Senior Art History Seminar: Michelangelo
Fall 2006: TTh 10:00-11:15, W 12:00-12:50
Dr. Elise Smith (smithel@millsaps.edu)
AC 323 - 974-1432 (o); 601-354-2290 (h)(not after 10:30, please)
Office Hours: M & F 10-10:50, T 3-4, or by appointment (or feel free to just drop in)

Course Description: This course is designed as an upper-level seminar for any student who has had at least one previous art history course. The modified seminar format will require considerable reading and research. Active participation through class discussions and presentations will be central to the success of the course. This year's seminar is focused on Michelangelo Buonarotti, although we’ll also be setting him in the context of other High Renaissance and Mannerist artists and of various historical, religious, and philosophical trends of the period.

Texts:
1) Howard Hibbard, Michelangelo (2nd ed.; New York: Harper & Row, 1985)
2) Charles Seymour, Jr., Michelangelo’s David: A Search for Identity (New York: W.W. Norton, 1974)
3) James Hall, Michelangelo and the Reinvention of the Human Body (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005)
4) William E. Wallace, ed., Michelangelo: Selected Readings (New York and London: Garland, 1999)
There will also be various articles distributed during the semester.

Grades: Each of you will be evaluated on the basis of the following components of the course:
Participation in & leadership of discussion 25%
Oral presentation 15%
Reading responses 10%
Senior paper (around 20-25 pp.) 30%
Core 10 Reflective Paper 20%

Class Attendance and Participation: Regular class attendance is crucial, especially in a seminar, plus it makes the class more fun for all of us -- so I encourage everyone to ask questions, comment, disagree, elaborate, and otherwise join in the conversation. I’ll often start class by having you write about the readings for that day, so come prepared! These in-class writings will help to generate discussion and will be a way of checking that everyone’s doing the reading.
Absences for whatever reason after the first two will adversely affect your final grade. I will count off one point from your final grade for each absence after the first two. If you are absent for an extended excused illness or family emergency or school sports, you may be able to make up those absences by doing additional writing assignments (it will be your responsibility to consult with me about this if the need arises).

Oral Components of the Course:
1) Once during the semester you’ll team up with a partner to lead discussion (please sign up for the day you want by Thursday, Aug. 31 (the sign-up sheet is on my office door).
2) You’ll also give short reports on three articles during the semester, as noted on the syllabus. For each report you’ll make a handout (1-2 pp.) that you give to each member of the class and that includes the bibliographic information in MLA format, a brief statement of the thesis, and the key points of supporting evidence.
3) You'll give an oral presentation (about 20 minutes in length) at the end of the semester, based on your senior thesis, and will prepare a short handout (1-2 pp.) for the class.
4) You’ll be expected to participate fully in the class discussions by asking questions, pulling out relevant ideas or passages from the texts that we read, making connections with other images or issues, being an attentive listener, and helping to keep the class lively and focused.

Reading Responses: Nine times during the semester, as noted on the syllabus, you’ll turn in responses to the readings for that day. You should respond to each reading by listing three interesting points or questions that you’d want to bring up in class (one or two sentences for each point is sufficient, along with a parenthetical citation of the author’s name and page number so you’ll be able to refer to it quickly in class).

Research Paper: Your paper for this class is your senior comprehensives paper (not necessarily about the topic of the seminar). It will go through several drafts by the end of the semester. During exam week you'll participate in a mock-oral with the three art faculty, which will consist of a conversation about your draft paper. Almost certainly your paper will then require further revisions before it is presented in the spring. For more information, see the handout "Tips for Writing Art History Papers" (now available at www.millsaps.edu/art/word/PAPERS_TIPS.doc). All information about comps can also be found on the art department web page.

Core 10 Reflective Paper: This paper (5-8 typed pages) should be a thoughtful, evaluative reflection on your experience at Millsaps College. Focus your attention on the specific texts you have read, courses you have taken, the academic challenges you have confronted, the social experiences that left a deep impression on you, the professors who taught you and perhaps influenced you in some way, the adventure you have undertaken. What were your hopes and expectations before you came to Millsaps? Have these hopes and expectations been realized? Have they changed? If so, how? In what way? Has your work in the art major complemented your Millsaps Core coursework and has it aided you in achieving your hopes and expectations on a more personal level? Do you believe that you have obtained a good liberal arts education at Millsaps College with its emphasis on specific liberal arts abilities? If so, how, and why? If not, what has been missing? Do you feel prepared to move on to the next phase of your life?

