Graduate Courses

Spring 2021

Art and knowledge in medieval Southern Italy
AS.010.601 (01)

The seminar examines the intersection of art and science in the region of southern Italy. Different from the situation in central and northern Italy, where the accumulation and distribution of knowledge was controlled by scholasticism and the papal court in Rome, the multicultural identity in southern Italy, created centers of learning more independent from the church. The geographical exposure and trade connections across the Eastern Mediterranean and northern Africa facilitated the import of scientific knowledge available in the Islamic World. We will focus on illuminated manuscripts connected with the medical school of Salerno, the first treatise on falconry authored by Emperor Frederik II, Peter of Eboli’s treatise on the thermal baths of Pozzuoli and his chronicle for Emperor Henry VI, and Hrabanus Maurus’ encyclopedia de natura. Moreover, we will investigate the importance of the first secular university, founded by the highly learned Frederik II, called the ‘predecessor of the anti-Christ’ for the education in the sciences and its ties to production of art works.

Credits: 0.00
Level: Graduate
Days/Times: M 4:00PM - 6:00PM
Instructor: Zchomelidse, Nino
Room:
Status: Approval Required
Seats Available: 8/12
PosTag(s): HART-MED, GRLL-ENGL

The Art of Gothic Europe (1200-1500)
AS.010.602 (01)

This seminar investigates the change in artistic production from the early Middle Ages to the Gothic period through the lens of economic, intellectual, and scientific foundations. Seminars will focus on major artistic centers, such as Paris, London, Milan, Florence, Venice, Prague, and Cologne, as well as more focused topics such as private manuscript production, the rise of painter’s perspective, and the art of the courts.

Credits: 0.00
Level: Graduate
Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Lakey, Christopher
Room:
Status: Open
Seats Available: 2/5
PosTag(s): HART-MED

An Empire’s Diversity: Ottoman Architecture and Patronage beyond the Imperial Court
AS.010.605 (01)

The established historiography of Ottoman architecture is dominated by the patronage of the sultans and their elites, particularly as it shaped the empire’s third and final capital, Istanbul. While this focus on the “center” and its leadership reflects the Ottoman state’s own hierarchical structure, it also obscures the larger network of places and people that enabled the imperial system to develop and acquire meaning in the first place. This seminar will explore Ottoman architecture and its patronage from the perspective of these neglected regions and actors, covering such examples as Christian vassal states along the empire’s European borders, Arab lands with existing traditions of Islamic art, the curious persistence of Gothic models in the former Crusader kingdom of Cyprus, and the distinctive architectural practices of non-Muslim minorities within Istanbul itself. Drawn primarily from the early modern and modern periods, our case studies will be treated not as imitations of or deviations from the metropolitan mainstream, but as vital expressions of Ottoman culture that assertively engaged with, and themselves contributed to, the better-known strategies of the sultan’s court. We will also go beyond issues of architecture and patronage and consider these buildings as lived spaces whose associated objects, furnishings, and social and ceremonial activities were no less constitutive of the empire’s diverse architectural landscape.

Credits: 0.00
Level: Graduate
Days/Times: Th 1:30PM - 3:30PM
Instructor: Rustem, Unver
Room:
Status: Open
Seats Available: 7/10
PosTag(s): HART-NW

Geographies of Art: Theories and Cases Studies from the Renaissance to the Present
AS.010.613 (01)

The role of place in the art historiography of the Renaissance, with readings in geographical theory. The seminar will also consider the role in the art of Lorenzo Lotto, Gaudenzio Ferrari, Cesare da Sesto, Romanino, Moretto, Pordenone, Titian, and other artists active before the canon-formation enterprise of Giorgio Vasari definitively altered the map of Italian art after 1550.

Credits: 0.00
Level: Graduate
Days/Times: W 4:00PM - 6:00PM
Instructor: Campbell, Stephen
Room:
Status: Open
Seats Available: 7/12
PosTag(s): n/a

The Cartographic Imaginary: Maps, Charts, and the Navigation of the Early Modern Globe
AS.010.617 (01)

In the early modern world, people traveled further and more routinely than ever before. This course looks at the tools used to facilitate such endeavors—from maps to navigational charts, from atlases to astrolabes. However, beyond mere logistical instruments for imperial expansion, colonial settlement, and commercial trade, these objects and pictures structured new ways of thinking about and imagining the world and its spaces. An armchair traveler in Amsterdam could envision a journey to and travel within a place like modern-day Indonesia; a Spaniard living in the highlands of present-day Bolivia could imagine, in period terms, “all the cities of the universe and more.” This course attends to excavating the representational economies forged from the mass-production and wide circulation of navigational objects and pictorialized territories. Though the focus will be on the early modern period, we will read broadly and engage a wide range of theories; and students are encouraged to use the tools we develop in class to research representation from any time and place.

Credits: 0.00
Level: Graduate
Days/Times: Th 4:00PM - 6:30PM
Instructor: Hyman, Aaron M.
Room:
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/6
PosTag(s): HART-RENBAR

Special Research/Problems
AS.010.802 (01)