4.663
History of Urban Form: Locating Capitalism: Producing Early Modern Cities and Objects
Spring 2014
What was the early modern economy like, and how did monetization impact artistic production, consumption, and the afterlife of objects? This seminar-format class explores major topics and themes concerning interconnections between early modern artistic and architectural creation and the economy. We will approach capitalism not as an inevitable system, but rather as a particular historical formation. Core course themes: commodification, production, and consumption, using case studies of the impact of the mercantile economy on chapels; palaces; prints and paintings, and their replication; and other material objects, including coins.
Readings
- Thomas, Anabel. “Completion of the Merchandise: Payment,” “The Workshop as a Business Enterprise,” and “The Workshop and Stylistic Development.” In The Painter’s Practice in Renaissance Tuscany . Cambridge University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780521445641.
- Little, Lester. “Adapting to the Profit Economy.” In Religious Poverty and the Profit Economy in Medieval Europe . Cornell University Press, 1978. ISBN: 9780236401093.
- Trachtenberg, Marvin. Building in Time: From Giotto to Alberti and Modern Oblivion . Yale University Press, 2010, pp. 25–101. ISBN: 9780300165920.
- Stahl, Alan. “Numismatics in the Renaissance.” In The Rebirth of Antiquity: Numismatics, Archaeology, and Classical Studies . Princeton University Library, 2009. ISBN: 9780878110513.
- Kaspersen, Lars Bo. “The Analysis of Modernity: Globalization, the Transformation of Intimacy, and the Post-traditional Society.” In Anthony Giddens: An Introduction to a Social Theorist . Wiley-Blackwell, 2000. ISBN: 9780631207344.
- Calabi, Donatella. The Market and the City: Square, Street and Architecture in Early Modern Europe . Ashgate, 2004. ISBN: 9780754608936.
- Braudel, Fernand. “Merchants and Trade Circuits.” In Civilization and Capitalism, 15th–18th Century: The Wheels of Commerce . Haper & Row, 1983. ISBN: 9780060150914.
- Welch, Evelyn. “Part One: Seeing Shopping.” In Shopping in the Renaissance: Consumer Cultures in Italy 1400–1600 . Yale University Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780300159851.
- Trachtenberg, Marvin. “On Brunelleschi’s Old Sacristy as a Model for Early Renaissance Church Architecture.” In L’Église dans L’Architecture de la Renaissance . Edited by Jean Guillaume. Picard, 1995. ISBN: 9782708404731.
- Benjamin, Walter. “The Task of the Translator.” In Illuminations: Essays and Reflections . Edited by Hannah Arendt. Schocken, 1969. ISBN: 9780805202410.
- Pon, Lisa. “Introduction,” “Framing Marcantonio Raimondi’s Prints,” and “Raphael’s Signature.” In Raphael, Dürer, and Marcantonio Raimondi: Copying and the Italian Renaissance Print . Yale University Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780300096804.
- Gustafsson, Bo. “The Rise and Economic Behaviour of Medieval Craft Guilds.” In Power and Economic Institutions: Reinterpretations in Economic History . Edited by Bo Gustafsson. Edward Elgar Publication, 1991. ISBN: 9781852783976.
- North, Douglass C. “Structure and Change in Early Modern Europe.” In Structure and Change in Economic History. W. W. Norton & Company, 1982. ISBN: 9780393952414.
- Brucker, Gene. “Corporate Values and the Aristocratic Ethos.” In The Civic World of Early Renaissance Florence . ACLS Humanities E-Book, 2008. ISBN: 9781597403719.
- 11 · Final Presentations [MARCHs and SMARCHs must present] · No readings this session
- Schneider, Jane. “Was There a Pre-capitalist World System?” Peasant Studies 6, no. 1 (1977): 20–29.
- Wallerstein, Immanuel. “World-Systems Analysis: Theoretical and Interpretative Issues.” In World-Systems Analysis: Theory and Methodology (Explorations in the World Economy) . SAGE Publications, 1982. ISBN: 9780803918115.
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗Historical OpenCourseWare
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.