MODERN HISTORY 2

Artistic criticism and political protest in the Paris of the late Enlightenment

The course takes place at the second year of the LCSL "Political and International" curriculum and intends to provide a further critical analysis step in the historical and historical-cultural subjects for the students of the course, asking what is the premise of passing an exam mod. 1 of Modern History or of Contemporary History (exam of I year)

Knowledge and understanding: At the end of the course the student will have to demonstrate
a) to know how to articulate a coherent historical framework of events and debates that are at the origin of the Enlightenment cultural revolution, a turning point in the birth of the contemporary world;
b) ability to recognize the different types of historiographical research in relation to the different historical and artistic sources examined, therefore
c) to be able to adequately comment on the complex of historical sources (visual and written) analyzed in class,
d) to show a job aware of the historiographical categories used during the lessons;
e) the ability to independently initiate in-depth studies and reflections on specific cases related to the course topic.

To attend the course you must have already taken a first-year history exam (module 1: Modern History or Contemporary History). The course is structured on the learning needs of the students of the "political-international" curriculum, but can be attended (as free-choice exam) by all the members of the LCSL CdS

Title of the course: Artistic criticism and political protest in the Paris of the late Enlightenment

In mid-eighteenth-century Paris, the encyclopedists launched a vast campaign for a radical redefinition of the public dimension of all the "imaginative" arts. First the music (1752-1754) and then the theater (1757-1759); immediately after the novels (1761-1762). Last came the turn of the visual arts (1759-1781).
Their intent was to expose the correlation between the prejudices and the hierarchies of the political and social system of their time and those that d'Almbert calls "literary superstitions". A political battle across the board, long misunderstood by the idealist artistic criticism, is here traced back to its original meaning: to the time and to the historical place in which it took place.

ATTENDING STUDENTS:

a) lesson's notes; b) the book: G. TOCCHINI, Arte e politica nella cultura dei Lumi. Diderot, Rousseau e la critica dell'antico regime artistico, Roma, Carocci, 2016

NON ATTENDING STUDENTS:
the book G. TOCCHINI, Arte e politica nella cultura dei Lumi. Diderot, Rousseau e la critica dell'antico regime artistico, Roma, Carocci, 2016, and TWO books at your own choice in this list:

* E. DECOULTOT, Johann Joachim Winckelmann. Enquete sur la genèse de l'histoire de l'art, PUF, Paris 2000
* V. FERRONE, Il mondo dell'Illuminismo. Storia di una rivoluzione culturale, Einaudi, Torino 2019
* J. PROUST, Diderot et l’Encyclopédie, Colin, Paris 1962
* G. SABATIER, Le prince et les arts. Stratégies figuratives de la monarchie française de la Renaissance aux Lumières, Champ Vallon, Seyssel 2010
* G. TOCCHINI, Su Greuze e Rousseau. Politica delle élite, romanzo e committenza d'arte nella tarda età dei Lumi
* R. WRIGLEY, The Origins of French Art Criticism. From the Ancien Régime to the Restoration, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1993

The oral exam, of an average duration of about 20 minutes, will focus on at least two topics covered during the lectures and aims at a cross-examination of the student's preparation and his ability to present and coordinate the topics of the course, his ability to link different topics.

In carrying out the oral test the student will have to demonstrate:
a) to know how to articulate a coherent historical framework of the events and debates that are at the origin of the Enlightenment cultural revolution, a turning point in the birth of the contemporary world;
b) ability to recognize the different types of historiographical research in relation to the different historical and artistic sources examined, therefore
c) to be able to adequately comment on the complex of historical sources (visual and written) analyzed in class,
d) to show a job aware of the historiographical categories used during the lessons;
e) the ability to independently initiate in-depth studies and reflections on specific cases related to the course topic.

lectures, with the aid of music and iconology; comment of the sources

Italian

Attending students will be required to print and bring to the classroom a paper version of the texts that will be read during the lessons, downloadable in pdf from the Moodle section of this webpage.

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development