Course Description
The influence of classical antiquity on the art and architecture of post-classical eras tracing formal affinities and the myths of classical gods and heroes.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be expected to produce an extensive
research paper on specific works or issues related to the field
and the methodologies appropriate to the topic under
consideration in the course. This paper will be a detailed,
in-depth consideration of the student's chosen theme requiring
not only a demonstration of advanced research skills (including
the ability to read and use material presented in foreign
languages), but also an articulation of the student's ability to
understand and manipulate the critical apparatus of art history.
Athena Title
CLASSICAL TRADITION
Prerequisite
Two ARHI 3000-level courses and permission of major
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course will examine the influence of classical antiquity on the art and architecture of post-classical eras, training formal affinities and/or the myths of classical gods and heroes. One goal of the course is to demonstrate how enduring the forms and thematic content of ancient art in the eras after antiquity. A second goal is to show how diverse post-antique echoes of antiquity are. A further phenomenon to be emphasized is that the most successful revivals of antiquity appear to be those that reinterpret the antique in contemporary terms, thereby giving ancient motifs new life and renewed vitality. Each student will have as his/her research project the in-depth discussion of one motif or theme, as it evolves from Greco-Roman antiquity through our times. The research for this paper will require the consultation of multiple important computer indexes on Western art of all eras (such as the Getty's Bibliography of the History of Art), which will direct students to specialized monographs and journal literature. The student will then have to bring together his examples from all of Western art into an essay that fully describes all the individual representations, and relates them to each other in an overall development of the motif or theme.
Topical Outline
One possible focus of this course is the tracing of several myths of the classical gods and heroes, in Western art of all media from the Greek era through the twentieth century. Continuity and discontinuity in the iconographic tradition from one period to the next are noted, and explanations for alterations in the tradition are sought in variants in literary sources and new value systems that are reflected in mythological illustrations.
Syllabus