Columbia University Italian Cultural Studies in Venice Summer 2014 VENETIAN PALAZZI PUBLIC AND PRIVATE, INSIDE AND OUT COURSE INFORMATION A seminar taught on site in Venice offering a in-depth study of public and private Venetian palaces and their architecture, decorations and history. The seminar will meet two times per week over a six-week period, once a week for a two-hour session the other time for a 6 ½ hour session (break and transportation time included). INSTRUCTOR, CONTACT INFORMATION, OFFICE HOURS Caroline A. Wamsler, PhD caw35@columbia.edu Wednesdays 10-11am and by appointment COURSE DESCRIPTION, OVERVIEW AND GOAL The public buildings and domestic structures of Venice s urban fabric are profoundly influenced by the city s geographical location in the waters of the Adriatic and at the crossroads of east and west. This seminar, open to both undergraduates and graduate students, will examine the architecture, decorations and gardens of Venetian public and private palaces. Combining site visits to extant palaces, museums and gardens with classroom discussions, we will focus on subjects such as the fourteenth-century origin and decoration of the Palazzo Ducale; the emergence of Venetian domestic architecture in the fourteenth century and its development through the sixteenth century; the interiors of the Venetian palace and objects of material culture that filled these domestic spaces; and the Palladian villa culture on the mainland. As several of the city s museums and public institutions are housed in historic places, this course also offers the opportunity to consider the afterlife of these buildings and their reuse and conversion in modern times. This seminar offers a comprehensive investigation of the Venetian palace, its contents and decorative programs. Through selected case studies and interdisciplinary exploration bringing together architectural and art historical investigation, historical inquiry and study of material culture, students will gain an overview of the history of the Venetian palace and in depth knowledge of selected buildings, their architecture, history and interiors. This multi-disciplinary study and the study of these structures in person will broaden student s research skills beyond traditional boundaries of investigation and will offer an opportunity to explore these buildings in their physical and historic context. COURSE REQUIREMENTS, GRADING, AND CLASS AND UNIVERSITY POLICIES The success of a seminar depends on the participants presence and active participation. Accordingly students are required to attend all scheduled class sessions, field trips and organized group activities. As this course uses Venice as its classroom students must be punctual and 1
prepared to traverse the city on foot and by boat. Students will be expected to complete all readings, prepare in-class presentations and participate and initiate and lead discussions. The final grade will be determined by a written visual analysis to be completed at the mid-term (20%), a journal/sketchbook kept throughout the term in which students record their exploration of Venetian Palaces (15%), in-class participation including presentations and leading discussions based on the reading (presentation 15% and participation 20%), and a final paper based on the material presented in class (30%). All written assignments have to be submitted as hard copies in class on the date they are due. If you anticipate any conflicts or problems meeting any of the deadlines notify the instructor well in advance. Extensions will only be given under extenuating circumstances with ample advance notice. Absences and unexcused lateness of assignments and incomplete assignments will affect the grade. The use of laptops, tablet computers and other digital devices is not permitted in class unless you have a disability that requires the assistance of such devices (see instructor after class to make arrangements). I encourage you to use these essential tools for your work outside the classroom, but many students and instructors find them distracting during class. Furthermore it is common courtesy to turn of your cell phones and keep them off during class. Also please limit all other distractions (including leaving the classroom, eating, etc.) to a minimum. ACADEMIC HONESTY: Please read and carefully review Columbia University s Undergraduate Guide to Academic Integrity at www.college.columbia.edu/academics/integirty. Academic integrity is expected of all students and plagiarism or any other form of academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Offenses will result in a failing grade and will be referred to the Dean s Office. SCHEDULE Week 1 Session 1: Venice A city in the Lagoon Location: Ca Foscari classroom Marin Sanudo, Praise of the City of Venice, 1493, in David Chambers and Brian Pullan, eds. Venice: A Documentary History 1450-1630, 4-20. Edward Muir, Myth of Venice, in Civic Ritual in Renaissance Venice (Princeton, 1981), 13-23. Elizabeth Crouzet-Pavan, Toward an Ecological Understanding of the Myth of Venice, in Venice Reconsidered: The History and Civilization of an Italian City- State, 1297-1797, ed. J. Martin and D. Romano (Baltimore and London, 2000), 39-66. Session 2: Palazzo Ducale The Civic Palace Location: Site visit to Palazzo Ducale 2
