The Villas

Week seven of the program began with another day dedicated to Caravaggio. We met on the steps of Sant' Agostino in the morning to discuss the Augustinian's relationship to poverty, humility and pilgrimage. We discussed how these factors played a specific role in both the conception and the reception of Caravaggio's Maddona di Loreto inside. We continued the day's discussion with a trip to Santa Maria del Popolo. Maria led us in an examination of Annibale Carracci and Caravaggio in confronto in the Cerasi Chapel. Maria's visual assignment for us was to consider the ways in which Caravaggio and Annibale were looking at and responding to the other's different painting practice within the confined space of the chapel.

On Tuesday we embarked on our third and final day trip. We met our bus at 8AM and headed to Tivoli, the location of two important sites: Hadrian's Villa and the Villa d'Este. Denver was our guide to Hadrian's massive second century CE imperial retreat. We focused our discussion of the villa on the so-called Maritime Theater. Denver's task was to persuade us based on her research that this small man-made island within the greater complex served as the center of the villa and the other buildings were conceived in relation to it. We were then able to wander the ruins for the next couple of hours, visiting whichever parts of the villa interested us most.

We ate our lunches on the bus on the way to our next site, Villa d'Este. As one of our resident landscape experts, Kelsey was well equipped to lead us through the Renaissance gardens. She summarized the patron's desire to create a Rome away from Rome through his use of water works and a specific sculptural program. Kelsey asked us to consider the manipulation of space and axiality as we wandered from the main entrance to the gardens up to the palazzo above. Moving through gardens and up the stairs, we were never presented with a clear path to follow; instead we were prompted to move through the winding paths, encountering the villa's many installations and fountains.

Wednesday continued our theme of villa's and private spaces, but this time a little closer to home. We crossed the river and met at the Villa Farnesina. Kristin presented Raphael's Loggia of Cupid & Pysche. With our day at the Vatican fresh in minds, we discussed Raphael's update on Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling. Kristin led us through the narrative of Cupid and Pysche, noting that several key scenes were left out of the story in Raphael's conception. Kristin concluded that the narrative was addressing the mischief of Venus rather than the love story of Cupid and Pysche. We noted the differences in this ceiling, which was commissioned for a private residence. We compared it with that which we had seen in the religious spaces of the Vatican.

Following our trip to the Farnesina, we headed back to the classroom to discuss the Farnesina's counterpart across the river, Palazzo Farnese. We compared Annibale Carracci's Loves of the God's to Raphael's loggia. We went on a virtual tour of the ceiling, sorting out the levels of reality Annibale incorporated into his ceiling depicting the escapades of the gods. We grappled with the question of patronage, attempting to determine how this program functioned for a religious patron situated in a private space.

Thursday wrapped up our week with a day of seventeenth century painting. Our morning began early with a visit to SS. Trinità dei Pellegrini. This church is often not open in the morning, but we arranged to slip in right after the 8:30 mass. We were able to spend a long time in silence looking closely at Guido Reni's Trinity altarpiece. It was particularly rewarding to be able to view this altarpiece in its original setting, helping us to understand how Reni communicated an abstract concept, such as the Trinity, through light and color.

After SS. Trinità dei Pellegrini, we traveled by bus to San Gregorio Magno. We had the Oratory of St. Andrew all to ourselves with Domenichino's the Scourging of St. Andrew on one side and Guido Reni's St.Andrew Led to Martyrdom on the other. This was an ideal "classroom" setting to consider the different compositional approaches of these two contemporary painters. We debated over which was more effective in conveying the narrative of story, framing the discussion that the visual arts were searching for a new pictorial language in post-Tridentine Rome.

After our official class session was over, our professors offered to take any interested students to the Case Romane, an excavation site of ancient Roman houses near to San Gregorio Magno. We were able to see remnants of both pagan and early Christian wall paintings. It was a reminder to us that we are constantly moving through spaces that have been inhabited for millennia. Good week.

