Session	Dates	Price
Spring Semester 2009 - Palazzo Rucellai - Architecture	January 7 - May 2, 2009	$15,995
Spring Semester 2009 - Palazzo Rucellai - Liberal Arts	January 7 - May 2, 2009	$12,995
Fall Semester 2009 - Palazzo Rucellai - Architecture	Late August - Mid December 2009	TBA
Fall Semester 2009 - Palazzo Rucellai - Liberal Arts	Late August - Mid December 2009	TBA
Academic Year 2009-2010 - Palazzo Rucellai - Liberal Arts	Late August 2009 - Early May 2010	TBA

Full Description

The studio in which the students have their classes is very similar to the original painting workshops that one could find in the narrow old streets of Renaissance Florence, and makes an inspiring setting. Walls are prepared with a bare, rough layer allowing the students the possibility to work directly according in an inspiring environment. During the first month of the semester the students will be able to see and study the antique techniques of fresco wall painting that have preceded them over the course of history, starting with prehistoric man and continuing on to the period of the Egyptians, Greeks,and Romans, with some attention also to Asiatic and Mesoamerican methods. Students will also acquire some familiarity with the famous art manuals passed down to us by the ancient masters (Plinio,Vitruvio, Cennino Cennini and Vasari.). The study of the various steps in the process includes the preparation of the mortar, of the preparatory drawings and life-size cartoons, of the subdivision into “days’ work”, and of the various pictorial phases of this technique. After the first tries there will be gradually added more complex projects that students will be able to take home with them. During the last 2-3 weeks of the semester, when students have mastered the technique, we will concentrate on a large fresco that will be carried out by the whole group, as in a true “bottega fiorentina” of the Fifteenth century. The topic of the mural will be realistic, and once the setting and narrative content is decided, students will design the characters themselves. Then the life-size drawings and the cutting out of the “cartoons” will be done, and after the preparation of the mortar and all the materials, each student will paint his/her character in the portion set up for the “day” (giornate). At the completion of the fresco students will have participated in the realization of a large original mural in authentic Fifteenth century fresco technique, and they will be able to make a thorough digital documentation of their work.

Class will meet for six hours per week in the studio.

Course descriptions may be subject to occasional, minor modifications at the discretion of the instructor.