Guidelines for Writing Experiment #1 (Due October 17)

Workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio, Notary Making an Inventory of a Household, 

late fifteenth century. Fresco.

“These [inventories] were drawn up by notaries and listed virtually all the objects (no matter how modest) in a house–in most cases room by room. The notary often distinguished between new and old objects, and ‘old’ was further divided between antico, which mean venerable, vecchio, which meant well worn, and triste which meant worn out. Such documentation offers reliable evidence of a material culture that was truly sumptuous at the high end and dismal indeed at the lowest.”

–Patricia Fortini Brown, Private Lives in Renaissance Venice: Art, Architecture, and the Family 

(New Haven: Yale University Press, 65).

GUIDELINES FOR WRITING EXPERIMENT #1 

About this type of assignment:

In the fall and spring, students will receive a prompt for a short writing experiment (500 words or less). The purpose of these two writing experiments is to practice “translating” objects into words, one of the fundamental tasks of art historical writing. No research is necessary for these assignments. Instead, students should rely upon their experience with the objects and pay close attention to their personal observations. Each student will determine the form the writing takes: a description, a poem, a review, a narration, a museum object label—any of these forms are welcome. The experiments are intended to be fun exercises in writing about the visual and material world.

Specific instructions for the first writing experiment:

This writing experiment takes its inspiration from the Renaissance-era inventories of Italian homes, which we discussed during the first Renaissance lecture (slides available here). The subject of this piece of experimental writing will be the oldest object in your home. You may want to ask a family member to help you identify what object is the (chronologically) oldest item. A photograph of a loved one, a painting, a teacup, or a piece of furniture are just a few possibilities. The object may be worn out or pristine, miniature or gigantic. Perhaps it is a family heirloom or something your family collected in recent years. If you live in a home dedicated to a contemporary style, the object may be younger than you. The piece of writing you produce can take any form as long as the object is—to the best of your knowledge—the oldest thing in your home.

Photographs and illustrations of the object are welcome.

Due Monday, October 17.