Mochi, Musei, & Michelangeli

Week six began with a bang. On Monday we piled into a bus for our second day trip. We made our way north into Umbria to Orvieto. After riding the funicular, grabbing cappuccini and chocolate, we wove through the narrow streets to the Duomo. Our trip to the Duomo focused on Luca Signorelli’s Cappella Nuova. It was the first time we had the opportunity to consider Christian commissions outside of Rome, and the Last Judgment scenes set us up nicely for our trip to the Vatican on Wednesday. The highlight of Orvieto was visiting the Museo del Duomo and seeing Mochi’s Annunciation Group. With a Mochi expert in our professorial ranks, we had a chance to consider the innovative skills and unique narrative choices Mochi brought to this sculpture group. The sculptures have been removed from their original placement inside the Duomo of Orvieto. While it is unfortunate that we do not get to see them in their original setting, we were lucky to be able to view the sculptures all the way around, for as long as we wanted, and completely undisturbed.

Orvieto is so lovely that a day never seems long enough. This day was no exception, but we had another important site on the agenda: Civita di Bagnoregio. Civita is located on the top of a mesa in a valley near to Orvieto. One can only access the tiny town via a very steep footbridge. There are no cars and no public transportation, but there is a bruschetteria, which was our destination. The owners of the bruschetteria treated us to a snack of fresh bread, pomodori, and delicious olive oil that is made on site. The bruschetta was cooked on an open air fire that gave the tiny trattoria a cozy warmth and comforting smell. No one was ready to leave when it was time to go.

Monday was a long long day so we took it a little easier on Tuesday. We met in the classroom to discuss Raphael, Michelangelo and Bramante’s contributions to New St. Peter’s. This day was largely in preparation for our Vatican visit. We were able to spend a good deal of time looking at some slides of images that we would not be able to access as easily at the Vatican.

Wednesday. Vatican Day. We met at the entrance to the museum at 9:30 and were promptly ushered into the madness. Luckily we were connected with headsets so we were able to hear our professors over the buzz of the crowds as they guided us through the vast and overwhelming papal collections. We first made our way through the antiquities, to the Belvedere courtyard, and then the Belevedere sculpture collection. Many of the students were overwhelmed and excited to see some “old friends” for the first time. The Apollo Belvedere and the Laocoön were particular favorites. We fought our way through the crowds into Raphael’s Stanze and finally to the Sistine Chapel. Working with Michelangelo for so much of our two courses, this moment had special significance for all of us, despite the roves of tourists and ornery museum guards. Lunch was an absolute necessity after this milestone. Following lunch and caffè in the cafeteria, we continued on to the Pinacoteca. We focused mainly on Raphael’s Transfiguration and the collection of seventeenth century paintings in the subsequent rooms. All in all Vatican Day totaled eight hours in the museum. Exhausting, but worth every single minute.

On Thursday our mega-week continued with a visit to the Caravaggio show taking place in Rome right now. We met in the classroom early in the day to discuss our readings on Caravaggio and to set up some of the issues regarding the artist. We then took a break and reconvened up on the Quirinale in the afternoon for our entrance to the exhibit. During the show we were set loose amongst the 10 rooms of works to look and observe on our own. We naturally ended up forming small discussion groups and moved through the exhibit more or less together. These groups pointed details out to one another and discussed the issues of representation we had established in class earlier in the day.

This was probably our fullest week yet, but it was extremely rewarding and established a momentum for the next half of the quarter.

La Quinta Settimana

Week five began with new religious orders and ancient saintly bodies. We started Monday morning off with a trip to the Gesù. Mara gave a presentation on the changing organization of the church space under the direction of the Jesuit order. We compared the lay-out and facade with that of the Renaissance and early Christian spaces we have already encountered. We then moved on from architectural to imagery with Vicki leading us in a consideration of the early painted chapels of the church. In the chapel of the Madonna della Strada, a fragment of a fourteenth century fresco has been preserved and hung on the wall as though it is an icon. This refashioning of an art object as an icon fit nicely into our continuing examination of the changing religious image.

