SAMPLE COURSES
This listing emphasizes recent courses in Art History. For current offerings in the department and those cross-listed from other departments and programs (Art & Museum Studies, Classics, Culture Communication & Technology), please see the schedule of classes through the homepage of the Registrar (linked by semester at right).
INTRODUCTORY COURSES
101. Introduction to Art History I: Ancient to Medieval Art
Major monuments of western art from the prehistoric birth
of representational art through the thirteenth century, with emphasis on ancient and medieval
civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean basin.
102. Introduction to Art History II: Renaissance to Modern
Art
Major achievements in European and American pictorial art,
sculpture, and architecture from the early Renaissance through
the early twenty-first century. Emphasis is on functions, meanings, and styles of individual works within a historical context.
103. Survey of Western Architecture
Architecture from antiquity to the present. Students acquire familiarity with major period styles
and tools to analyze the built environment.
115. Medieval Art and ArchitectureDesigned primarily for non-majors, introduces major works, concepts, and artistic practices of the European Middle Ages, c. 300-1400.
120. Arts of Renaissance Europe
Designed primarily for non-majors, a selective introduction to European painting, sculpture, prints, and manuscripts c. 1300-1600. Rather than survey artists and movements, the course considers functions, subjects, and historical issues of production in the period. Whose interests were served by different kinds of art, and how?
122. Art & Architecture of Medieval and Renaissance
Italy
Works by major artists of Renaissance Italy
in their political, cultural and historical
context.
Taught at Villa le Balze, Georgetown's program
in Florence, Italy.
126. Patronage in Renaissance Italy
Focuses on different forms of art patronage
in Italy: religious,
private, civic, princely and papal, among others. Emphasis is on conditions
under which art was produced, its original placement,
and its iconography, both political and religious. Includes site visits.
Taught at Villa le Balze, Georgetown's program
in Florence, Italy.
130. Baroque Art
Painting, sculpture, and architecture
of the seventeenth century in Europe. The course considers several international currents,
such as the wide influence of Caravaggio and the rise of national styles in Spain and Holland. Major artists to be studied include Caravaggio,
Bernini, Rubens, Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Velasquez. Includes visits to the National Gallery of Art.
140. Modern Art
Key steps in the development of modern
art in Europe and America from its roots in the 19th century
to the present. Important movements to be examined are:
Realism, Impressionism, Symbolism, Expressionism, Cubism,
Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art and a variety
of contemporary trends. Includes visits to area museums.
141. American Art
Artistic traditions in America from the Colonial
period to the twentieth century, examining characteristic
themes and stylistic developments in their historical contexts. What makes
American art American? What roles has the artist
played in society from the colonial period to modern times?
Includes visits to the Smithsonian American Art Museum and other collections.
151. Modern American Art
American art from 1900 to the present, examining characteristic themes and
stylistic developments in their historical contexts. Includes museum visits.
152. American Architecture of the 19th and 20th Centuries
The development of modern architecture
in the United States, concentrating on the work of major
figures such as H . H. Richardson, Louis Sullivan, Frank
Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, Philip Johnson, Louis Kahn,
and Robert Venturi. Major issues include:
the relationship of new technologies to new building types;
city planning; tradition vs. innovation; regional vs. international
influences; Post-Modernism and revival of historical concerns.
INTERMEDIATE COURSES
215. Early Medieval Art
Artistic production of the early
and central Middle Ages, c. 300-1065. Emphasis is on Western
European art, with periodic forays into the Byzantine and Islamic worlds.
216. Later Medieval Art
Artistic production of the later Middle Ages,
c. 1066-1400, primarily in Europe. Pilgrimage arts, monastic patronage, and the dramatic expansion of monumental architecture receive special attention.
217. Gothic Art & Architecture
Western European art and architecture from the
twelfth to fifteenth centuries, with emphasis on the new architectural
style that later gave the period its name. Includes study of the
arts that flourished
around princely and episcopal courts, such as manuscript illumination,
stained glass, architectural sculpture, devotional objects, and wall and
panel painting.
224. Italian Renaissance Art
Major Italian artists and works c. 1300-1550, emphasizing developments in Florence, Rome, and Venice. Considers changing functions, meanings, and styles of art being produced to serve princely, papal, civic, and private patrons. The focus is chiefly on painting and sculpture, with selective looks toward architecture and prints. Includes visits to the National Gallery of Art.
225. High Renaissance Art in Italy
Renaissance painting, sculpture, and architecture as they evolved in Florence, Rome and Venice (and occasionally beyond) in the first half of the sixteenth century. Centrally concerned with the
work of major artists such as Leonardo,
Michelangelo, Raphael, Bramante, Giorgione, and Titian.
Includes visits to the National Gallery of Art.
228. Northern Renaissance ArtPainting, prints, and sculpture in the Netherlands, Germany, and France c. 1300-1580. This includes art produced for courts, churches, civic bodies, and private patrons among the growing middle classes in the cities of Western Europe. With emphasis on the work of major figures such as van Eyck, van der Weyden, Bosch, Dürer, Holbein, and Bruegel, the course considers changing circumstances of the production, function, iconography, patronage, and commerce of art in the period. Includes visits to the National Gallery of Art.
234. Northern Baroque Art
Achievements of leading
artists in 17th-century Holland, Flanders and France, including Rembrandt
van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, Peter Paul Rubens and Nicolas
Poussin, as well as the cultural, historical and economic contexts
in which they worked. Also considers
development of various categories of subject matter, such as
landscape, genre, still life, and portrait painting. Includes visits to the National Gallery of Art.
245. Nineteenth-Century Art
Major artists, currents, and debates in nineteenth-century
painting in Europe and America. Major movements to be considered include Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, and Symbolism. Includes visits to area museums.
ADVANCED COURSES
400-level Art History Seminars: Special Topics
Especially for advanced art history majors and minors. Seminars emphasize research, methodology, and study of original works.
Enrollment limited. Recently offered topics include:
Medieval Cathedral Giotto and
Italian Art
Art in the Age of Dante
Image and Belief in the Age of Van Eyck
Albrecht Durer
Arts of Russia
Romanticism
Sublime in America
Art of WWI
German Expressionism and the Weimar Republic
Myth and Modern Art
Twenieth-century Turning Points
Art of the 21st century
Washington Art Collections
Women Artists
Art Confronting Difference
On Painting
Ideas of Realism
Cultural Cannibalism
470. Museum Internship
480. Art History Research Workshop (1 credit)
485. Art History Senior Colloquium (1 credit)
490. Senior Thesis in Art History
Designed for senior majors who have completed substantial seminar research.
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