographies and figurative models in contemporary culture;
analyse the processes through which images, papal vestments, and ceremonial practices are reinterpreted and invested with new meanings;
critically assess the ways in which medieval artistic heritage is interpreted and communicated by the institutions responsible for its conservation and public presentation;
provide the methodological skills required to conduct art-historical research based on the iconographic and iconological analysis of works of art, the political and religious contexts in which they were produced, and their reception in contemporary culture.

Course Prerequisites


It is recommended that students have prior knowledge of medieval art history.

Teaching Methods


Frontal lectures, oral and written presentation, visits of cultural sites and museums

Assessment Methods


Oral exam with marks out of 30, aimed at verifying the ability to expose with clarity and autonomy of judgment the topics presented during the course. Essays on one of the topics presented by the professor during lectures.

Texts



A. Paravicini Bagliani, Le Chiavi e la Tiara. Immagini e simboli del papato medievale, Rome, Viella, 2005 («La corte dei papi», 3).
C. D’Alberto, «Le pape vicaire du Christ et sa tiare», in Rivista d’Arte. Periodico internazionale di storia dell’arte medievale e moderna, VII, 2017, special issue Mélanges offerts à Fabienne Joubert. Faire et bien faire. Commande et création artistiques au Moyen Âge, edited by D. Borlée and M. Rivière Ciavaldini, pp. 167–181. OR C. D’Alberto, «The Middle Ages as the “Global Time” of the Papacy: An Examination of the Papal Image», in M. J. Branco and J. L. Fontes (eds.), Global Turns, Local Circles. People, Ideas and Models in Flux in Medieval Europe, Lisbon, Instituto de Estudos Medievais, 2022, pp. 111–135.
C. Frugoni, Francesco e l’invenzione delle stimmate. Una storia per parole e immagini fino a Bonaventura e Giotto, first published in 1993, Turin, Einaudi, 2010 («Saggi», 918). Selected sections will be indicated during the course.
S. Moretti, «Le mille e una sirena nell’arte medievale», in S. Moretti, R. Boccali and S. T. Zangrandi, La sirena in figura. Forme del mito tra arte, filosofia e letteratura, Bologna, Pàtron Editore, 2017, pp. 13–57.
C. D’Alberto, La Casina del Cardinal Bessarione tra Medioevo e Rinascimento, Rome, Campisano Editore, 2023 («Saggi di Storia dell’Arte»), 160 pp., ISBN 979-12-80956-47-7.



Please note: non-attending students are required to study two additional texts, to be agreed upon with the professor, in addition to the programme listed above.

Contents


The course investigates the persistence and transformation of the artistic legacy of the Middle Ages in contemporary culture through a selection of case studies.


1) It will examine iconographies that originated or were substantially redefined during the Middle Ages, including those of the pope as patron, Saint Francis, the siren, sea monsters, and hybrid creatures. The analysis will highlight the processes of continuity, resemanticisation, and adaptation through which these images have passed from their medieval contexts into contemporary visual culture.


2) A second section will focus on the elements of continuity and transformation that characterise papal vestments and ceremonial practices, with particular reference to the tiara and the Jubilee. Their contemporary reception will also be explored through cinema and audiovisual media, especially Paolo Sorrentino’s “papal fantasy” The Young Pope, an artistic work that consciously reinterprets the image, rituals, and forms of self-representation of the pontiff.


3) Finally, the course will examine a selection of cultural heritage sites in which the medieval phase constitutes a defining element of the site’s historical and artistic identity. Particular attention will be paid to the ways in which this heritage is interpreted, communicated, and made accessible to the public by the institutions responsible for its conservation.

Course Language


Italian

More information


During the lessons some recommended readings will be indicated. ​​​​​​​

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