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Introduction to Art History


Course Description

Methodological strategies for the study of the history of art through a concentration on the art of the Italian Renaissance, with particular focus on extant monuments by artists from Rome, Florence, Siena, and Venice.


Athena Title

Introduction to Art History


Equivalent Courses

Not open to students with credit in ARHI 2111H


Non-Traditional Format

This class will be contained within the 3-week Maymester format. Taught in Cortona for undergraduate students as part of an intense biology program, students will be introduced to the material through only a few traditional lectures. The majority of the class will be spent visiting extant monuments on sight in Rome, Florence, Siena, Cortona, and Venice as well as further trips to some of the following: Bologna, Padua, Pisa, Pistoia and Lucca, Assisi and Perugia, or Volterra and Arezzo. These visits will total a minimum of 52 contact hours.


Prerequisite

Permission of department


Corequisite

BCMB(GENE) 3433


Semester Course Offered

Offered summer semester every year.


Grading System

A - F (Traditional)


Course Objectives

The successful student will be familiar enough with the art of the Italian Renaissance that she or he will be able to explain that art clearly and with compelling evidence. The successful student will demonstrate this by presenting information on one of the monuments visited to the class and to the other faculty on the program.


Topical Outline

The topical outline collapses in time, but not in content, the material taught in this course. Because trips cannot be arranged chronologically, the monuments will be presented in the order visited, not the order created. The students will be expected to have read a broad introduction to the period (such as Laurie Schneider Adam’s Italian Renaissance Art) before beginning the program. Active exposure to the monuments on site, instead of the passive instruction in the classroom will allow for a more direct and intense experience. This will be supported by discussions about the role these works of art play and played in the historic, religious, and cultural life of each town we visit.