I don't necessarily expect you to address all of these questions specifically in your finished paper, but you should have thought carefully about them in order to organize and orient your reflections. The key issue is to look both back (to your early educational experiences at Millsaps) and forward (to your expectations about the future) as you set your art major in context. If you e stumped you may want to read last year Laney award-winning Core 10 papers to see how some other students approached this paper (www.millsaps.edu/corecurr/laney/laney.shtml).

Begin the process by reading two talks by former Millsaps professors (Richard Freis and Peter Ward) about the liberal arts. For copies go to www.millsaps.edu/corecurr/wardessay.shtml and www.millsaps.edu/corecurr/freisessay.shtml. You may have already read these in LS 1000 -- if so, it'll be interesting for you to return to them now in your senior year. Last year’s award-winning Core 10 papers are also available at the Core Curriculum web site, and reading those might help to give you some ideas about how to begin. Another option is to interview one or two Millsaps seniors majoring in art or in other disciplines, asking them the same kind of questions that you're asking yourself during this process. Or you could choose an art professional to interview in order to make connections between what you've learned at college and the sorts of skills and knowledge that are considered most valuable for the career(s) you're considering. If you incorporate ideas from these interviews be sure to document them in a bibliography (along with the Freis and Ward talks or any other texts that you might refer to).

Your paper will be evaluated on the depth and specificity of your analysis as well as on the clarity, creativity and organization of your prose. Please hand in three copies.

Frank and Rachel Ann Laney Award
The Frank and Rachel Ann Laney Award will be given each spring for the best reflective paper written to satisfy the Core 10 requirement during the academic year. The Award is intended to encourage students to reflect on the value of their education in the liberal arts. The Laney Award will be presented at Commencement and will carry a $1500 cash prize. Submitted papers will be reviewed by a faculty panel to determine the best paper. The best paper along with other selected papers from those submitted will be published annually. These papers will be given to every incoming freshman the following fall, and the best paper (and perhaps other selections) will be required reading. For last year's winning paper, see the Millsaps web page.
Deadline: Students will be able to submit their Core 10 reflective papers at the end of the semester during which they write them in order to be considered for the Laney award.
Judging: Papers will be reviewed anonymously by a committee of four faculty members.
Format: All papers must be neatly typed (word-processed) on standard white paper with a cover sheet including the student's name and the title of the paper. The student's name should appear nowhere else in the manuscript.

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Key Due Dates: M, 9/11 - Paper topic & preliminary bibliography with ILL requests noted
M, 10/9 - First draft of research paper to me and other seniors
M, 10/16 - Peer responses due to me (I’ll distribute them to the writers in our next class)
W, 10/25 – First draft of Core 10 paper (just one copy, for me)
F, 11/10 - Second draft of research paper to me and other seniors
W, 11/15 - Peer responses due to me (I’ll distribute them to the writers in our next class)
M, 11/20 – Final copy of Core 10 paper (3 copies to me, & submit copy to Writing
Center if you’re interested in being considered for the Laney Award)
M, 12/4 - Third draft of research paper due to all art faculty (not to your peers)

Late Assignments: Short writings (reading responses and presentation handouts) will not be accepted late. Any other written assignments (research paper drafts and Core 10 paper) that are turned in late will be marked down 1/3 letter grade for each 48 hours that they’re late unless prior arrangements are made (a serious, legitimate, justifiable reason is needed for me to consider granting a student extra time).

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Learning Disabilities: If you have a learning disability and need special arrangements you must discuss it with the appropriate person in Student Affairs and also with each of your instructors. In order for me to be able to accommodate your needs you must inform me within the first week of the semester and we must both sign a written contract clarifying any changes in the expectations and requirements for the course.

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If you're having problems of any sort that are affecting your work in this course or as a student at Millsaps, please feel free to come talk to me about it, or write me an e-mail message. I would be happy to talk with you about any questions or concerns you might have.

