Università Roma Tre

Michael Sweerts (1618-1656) and the Rome of the Bamboccianti

Born in Brussels and died in Goa, India, living in Rome for at least a decade, Michael Sweerts is a very interesting figure in seventeenth-century European figurative culture. The course will examine his artistic production, the context within which he works. It will take place largely in churches, museums, public and private collections in the city of Rome, comparing his work with that of his contemporaries, active during the pontificate of Innocent X Pamphili.

Preparation for the exam requires in-depth, critical and informed study of.

(a) at least one of two texts of your choice: G. Kieft, I Paesi Bassi settentrionali: arte, mestiere e
committenza nel secolo d'oro, in La pittura nei Paesi Bassi, a cura di B.W.Meijer, Milano, Electa,
1997, tomo II, pp. 409-522 (disponibile su Teams) or Mariette Westermann, The Art of the
Dutch Republic. 1585-1718, New York, Harry Abrams, 1996 (available for purchase online for a
very modest amount).

(b) at least one of the following texts of your choice (or all of them):

Svetlana Alpers, Art of Description. Science and Painting in the Dutch Seventeenth Century; Simon Shama, The Embarrassment of Riches; Svetlana Alpers, Rembrandt's Enterprise: The Studio and the Market, 1995; Daniel Arasse, L' Ambition de Vermeer, 1993; Marco Mascolo, Rembrandt. Un artista nell'Europa del Seicento, Rome, Carocci, 2021; Les bas-fonds du baroque: la Rome du vice et de la misere, cataloge dirigée par F. Cappelletti et A. Lemoine, 2014.

(c) texts related to Michael Sweerts that will be made available in the file on Teams(the advice of course is always to read them all); including G. Briganti, Il mito della “finestra aperta,” in G. Briganti, L. Trezzani, L. Laureati, I Bamboccianti. Pittori della vita quotidiana a Roma nel Seicento, Bozzi, Rome 1983, pp. 1-36; G. Capitelli, Bambocciate in L'Arte. Protagonists, Themes, Masterpieces, Paths, edited by G.C.Sciolla, 6 vols., Turin 2003; Eadem, Una testimonianza documentaria per il primo nucleo della raccolta del principe Camillo Pamphilj, in I capolavori della collezione Doria Pamphilj. Da Tiziano a Velázquez, exhibition catalog (Milan, Fondazione Arte e Civiltà, September 28-December 8, 1996), Skira, Milan 1996, pp. 57-80.

(d) Teaching materials, consisting of the ppts of the slides projected in class and available on Teams.

Non-attending students should add to this syllabus (with the exception of items d and e which
are precluded from them) the in-depth study of at least two other texts from those listed in (b).