Art History and Architecture   

The true flowering of the Renaissance makes its appearance in the city-state of Florence at the onset of the 15th century. Marked by humanism and competitive patronage, artists in Florence strove to decorate their city with images, giving a window onto the world. In this course, we discuss the rediscovery of linear perspective by Filippo Brunelleschi, how artists such as Masaccio and Paolo Uccello were able to paint more realistic and convincing images, and how the art of Sandro Botticelli embodied the ideals and concepts of Neoplatonism. We also look at sculptors such as Donatello who began to master human anatomy, setting the stage for the High Renaissance.

As what became one of the first public art collections following the French Revolution and the most visited art museums in the world, the Louvre has both a storied history and an incredible art collection. This course provides an overview of the history of the museum and how it came to be and focuses on some of its most renowned works of art. Some highlights include the history of the French Academy, the Nike of Samothrace and Venus de Milo, the Oath of the Horatii and the Raft of the Medusa, and, of course, the Mona Lisa.

Thanks to the leadership of local businessman, J. Irwin Miller, Columbus, Indiana boasts a unique collection of major buildings by such architects as Eero Saarinen, I. M. Pei, Robert A. M. Stern and Robert Venturi. Few, if any, cities can match the extraordinary architecture of this small Midwestern town. Students will be encouraged to discuss the buildings.

From Giotto to Masaccio to Botticelli, the greatest artists of the Italian Renaissance covered the walls of Florentine churches and palaces with beautiful scenes that combine sacred narratives from the Bible with scenes and portraits out of the daily life of the prosperous city. Besides showing the paintings and explaining their content, the course will give a detailed account of how frescoes are made by combining pigments with wet plaster to form a long-lasting image that is part of the actual wall and the techniques that have been used to remove them from the walls (much more often than most people imagine) and attach them to new surfaces.