Art History 203: Art and Devotion in Northern Europe.

SEMESTER 1, 2018

15 points

 
Course Convenor and Teacher:

Associate-Professor Iain Buchanan, Arts 1, Room 751

telephone: 3737599 ext. 87271

e-mail:  i.buchanan@auckland.ac.nz

 

 

Course aims: 

Art and Devotion in Northern Europe  is a survey of art in Northern Europe with the focus on developments in painting and sculpture and to a lesser extent in manuscript illumination and tapestry. The emphasis is on the changes and developments of art within the Low Countries during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Various themes such as religious symbolism, the techniques of painting, the portrait, and approaches to landscape representation will be examined, as well as the development of new genres such as still life and peasant subjects. There will also be study of major individual artists such as Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Hugo van der Goes, Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel.

Each week there will be two lectures on the art of the period and one tutorial. The tutorial programme is intended to compliment the lectures and will address general themes such as the treatment of religious subjects, Italian attitudes to northern art, drawing and underdrawing, genre and low life painting, and Northern Mannerism.

 

Course delivery format:

2 hours of lectures and 1 hour of tutorial

(Timetable and room details can be viewed on Student Services Online)

 

Assessment Summary:

Weighting of assignments and due dates

20% test               in week 7 - May 4th

30% essay           due week 9 - May 18th

50% exam

 

Weekly Topics:

Two lectures per week held on Fridays at 10-12 pm.

Lecture Programme

The Fifteenth Century

March  02              Introduction: The Northern Renaissance as a Concept

                              Painting and Sculpture in Burgundy

            09              Manuscript Painting in France

                              Robert Campin

            16              Painting in Bruges (1): Van Eyck I

                              Van Eyck II: The Ghent Altarpiece

            23              Rogier van der Weyden

                              Hugo van der Goes

Mid-semester Break 30 March-14 April

April    20              Painting in Bruges (2): Hans Memling                

                              Painting in Bruges (3): Gerard David

            27              Hieronymus Bosch I

                              Hieronymus Bosch II:  The Garden of Earthly Delights

May     04              Class Test for 203 students

                              Dierick Bouts and Painting on Canvas

 

The Sixteenth Century

             11              Introduction: Dürer's visit to the Netherlands in 1520-21

                              Painting in Antwerp: Quinten Metsys

            18              Landscape Painting: Joachim Patinir

                              Jan Gossaert and Romanism        

            25              Pieter Bruegel 1

                              Pieter Bruegel II

June     01              Market Scenes: Aertsen and Beuckelaer

                              Painting in Haarlem: Hendrick Goltzius

End of Lectures

Study Break and Exams 2 June-25 June

Tutorial Programme

Weekly tutorials will be held at the locations and times to be announced

 Tutorials will begin in the second week of the First Semester. The topics are as follows:

 

Week beginning

 

                        Week   02        Techniques of 15th Century Painting

                                    03        The Altarpiece

                                    04        Religious Subjects in Northern Art

 

Mid-semester break 30 March-14 April

 

                                    05        Italian Attitudes to Northern Art

                                    06        The Portrait in Northern Art

                                    07        Drawing and Underdrawing

                                    08        Guild and Workshop Practice

                                    09        Landscape Painting

                                    10        Printmaking

                                    11        Genre and Low Life Painting

                                    12        Mannerism in the Northern Netherlands

 

 

 

End of Tutorial Programme

 

 

 

 

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Prescribed Texts:

Coursebook available for purchase at UBS Bookshop from January 2018.

 

Recommended Texts:

General Readings

 

The two standard works on the period are:

Panofsky, E. : Early Netherlandish Painting, Its Origins and Character, 2 vols.

Friedländer, M. J. : Early Netherlandish Painting, trans.   H. Norden, 14 vols( arranged according to artist, the volumes are listed under the individual artists below)

As both these texts were written quite some time ago they do not include any recent research findings. For this material see the reading lists.

 

A good new introduction is:

Nash, Susie: Northern Renaissance Art

 

Other useful general books are:

Cuttler, C. : Northern Painting from Pucelle to Bruegel

Snyder, J. : Northern Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture and the Graphic Arts from 1350-1575

Dunkerton, J, Foister, S, Gordon, D, and Penny, N,: Giotto to Durer. Early Renaissance Painting in The National Gallery

Campell, L.,    The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Schools (This is the catalogue of early Netherlandish Painting in the National Gallery, London and contains valuable new information on Bouts, Campin, Van Eyck, Rogier and Memlinc.)

Campbell, L., The Sixteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings with French Paintings before 1600, 2 vols., (This is the new sixteenth century catalogue with valuable new information on Bosch, Gossart, Bruegel, Patinir and Beuckelaer among others)

De Patoul, B and Van Schoute, R,: Les Primatifs flamands et leurs temps ( In French, but the most up to date survey and very good colour plates)

Ainsworth., and Christiansen, K.,: From Van Eyck to Bruegel, exhibition catalogue, Metropolitan Museum, New York, 1998. A useful recent survey.

Harbison, C, : The Art of the Northern Renaissance ( a brief recent survey )

Stechow, W. : Northern Renaissance Art 1400-1600, Sources and Documents

Wolfthal, D. : The Beginnings of Netherlandish Canvas Painting 1400-1530

For painting techniques, the most recent and comprehensive account is:

“The Methods and Materials of Northern European Painting 1400-1550, in National Gallery Technical Bulletin, 18 {1997],pp. 6-55.

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 Workload and deadlines for submission of coursework:           

The University of Auckland's expectation is that students spend 10 hours per week on a 15-point course, including time in class and personal study. Students should manage their academic workload and other commitments accordingly. Deadlines for coursework are set by course convenors and will be advertised in course material. You should submit your work on time. In extreme circumstances, such as illness, you may seek an extension but you may be required to provide supporting information before the assignment is due. Late assignments without a pre-approved extension may be penalised by loss of marks – check course information for details.