Global Arc

Topics in medieval art and/or architecture. Prerequisite: a course in the art of this period or instructor's permission. For department majors, this course satisfies the 400-1400 historical period distribution requirement. One three-hour seminar.

Before the suppression of non-Christians in Spain and Portugal after 1492, three vibrant medieval cultures inhabited the peninsula: Muslims based in Al-Andalus, Christians based in the northern Spanish kingdoms, and Sephardic Jews throughout both realms. Their coexistence transformed their visual culture in ways that resonated well beyond Iberian borders, from Atlantic colonialism to modern identity politics. This course asks how the contacts, conflicts and compromises provoked by "living with" each other shaped artistic traditions and cultural identity in a land both enriched and destabilized by its own diversity.

Architects did not describe themselves as architects in the Renaissance. Sculptors, painters, writers, and engineers all designed buildings while simultaneously - and often primarily - focusing on other arts. What happens when a goldsmith builds a dome or an artillery engineer constructs a staircase? How does an artist's work across various media inform an architectural project, and vice-versa? Using artists including Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Rubens as case studies, this course explores the concept of the early modern multimedia architect to ask: what is architectural about architecture?

How did early modern people depict phenomena they could not see? This course traces attempts to represent the invisible: from angels and the influence of stars and magnets, to microscopic creatures and magical effects. Philosophers, painters and magi puzzled over these unseen forces, beings and structures, seeking to describe them in writings and artworks. We will unpack their arguments and try to reconstruct their practices, including optical tricks and alchemical experiments. The course culminates in a virtual exhibition, curated by students, as we follow in the steps of Renaissance thinkers and artists, and put the invisible on display.

Topics in 15th- and 16th-century art. Prerequisite: a course in the art of this period or instructor's permission. For department majors, this course satisfies the 1400-1800 distribution requirement. One three-hour seminar.

This seminar considers aspects of the interactions of art, science, and magic during the Early Modern Period (the Renaissance) in Europe. Topics include nature studies and natural history, collecting, art and magic, art and astrology, art and alchemy, and art and witchcraft. Students will also have the opportunity to pursue their own special interests.

The study of techniques, functions, and connoisseurship of drawings, and their place in the interpretation of the history of art. Drawings ca. 1400-1800 will be the major objects considered. Extensive use of the resources of the art museum. For department majors, this course satisfies the 1400-1800 historical and the Europe cultural area distribution requirements. Prerequisite: a course in Renaissance or baroque art or instructor's permission. One three-hour seminar.

Examines the global exchange in art and architecture between and among the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas in the period 1492-1800. The course focuses on the geographical, historical, religious, anthropological, and aesthetic aspects of issues such as cultural encounters, diffusion, transculturation, regionalism, and related topics. For department majors, this course satisfies the 1400-1800 historical period distribution requirement. One three-hour seminar.

Topics will focus on major figures, such as Palladio, Wren, and Piranesi; centers, such as Rome and Venice; or themes, such as architectural theory, the legacy of classical antiquity, and the villa. For department majors, this course satisfies the 1400-1800 historical period and the Europe cultural area distribution requirements. One three-hour seminar.

Siegecraft was an art more complex than painting, more powerful than sculpture, and more monumental than any building in the early modern world. This seminar confronts the discomfiting reality that the period long known as the Renaissance was defined as much, if not more, by brutal and collective warfare than it was by the rise of the individual. The class has no prerequisites and is open to all, including students of architecture, engineering, art, history, media, and literature. Seminar sessions will include hands-on study of original artworks in campus collections.