Nearly all sculpture in Renaissance and Baroque Italy was made for location: it was designed and executed with a mind to the likely conditions in which it would be displayed. While book illustrations and museum exhibitions often give the impression that sculptures were conceived and viewed as autonomous objects, more often then not their surroundings mattered, to the point that simply
moving a sculpture could change the significance of the work. This course will look at the importance of site to the function of sculpture in the time of Michelangelo and Bernini, considering the ways in which meaning is generated between sculpture and places. Topics may include the presbitery of the Santo in Padua, the Medici Chapel and the Piazza Ss. Annunziata in Florence, the Sacro Monte at Varallo, and the crossing of St. Peter´s and the fountains of Piazza Navona in Rome.