Yale for Life
The Renaissance
Syllabus and Reading List
Professor David Quint
Professor Lawrence Manley
Professor Ayesha Ramachandran
May 31-June 6, 2015
We ask participants to read, as an assigned text and general background: *Jerome Brotton, The
Renaissance: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford). For a quick overview of the complicated
Italian history of the period, you can read – it’s optional (and in the packet) -- the chapter,
“Statecraft and Warcraft (ca. 1350-1530)” in Margaret King, The Renaissance in Europe.
Asterisks designate books provided for the course.
Some of the texts in the optional assignments (for further reading) are included in the packet.
Some, whole books, are not.
Day 2: “Florence and the Crisis in Italy”
Session 1: Alberti and Painting.
Assigned:
*Alberti, On Painting, Books 2 and 3
*Michael Baxandall, Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy
Charles Dempsey, The Portrayal of Love, Chapter 1 [and 2] on Botticelli’s Primavera
Assigned but probably won’t be discussed in seminar (of particular interest for those taking the
AYA trip following the course):
Aby Warburg, “Italian Art and International Astrology in the Palazzo Schifanoia in Ferrara”
Optional:
Dempsey, The Portrayal of Love, Chapter 2
Baxandall, Giotto and the Orators, selection
Samuel Edgerton, The Renaissance Discovery of Linear Perspective
Session 2 : Crisis in Italy
Assigned:
Lauro Martines, Power and Imagination, pp. 277-296
*Machiavelli, The Prince, Letter to Vettori,
The Discourses Preface, 1.1-18; 21; 26-35; 42-43; 46-49; 53-60; 2.1-5; 16-20; 29-30; 3.1-3; 9;
16; 19-22; 26; 29-31; 36; 41-47
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Assigned but we may not discuss in seminar (but please do read Ricordi 30-31, 110):
Francesco Guicciardini, Maxims and Reflections [Ricordi], Series C, 1, 5-11, 28-31, 72-79, 101111, 139, 143, 179
Optional:
Felix Gilbert, Machiavelli and Guicciardini, Chapter 1
Session 3: Castiglione and the Courts
Assigned:
*Baldessare Castiglione, Book of the Courtier Book 1, Book 2, 1-41, Books 3 and 4
Assigned but probably won’t be discussed in seminar:
Guicciardini, Maxims and Reflections, series C, 179
Lodovico Alamanni, “The Making of a Courtier,” in Molho, Social and Economic Foundations
of the Italian Renaissance
Optional:
John Shearman, Mannerism, Chapter 1
Joan Kelley Gadol, “Did Women have a Renaissance?” and David Quint, “Courtier, Prince,
Lady: The Design of the Book of the Courtier.” Both essays are in the back of the Norton edition.
Guest Professor, Edwin Duval, Department of French, on Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus, “The Sileni of Alcibiades,” in Collected Works of Erasmus, Adages
Desiderius Erasmus, “Naufragium,” in Collected Works of Erasmus, Colloquies
Desiderius Erasmus, “Ichthyophagia” (parts 1-2) in Collected Works of Erasmus, Colloquies
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