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PLAGIARISM - A Reminder
Always be careful about plagiarism, even in short writing exercises and take-home exams. Plagiarism, as you know from Liberal Studies and/or your other core courses, is the use of another person's ideas or words without proper acknowledgement.

Two of the most common forms of plagiarism are defined by Diana Hacker in The Bedford Handbook for Writers (Boston: St. Martin's, 1994) as
"(1) borrowing someone's ideas, information, or language without documenting the source and
(2) documenting the source but paraphrasing the source's language too closely, without using quotation marks to indicate that language has been borrowed" (477).

When should you document a source? In addition to citing the source of a direct quote, you should give a citation when you refer to an idea, opinion, hypothesis, or conclusion from one of your sources, or when you summarize or paraphrase a section of your source, or when you rely on one of your sources for a fact that would not be considered common knowledge for the audience of your paper (Hacker 477-78). The point of all this is to help the reader (and yourself as writer) to distinguish between your own ideas and those with whom you are entering into scholarly conversation.

What is meant by paraphrasing a source too closely? This is probably the kind of plagiarism that I most often see in student papers. It has often been considered "unintentional", but is nonetheless clearly recognizable as plagiarism. With the Honor Code now in place at Millsaps, and with a concerted effort being made by faculty and students alike to clarify the boundaries of academic dishonesty, you will no longer be able to plead lack of understanding but will be turned in to the Honor Council. If you're uncertain about plagiarism, I encourage you to read Hacker, pp. 467-79, on the process of taking notes in order to properly paraphrase your sources and on constructing and writing your essay in order to maintain a strong, clear voice.

HONOR CODE: The honor pledge signed by all students upon entering the College is as follows:
As a Millsaps College student, I hereby affirm that I understand the Honor Code and am aware of its implications and of my responsibility to the Code. In the interests of expanding the atmosphere of respect and trust in the College, I promise to uphold the Honor Code and I will not tolerate dishonest behavior in myself or in others.

Please pledge all your written work for this class with the written pledge: "I hereby certify that I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this assignment [Signature]." The abbreviation "Pledged" followed by your signature has the same meaning and is acceptable on assignments other than final exams.

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COURSE CALENDAR (subject to change)(readings are listed on the day they’ll be discussed)
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WEEK ONE: Early Work

Tuesday, August 29
READ: Hibbard 15-50 (Introduction and Chapters 1 & 2)

Thursday, August 31 – The Early Madonnas
READ: Hall xv-10 (Introduction and part of Chapter 1)
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WEEK TWO: The St. Peter’s Pieta

Tuesday, September 5
READ: 1) Hall 28-36 (part of Ch. 1); 2) Joanna Ziegler, “Michelangelo and the Medieval Pieta” (handout); 3) William E. Wallace, “Michelangelo’s Rome Pieta: Altarpiece or Grave Memorial” (handout).
DUE: Reading responses to two of the three (Hall, Ziegler, and Wallace), your choice, but be sure to read all three

Wednesday, September 6 – Discussion of graduate schools and careers
DUE: List of 5 places you might attend or work after graduation (graduate or professional schools,
internships, jobs, etc.), with brief explanation about what attracts you to those possibilities. You’ll want to go to the Career Center and research on-line (check out our departmental web site, http://www.millsaps.edu/art/index.shtml, for help! Go to the Art History page and click on the ‘Graduate School’ link, and go to the Opportunities page and click on the ‘Internships’ link)

Thursday, September 7
*Discussion Team Day*
READ: 1) Rumy Hilloowala and Jerome Oremland, “The St. Peter’s Pieta: A Madonna and Child?” (handout); 2) R. Smick, “Evoking Michelangelo’s Vatican Pieta: Transformations in the Topos of the Living Stone” (handout)
DUE: Reading response to either Hilloowala/Oremland or Smick
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WEEK THREE: Four Madonnas (Taddei, Pitti, Doni, and Bruges), 1503-05

Monday, September 11
DUE: Paper topic and preliminary bibliography, with marks in left margin signifying whether you’re getting it in our library, from me, through an interlibrary loan (and the date of the order), or another source

