The Midterm is scheduled for May 2 and will take as its subject the material we have covered in class and which you have read for this first part of the course.

Both the Midterm and the Final will have the same format. You will be given three broadly-phrased essay questions; two will be given as the exam and you will write on one. You will be given these questions several days in advance, so that you may be able to do a thorough job of working them up before the exam. Note that no notes, dictionaries, or aids of any sort except for those with a documented disability will be allowed during the exam.

The three essay topics will be posted after class on Thursday, April 27.

MORE ABOUT THE MIDTERM

To answer the questions below, you should refer to the lectures, the readings assigned for the course and the books and articles on reserve in the Art Library. You may cite works we haven't discussed in class, especially if they are by an artist we have considered, but please do not use works by artists we have not yet discussed (ie, no Pietro da Cortona).

It is most important to write an essay, not a catalog or a list of works. Your essay needs to show a thoughtful consideration of the topic and your own plausible response. While it is a good idea to discuss the topics with others in the class, the final product must be your own. The submission of identical or nearly identical essays by two or more people will be considered cheating.

The best way to respond to this exam is to work up two of the three topics primarily in the form of an outline for each topic. You should write up in full and memorize the introductory paragraph and the concluding paragraph. This latter suggestion is especially useful for you because having the conclusion ready will allow you to finish gracefully if you end up running out of time. Each outline should consist of notes about the points you wish to make and the art you wish to describe. You should know both well enough to be able to expand the outline into an essay.

In discussing the art you've chosen for the essay, you will want to pay special attention to creating a full word picture of what you are citing. Don't just say, "Annibale Carracci's well-known Bean Eater is a well-knwon example of the genre style. And then he painted the Assumption of the Virgin..." And, it is all right to state an opinion as part of your discussion.

Length of the essay: the equivalent of about 2-3 typewritten pages. Not less; and not much more. Longer is not necessarily better.

Length of time to write: Forty (40) minutes.

The Three Questions

• Discuss the new developments in church architecture in Rome from about 1580 to 1620. Pick three structures/projects and write about them in the light of design and building traditions and innovations. Also describe the influence of new requirements for church spaces.

• Discuss the idea of the genre scene (paintings of subjects interpreted as scenes from everyday--usually poor-life) in Caravaggio and Annibale Carracci. Discuss at least three but no more than five paintings by each artist, and also consider to what extent each remained a genre painter through his career. For this, you will also need to refer to Sydney Freedberg's Circa 1600, and the Ingrid Rowland article, both on reserve in the Art Library.

• Discuss illusionism in painting in the early part of the seventeenth century. The term is here used broadly, in terms of altered viewpoints, or the use of light, or "fool the eye" compositions. You may discuss these in any combination, using works by three artists.

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