Juergen Schulz, "Urbanism in Medieval Venice," in City States in Classical Antiquity and Medieval Italy: Athens and Rome, Florence and Venice, ed. Anthony Molho, Kurt Raaflaub, and Julia Emlen (Stuttgart, 1991), 419-445. Deborah Howard, The Palazzo Ducale, Venice and the East (New Haven and London, 2000), 171-188. Michelangelo Muraro, Art as an Instrument of Power: The Ducal Palace, in Venice: The Church of St. Mark s (New York, 1986), 85 113. Week 2: Session 3: The Emergence of Venetian Domestic Architecture: What describes the Veneto- Byzantine tradition Location: Ca Foscari Classroom, Ca Loredan and Ca Farsetti Deborah Howard, The Medieval City, The Architectural History of Venice (New Haven and London, 2002), 43-72. Jürgen Schulz, Byzantine continuity and western Romanesque: Secular Architecture, in G. Romanelli, ed. Venice: Art and Architecture, 2 vols. (Cologne, 1997), 80-91. Juergen Schulz, The Social Background, in The New Palaces of Medieval Venice (University Park, 2004), 29-44. Session 4: Ca d Oro and the Venetian Gothic Location: Site visits to Palazzo Zorzi, Palazzo Priuli, Ca d Oro, Palazzo Contarini-Fasan, Palazzo Pisani Moretta John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice, selections. Deborah Howard, Palaces, Venice and the East (New Haven and London, 2000), 133-170. R. J. Goy, The Front Façade, from The House of Gold: Building a Palace in Medieval Venice (Cambridge, 1992), 137-192. Week 3 Session 5: Domestic Interiors: Painted Interiors and Material Culture Location: Academia Gallery Patricia Fortini Brown, To Live Nobile, and The Mirror of Ancient Ladies, In Venetian Lives, p. 53-89, 99-121. Elizabeth Crouzet-Pavan, The People of the City, from Venice Triumphant (Baltimore and London, 2002), 229-271. Monica Chojnacki, Residence, Sex and Marriage: The Structure of Venetian Households, in Working Women of Early Modern Venice (Baltimore and London, 2001), 1-25. Session 6: Furnishing the Palazzo: Covering Walls, Windows and Floors Location: Museo Correr, Museo del Merletto, Museo del Vetro 3
W.P. McCray, Glassmaking in Renaissance Venice: The Fragile Craft (London, 1999), selections. Attilia Dorigato, The Art of Glass, in in G. Romanelli, ed. Venice: Art and Architecture, 2 vols. (Cologne, 1997), 790-797. Week 4: Session 7: The Renaissance Palazzo Location: Ca Foscari Classroom, Ca Dario, Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo, Palazzo Vendramin at Santa Fosca, Palazzo Vendramin-Calergi Sebastiano Serlio on Architecture. Volume 1: Books I-V of Tutte l opere d architettura et prospetiva, Trans V. Hart and P. Hicks (New Haven and London, 2005), selections. Margaret Muther D Evelyn, The Arrival of the Italian Renaissance Illustrated Architectural Book, from Venice and Vitruvius: Reading Venice with Daniele Barbaro and Andrea Palladio (New Haven and London, 2012), 7-26. Manfredo Tafuri, Memoria et Prudentia. Patrician Mentalities and res aedificatoria, Venice and the Renaissance, trans. J. Levine (Cambridge, 1985), 1-14. Filippo Pedrocco, Il palazzo di Andrea Loredan, and La costruzione del palazzo e la sua fortuna critica, from Ca Vendramin Calergi (Venice, 2004), 13-44. [for those students who read Italian] Session 8: Sansovino and the Roman Influences on the Venetian Palace Location: Palazzo Dolfin, (later Manin), Palazzo Corner, Palazzo Grimani Deborah Howard, The Patriciate, Jacopo Sansovino: Architecture and Patronage in Renaissance Venice (New Haven and London, 1987), 120-154. Deborah Howard, Renovation and innovation in Venetian architecture, Scroope (Cambridge Architecture Journal), VI (1994-5), p. 66-74. Manfredo Tarfuri, Venetian Epilogue: Jacopo Sansovino from Inventio to Consuetudo, in Interpreting the Renaissance: Princes, Cities, Architects (New Haven and London, 2006), 219-358. Week 5: Session 9: The Venetian Garden Location: Palazzo Soranzo Cappello, Gardens at the Redentore, Palazzo Cappello Malpiero Readings John Dixon Hunt, Chapter 1: A new approach to the Venetian city garden, and Chapter 3: Venetian Gardens in the year 1500, in The Venetian City Garden: Place, Typology, and Perception (Basel, Boston, Berlin, 2009), 10-19, and 38-65. Claudia Lazzaro, The Italian Renaissance Garden (New Haven and London, 1990), selections. 4
Session 10: Villa Culture in Venice: The Suburban villas on the Guidecca and Villeggiatura Location: Field Trip to Vincenza Villa Rotonda, Palazzo Valmarana, Palazzo Chiericati, Villa ai Nani James Ackerman, Chapter 1: Palladio and His Time, Chapter 2: Villas, and Chapter 5: Principles of Palladio s Architecture, from Palladio (London, 1966), 19-35, 36-81, and 160-186. Martin Kubelik, Palladio s Villas in the Tradition of the Veneto Farm, Assemblage 1 (1986), 90-115. Wolfgang Lotz, The Rotonda: A Secular Building with a Dome, in Studies in Italian Renaissance Architecture (Boston, 1977), 190-208. Week 6: Session 11: Vittoria, Longhena and the Baroque Palace Location: Palazzo Balbi, Ca Pesaro Andrew Hopkins, Chapter 5: Prestige Palaces Baldassare Longhena and Venetian Baroque Architecture (New Haven and London, 2012), 171-225. Ennio Concina, A History of Venetian Architecture, trans. Judith Landry (Cambridge, 1995), 237-266. Session 12: The Palazzo as House Museum Location: Ca Rezzonico, Casa di Carlo Goldoni, Palazzo Querini-Stampalia Anne Higonnet, Not a Museum in the Usual Sense, from A Museum of One s Own: Private Collecting, Public Gift (New York, 2009), 2-23. Jeffrey Abt, The Origins of the Public Museum, in A Companion to Museum Studies (Southern Gate, 2001), 115-135. Guido Beltramin and Italo Zannier, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice 1961-63 from Carlo Scarpa: Architeture and Design (New York, 2006), 162-169. 5