Tuesday, September 12
READ: everyone will read Hibbard 62-74 (section on “Four Madonnas”)
REPORTS: sign up individually for one of the following (2 people for Hall, 2 for Goffen, and one for each of the others):
1) Hall 11-36 (2 people)
2) M. Levi D’Ancona, “The Doni Madonna by Michelangelo: An Iconographic Study” (handout)
3) Graham Smith, “A Medici Source for Michelangelo’s Doni Tondo” and Paul Barolsky,
“ Michelangelo’s Doni Tondo and the Worshipful Beholder” (handouts)
4) Andree Hayum, “Michelangelo’s Doni Tondo: Holy Family and Family Myth” (handout)
5) R.W. Lightbown, “Michelangelo’s Great Tondo: Its Origins and Setting” (handout)
6) R. Goffen, “Mary’s Motherhood According to Leonardo and Michelangelo” (handout)(2 people)

Wednesday, September 13 – Discussion of research techniques

Thursday, September 14
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WEEK FOUR: David

Monday, September 18
DUE (in my office by 3:00): Draft of your resume or CV (curriculum vitae)

Tuesday, September 19
READ: Seymour 3-78; Hibbard 51-61 (section on “David”)

Wednesday, September 20 – Discussion of your resume or CV

Thursday, September 21
READ: Hall 37-62 (Ch. 2)
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WEEK FIVE: The Battle of Cascina and Michelangelo’s Treatment of Anatomy

Tuesday, September 26
READ: Hibbard 74-84 (section on “The Battle Cartoon”); Hall 63-102 (Ch. 3)
DUE: Reading response to Hall

Wednesday, September 27
READ: Eric Fernie, excerpt from Art History and Its Methods, pp. 1-6

Thursday, September 28
READ: James Elkins, “Michelangelo and the Human Form: His Knowledge and Use of Anatomy” (in Wallace 652-66)
DUE: Reading response to Elkins
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WEEK SIX: The Sistine Ceiling

Tuesday, October 3
READ: Hibbard 99-132; Hall 103-38 (Ch. 4); Wallace 263-66 (Condivi and Vasari; note that the English
translation follows the Italian, so you actually start reading on p. 264)

Thursday, October 5
REPORTS (the reports will be spread out over the next three days, so sign up individually for one of the
reports for today or Oct. 10 or Oct. 12:
1) Staale Sinding-Larsen, “A Re-Reading of the Sistine Ceiling” (in Wallace 175-194)
2) Charles Robertson, “Bramante, Michelangelo and the Sistine Ceiling” (in Wallace 195-216)
3) Christiane L. Joost-Gaugier, “Michelangelo’s Ignudi, and the Sistine Chapel as a Symbol of
Law and Justice” (handout)
4) Paul Barolsky, “Metaphorical Meaning in the Sistine Ceiling” (in Wallace 231-234), and Paul
Barolsky, “Looking Closely at Michelangelo’s Seers” (handout)
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WEEK SEVEN: The Sistine Ceiling, continued

Monday, October 9
DUE: First draft of senior paper (copies to me and your three peers)

Tuesday, October 10 – The Adam and Eve Scenes
READ: everyone reads Hibbard 134-43, and Leo Steinberg, “Eve’s Idle Hand” (handout)
REPORTS:
5) Leo Steinberg, “Who’s Who in Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam” (handout);
6) Maria Rzepinska, “The Divine Wisdom of Michelangelo in the Creation of Adam” (handout);
7) Jane Schuyler, “The Female Holy Spirit in Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam” (handout)

Thursday, October 12 – The Restoration Controversy
READ: everyone reads David Cast, “Finishing the Sistine” (in Wallace 251-63), and Kathleen Brandt, “Twenty-Five Questions About Michelangelo’s Sistine Ceiling” (handout)
REPORT:
8) Frederick Hartt, “’L’Ultimo Mano’ on the Sistine Ceiling” (handout), and Wallace 267-71
(appendix to David Cast’s article)
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WEEK EIGHT

Monday, October 16
DUE: Peer reviews due to me, in my office by noon (I’ll distribute them to the writers in our next class)

