Module Content and Indicative Topics 

The ‘Renaissance’ refers to the rebirth of classical culture and is associated with a period of innovation in Italy across the arts and sciences. This module will introduce you to this key period of Italian civilization by exploring the politics, society and culture from the late 14th to the 16th centuries. The module discusses topics such as the complex political landscape, changing perspectives on political morality, the rise of the papacy, changes in the status of writers and artists, and broader social and intellectual movements, such as humanism, which sought to revitalize the culture and values of antiquity. You will have the opportunity to explore these ideas through studying two of the most significant works of the period (in translation), both linked to the Medici dynasty of Florence. In the first part of the module you will examine Machiavelli’s Prince (1513), a fascinating and still very relevant analysis of the darker aspects of political life. In the second part, you will explore a selection of the best-known biographies from Vasari’s Lives of the Artists (1550; 1568), the first history of art. Vasari’s biographies present vivid accounts of the lives and masterpieces of artists like Giotto, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. 

The module will cover the following topics, which may be subject to variation depending on developments in academic research and the interests of the class: 

What is the Renaissance? 
	Machiavelli and the Medici: Florence, Rome and the Wars of Italy 
	Ethics and Politics in Machiavelli's Prince 
	Religion and the Church in Renaissance Italy 
	Humanism 
	The Art of Writing in the Renaissance 
	The Arts and Artists in Renaissance Italy 
	Vasari’s Lives of the Artists and the creation of an art history 
	Giotto, Leonardo, Michelangelo 
Teaching Delivery 

For this module you will be taught in smaller seminar classes, through a balance of informal lectures and seminars. You will have the opportunity to engage actively in class discussions and to carry out group work. In class you will be asked to discuss extracts from the set texts, images and secondary sources to develop critical skills, and to engage with discussion questions. You will be expected to prepare for classes assigned reading and set questions or passages, as set out on the module Moodle site. You may also be asked to prepare a short (non-assessed) oral presentation as a basis for class discussion. You will have the opportunity to complete a non-assessed piece of writing in order to gain feedback before your first assessment. 

All primary Italian materials will be available in English translation, so you are at no disadvantage as an ab initio student. If you have knowledge of Italian, you will be encouraged to engage with the text in the original language too. 

By the end of the module, you should be able to: 

show knowledge of the main themes, contents and arguments of your set texts and of the contexts in which they were produced 

demonstrate knowledge of key aspects of Italian Renaissance history, culture and society (including political constitutions, patronage, humanism, the status of artists) informed by current scholarship 

show analytical skills in reading texts, and research skills in selecting appropriate secondary sources to support your arguments 

describe visual sources in the Italian Renaissance with attention to formal and aesthetic features 

communicate effectively your ideas in writing and oral presentation, supported by primary and secondary literature 

Recommended Reading 

In preparation for the module, you are advised to read the following core texts which are available in paperback. These can be found in the UCL Library: 

Machiavelli, Niccolò, The Prince; any edition, but preferred edition by Quentin Skinner and Russell Price, 2nd edition (Cambridge, 2019) [available online; 
for an online Italian edition, see: http://www.bibliotecaitaliana.it/testo/bibit000214] 

Vasari, Giorgio, The Lives of the Artists, transl. with intro. and notes by Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), selected biographies (or any edition that includes the Prefaces to Parts I-III, Cimabue, Giotto, Masaccio, Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo) 
[online translation by Gaston du C. De Vere (1912-15): 

https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/metabook?id=livespainters; Italian edition: http://vasari.sns.it/consultazione/Vasari/indice.html] 
 

Recommended, but non-essential background reading: 

Cox, Virginia, A Short History of the Italian Renaissance (London: I. B. Tauris, 2015) 
	Najemy, John M., ed., Italy in the Age of the Renaissance (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) 
	Hay, Dennis and John Law, Italy in the Age of the Renaissance (London: Longman, 1989) 
	Burke, Peter, The Italian Renaissance: culture and society in Italy, 2nd edition (Oxford: Polity Press, 1999) Skinner, Quentin, Machiavelli: A very short introduction, 2nd edn (Oxford: OUP, 2000) 
	Wyatt, Michael, ed. The Cambridge Companion to The Italian Renaissance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014) 
	Najemy, John M., ed., The Cambridge companion to Machiavelli (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 2010) 
	Adams, Laurie, Italian Renaissance art (Oxford: Westview Press: 2001) 
	Welch, A., Art in Renaissance Italy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997) 
	Najemy, John M., A History of Florence, 1200-1575 (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006) 
Additional Information: 

You may be offered an extra-curricular study trip (non-compulsory) to the V&A museum led by the convenor. 