Global Arc

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.

Topics in 17th- and 18th-century art and architecture. For department majors, this course satisfies the 1400-1800 historical period distribution requirement. Prerequisite: a course in the art of this period or instructor's permission. One three-hour seminar.

This seminar will focus in depth on a specific aspect of art, history, theory, and criticism in Europe between 1789 and 1914. Possible topics include French painting and its critics, portraiture and sociability, shifting conceptions of realism and naturalism, the onset of modernism, and representations of interior space. Prerequisites: a course in the art of this period or permission of the instructor. Visits to area museums. For department majors, this course satisfies the 1800-present historical distribution requirement. One three-hour seminar.

The Artist as Idea, from Leonardo to Warhol. Seminar will explore the myth of the artist in Europe and the U.S. from the Renaissance to the present. Topics will include ideas of the artist as a privileged social being, notions of artistic temperament and "genius," the gendering of the artist, modernist myths of bohemianism and madness, and the postmodern artist's engagement with mass media. Analysis of self-portraiture, artists' writings, representations of the studio, and artists in film. Case studies will include Leonardo, Michelangelo, Artemisia Gentileschi, Rembrandt, Delacroix, van Gogh, Picasso, Pollock, O'Keeffe, and Warhol.