Tuesday, October 17 – Neoplatonism
*Discussion Team Day*
READ: 1) Anthony Blunt, “Michelangelo” (chapter in Artistic Theory in Italy 1450-1600; handout); 2) Erwin Panofsky, “The Neoplatonic Movement and Michelangelo” (in Wallace 559-87 [stop at beginning of section on the Medici Tombs]); 3) James Saslow, “The Unconsummated Portrait: Michelangelo’s Poems about Art” (handout)
DUE: Reading response (rather than doing the usual, choose two poems or fragments of poems to analyze closely from a Neoplatonic perspective; 1-2 pp., regular paragraph form)

Thursday, October 19 – The Tomb of Julius II
READ: Hibbard 85-97, 148-75, 202-08, 267-73; and Joanne Snow-Smith, “Michelangelo’s Christian neoplatonic aesthetic of beauty in his early oeuvre” (handout)
DUE: Reading response to Snow-Smith
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WEEK NINE

Tuesday, October 24 - - FALL BREAK: NO CLASS MEETING

Wednesday, October 25
DUE: First draft of Core 10 Paper

Thursday, October 26 – NO CLASS MEETING (I’ll be at the Southeastern College Art Conference)
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WEEK TEN: The Medici Tombs

Tuesday, October 31
READ: Hibbard 177-202, 209-12; Hall 139-66 (Ch. 5)

Thursday, November 2
REPORTS: sign up for one of the following (note that 2 people should sign up for Hall)
1) Hall 139-66 (2 people)
2) Edith Balas, “The Iconography of Michelangelo’s Medici Chapel” (handout)
3) Yael Even, “The Heroine as Hero in Michelangelo’s Art” (handout)
4) Frederick Hartt, “The Meaning of Michelangelo’s Medici Chapel” (in Wallace 291-301)
5) Creighton Gilbert, “Texts and Contexts of the Medici Chapel” (in Wallace 303-20)
6) Erwin Panofsky, “The Neoplatonic Movement and Michelangelo” (in Wallace 587-600)
7) Juergen Schulz, “Michelangelo’s Unfinished Works” (in Wallace 644-51)
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WEEK ELEVEN: Mannerism

Tuesday, November 7

Wednesday, November 8
READ: Eric Fernie, excerpt from Art History and Its Methods pp. 7-12

Thursday, November 9

Friday, November 10
DUE: Second draft of Senior Paper, to me and your three peers
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WEEK TWELVE: The Last Judgment

Tuesday, November 14
READ: Hibbard 239-54; Valerie Shrimplin, “Hell in Michelangelo’s Last Judgment” (handout)

Wednesday, November 15
DUE: Peer reviews due to me, in my office by noon (I’ll distribute them to the writers in our next class)

Thursday, November 16
*Discussion Team Day*
READ: 1) Marcia Hall, “Michelangelo’s Last Judgment: Resurrection of the Body and Predestination” (in Wallace 403-08); 2) Avigdor Poseq, “Michelangelo’s Self-Portrait on the Flayed Skin of St. Bartholomew” (handout)
DUE: Reading response to Hall or Poseq
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WEEK THIRTEEN: Architecture

Monday, November 20
DUE: Final Core 10 Paper (in my office by 5:00)

Tuesday, November 21
*Discussion Team Day*
READ: Hibbard 212-19, 291-304; Ralph Lieberman, “Michelangelo’s Design for the Biblioteca Laurenziana” (in Wallace 355-79)
DUE: Reading response to Lieberman

Thursday, November 23 – THANKSGIVING
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WEEK FOURTEEN: Late Works

Tuesday, November 28
READ: Hibbard 254-63, 280-90, 309-12; Hall 202-23 (Ch. 7); Robert S. Liebert, “Michelangelo’s Mutilation of the Florence Pieta: A Psychoanalytic Inquiry” (handout)
DUE: Reading response to Liebert

Thursday, November 30
READ: Paul Barolsky, “Metamorphoses of Michelangelo” (in Wallace 668-77)
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WEEK FIFTEEN: Presentations

Monday, December 4
DUE: Third draft of senior paper to me, Michelle Acuff, and Dale Inglett
Tuesday, December 5
Wednesday, December 6
Thursday, December 7