This course covers the topic of secular iconography in the visual arts from the classical antiquity to the 20th century. Attention will be paid to classical mythology, allegories, personifications, basics of emblematics, intermingling of secular and sacred iconography at selected works of art.
Introduction to profane iconography and mythology: literature and sources
The principal gods of Olympus: Olympus, Jupiter (loves of Zeus: Danae, Semele, Io, Leda, Europa), Juno, Apollo, Bacchus and Ariadne, Ceres, Diana, Mars, Mercury, Minerva, Neptune, Pluto, Venus, Vulcan, Gaia
Hercules and his stories
Hesiodos and themes related to time: personification of time (Chronos, Saturn), ages of mankind, seasons, months, phases of the day
Time: human age, life, death. Space: chaos, vertebrae, moon, earth, continents, four elements, winds, rivers, human temperaments, senses
Ancient Greek epic: Argonauts, Jason, journey to Colchis, golden fleece, Medea; Theban cycle: Oedipus, Seven against Thebes, Antigone
Homer, Ilias; Trojan cycle: the Hesperides, Helen, Peleus and Thetis, Paris, the trial of Paridus, Hébé, Achilles, the Trojan Horse, the Trojan War, Hector, Philoctetes, Laocoon, the Sacrifice of Polyxena, etc.
Homer, Odyssey: Odysseus, Calypso, Kirke, Penelope, Polyphemus, Sirens, etc.
Vergil, Aeneas
Attendance 80%
Exam - final (multiple choice) test
Further information in Study Informational System
Characters from the history of ancient Rome, Virgil, Titus Livius: Cato, Caesar, Kimon and Pero, Cleopatra, Cornelia, Decius Mus, Lucretia, Marcus Curtius, Mucius Scevola, Horatius, Romulus and Remus, Sabines, Scipio, Seneca, Sophonisba, Virginia, Zenobia.
Figures from the history of ancient Greece: Alexander the Great, Apelles, Archimedes, Aristotle, Diogenes, Heracleitos and Democritus, Socrates, Milon.
Ovid: Metamorphoses
Music: Apollo, Orpheus, Muses, musical instruments, arts, sciences.
Cupid, Heavenly and Earthly Love, Cupid and Psyche
Dante Alighieri, Ludovico Ariosto, Giovanni Battista Marino, Pastor Fido, Torquato Tasso
Iconology and Emblematics: Ripa, Iconology, Vincenzo Cartari, Piero Valeriano, Hieroglyphica, Natale Conti, Andrea Alciati
Successful completion of the final test
Subject is concluded by written test in which photos of selected artworks according to the syllabus will be shown
Further information in Study Informational System