After the Gesù, we ventured across the river, via Tiber Island, to Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. Lauren presented on Stefano Maderno's sculpture of Saint Cecilia, situated in the high altar of the church. The sculpture was meant to be a representation of the early Christian saint upon the rediscovery of her body in 1599. When uncovered, she was said to be miraculously preserved 1200 years after her death. As a group, we discussed the function of an object as a replica of a miraculous relic and considered the transference of holy power from the body to the sculpture.

On Tuesday the undergraduates had their midterm for our 300-level course. As per usual, everyone performed well. Two exams down, two to go!

Wednesday we walked up Corso Vittorio Emanuele to Santa Maria in Vallicella. We were lucky enough to have a Barocci specialist guiding our ranks to lead us through the artist's conception of the Visitation. The more time we spent looking at this highly conceived work, the more we began to notice about Barocci's use of color, composition and meaning. We then turned to Rubens' high altar for one of our first tastes of the emerging differences between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. We were particularly fascinated by Rubens' drastically different use of color and organization of space that tempts the viewer into believing that the image is emerging into the church space.

On Thursday we immersed ourselves in Renaissance architecture. We visited Palazzo Venezia and the Cancelleria. We were particularly interested in the way that these palazzi incorporated churches, yet these churches were hidden within the overall plans of the buildings. In contrast to the early Christian structures we have been spending so much time in, this new arrangement of ecclesiastical space fueled the day's discussion.

La Quarta Settimana

Week four started off with a special visit to the Oratory of the Confraternity of the Gonfalone. We had a private entrance to the oratory, so we had the space all to ourselves, creating an ideal classroom setting to analyze the late sixteenth-century frescoes depicting Christ’s Passion. Up until this point, we have been observing spaces largely patronized by ecclesiastical entities. Visiting the oratory gave us the opportunity to engage with a different kind of patronage, that of a confraternity made up of laymen.

On Tuesday we met at the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. Erin presented on the early Christian nave mosaics depicting Old Testament scenes. She provided us with a provocative question: why choose Old Testament scenes in the largest church dedicated to the Virgin Mary? The combination of our first-time use of headsets plus Erin’s interesting prompts, proved to be a very production visit to Santa Maria Maggiore.

Tuesday’s session continued with trips to Santa Prassede and Santa Pudenziana. Upon arriving at Santa Pudenziana, we realized that a funeral was taking place inside the church and that we would have to wait until the service was over to continue class. This was a reminder to all of us that these spaces are not simply preserved moments in history, but actual functioning sites of religious practice.

Emma presented the early Christian apse mosaic at Santa Pudenziana, asking us to consider whether the figure of Christ was based on an emperor prototype or that of a pagan god. We had the great fortune to connect with Mario, the caretaker of the church. He gave us a special tour of the building, taking us upstairs to the clerestory level to view the impressive mosaic at a very close range. This was such an exciting treat for all of us that we continued class straight through lunch!

On Wednesday the students had their first midterm exam for the 400-level seminar. They all did extremely well, proving this kind of on-site learning is quite effective.

Thursday was our first trans-Tiber day. We ventured across the river to Trastevere to visit the early Christian churches Santa Maria in Trastevere and Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. In Santa Maria in Trastevere we discussed the use of spolia in the nave columns and the re-appropriation of antiquity for Christian purposes. We also examined the Pietro Cavallini mosaics of the life of Virgin in the space of the apse. We compared their thirteenth century style to that of the earlier mosaics we had seen previously in the week.

At Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, we viewed the fragmented Cavallini Last Judgment frescoes in the nun’s choir of the convent. We compared Cavallini's technique in frescoes to that of the mosaics we had just seen at Santa Maria in Trastevere. As we were viewing the frescoes in the space above the church, a wedding began to take place down below. We were able again to see a church space activated by its congregation. This seemed like an appropriate way to end our week of basilicas and mosaics.