| Description: | This course explores all aspects of artistic activity at the major Italian courts during the fifteenth century. This analysis will not only be confined to an art historical approach, but will also consider various aspects of court life - the chivalric tradition, hunting, jousting, scholarship, and court festivals - which have an influence on the visual arts. Comparisons will be made with Northern European courts of the same period. The main focus of attention will be Pisanello and the courts of Ferrara and Mantua, Mantegna and the Gonzaga court in Mantua, Francesco Cossa at the D'Este court in Ferrara, Piero della Francesca and Laurana at the court of Federigo da Montefeltro in Urbino, and Piero della Francesca and Alberti at the Malatesta court in Rimini. The student will become familiar with the special patronage conditions which dictated the nature of Renaissance art at the princely courts of Italy. The student will have a detailed knowledge of the work of five court artists and a broader familiarity with three others. |