ARTH 6440 - Constructing the Self in the 16th Century

Spring. 4 credits. Student option grading (no audit).

Co-meets with ARTH 4440/VISST 4440.

C. Lazzaro.

This seminar examines self-fashioning in Renaissance Europe, especially but not exclusively Italy, in individual, regional, and global contexts. We examine the notion that the self is not a given, but constructed, through bearing, manners, speech, gesture, and clothing. We examine these aspects and more in portraits, self-portraits, and autobiographies, as well as in the display of status through material goods. A proliferation of courtesy manuals instructed in “civility” and reflected an overriding concern with appearance as well as with the ideal of sprezzatura or nonchalance. We will also consider notions of gender differences, and the ideals and outward signs of masculine and feminine roles. Clothing, hair, and jewelry all contributed to gender and regional identity in a time of travel and internationalism of consumer goods. World chronicles, maps, and costume books conveyed knowledge of an increasingly global and mobile world, in which identities were constructed in contrast to other nations and cultures. Classes include a session in Kroch Library’s Rare Book Room and a session in the Johnson Museum.