Renaissance Art in Florence

This art history courses provides students with a unique and stimulating opportunity to study Renaissance art in Florence - the city of the movement's birth. The course will provide students with an in-depth exploration of Florentine Renaissance painting, sculpture, and architecture throughout the 15th century and into the beginning of the 16th century. Students will not only learn to identify and analyze the individual styles of artists such as Montello, Brunelleschi, Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Verrocchio, Leonardo da Vinci, and the young Michelangelo, but they will also be able to relate the artists and their work to the social, religious, philosophical, political, and cultural contexts of the time. Patronage conditions will be examined with a particular emphasis on the Medici family as arbiters of taste. Visits to museum, churches, palaces, and other modes of on-site teaching form an integral and essential part of this course. Students will also be expected to carry out assignments related to museums and other art historical sites not included in the class visits.