***First Assignment – 5 pages --- due: Friday, October 18, 5.00pm***

Please choose from ONE of the following options. Papers should be uploaded to your webspace as webpages, and you should send me the URL by Friday October 18 at 5.00pm

1. Analyze Brunelleschi’s perspective panels. What techniques might Brunelleschi have used to make them? Make a reconstruction, using a building on the Stanford campus. Compare the perspectival techniques used in making the Baptistery and Signoria panels with the technique used in Masaccio’s Trinity. Suggested additional readings: Samuel Y. Edgerton, Jr., The Renaissance Rediscovery of Linear Perspective, New York, Harper and Row, 1975, Martin Kemp, The Science of Art, Yale University Press, 1990

2. Analyze in depth the technical problems faced by Brunelleschi in constructing the dome of the cathedral of Florence. How did Brunelleschi’s solution address these technical problems? What ancient sources and recent innovations did he employ? What economic and practical constraints governed Brunelleschi’s project? How might we compare it with other projects executed by Renaissance artist-engineers? Use diagrams and images to enhance your argument. Suggested additional readings: Howard Saalman, Filippo Brunelleschi, the Cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore London : A. Zwemmer, c1980

3. Focussing on a single Renaissance artist of your choice, working after the publication of Alberti’s Della Pittura analyze how this artist adapted or modified the perspectival techniques described in Alberti’s book. How did the artist respect Alberti’s other prescriptions for the contents of a painting? Illustrate your essay with perspectival schemes of the paintings of the artist, and other supporting materials. Suggested readings: go to the Art library and research the specific artist.

4. To what extent does Leonardo da Vinci reveal the concerns that, according to Michael Baxandall, were general to painters in Renaissance Italy? Using Leonardo da Vinci's Notebooks (especially pp. 241-332) and Baxandall, discuss his sense of the cognitive, practical, and patronage aspects of being an artist. Do you discern any differences between Leonardo and the other Renaissance artists described by Baxandall?

5. If none of these topics appeals to you, you are welcome to design a project that uses some of the readings from weeks 1-3 to address an important question about science, art and technology in Renaissance Italy. You may like to create a physical or digital reconstruction as part or all of the assignment. You must e-mail me your proposal in advance if you choose this option.