European Art & Architecture: Courses

Fine Arts 266C (3 credits)
European Art and Architecture
European Art from the Middle Ages
Major contributions of western Europe to world art are considered in lectures and site visits. The focus is on the Italian Early Renaissance in Florence and the art and architecture in Rome, especially the High Renaissance and Roman Baroque. The course considers Dutch and English Art with emphasis on the master works of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries and analyzes major European movements including Romanticism, Post-Impressionism, Surrealism, Modernism and Post-Modernism. The course places these artistic developments in the wider cultural, social and intellectual context of the periods and places in which they took place.

European Architecture from the Classical Period
This course concentrates on important and unique contributions of England, Holland, France and Italy. Visits to Roman sites of classical antiquity frame study of classical beginnings. Introductory lectures and on-site talks provide students with the personal experience and explanations for learning and understanding.

Three semester credits are recommended for course work on this program, consisting of approximately 30 hours of formal classwork and 50 hours on field trips. It gives a general introduction to the European contribution to world culture and civilization, and demonstrates meaning and significance of art and architecture as a prime source of influence on western civilization. Students are responsible for reading and analyzing assigned material after the related topics have been explained.

To meet requirements for 3 semester credits, students must submit a 2,000-word special topics paper together with in-course tests and class papers. The program leader is a European specialist in art and architectural history approved by Richmond. Richmond issues all transcripts. Students must write to the Registrar of the University if they want transcripts sent to the U.S. Further details are provided during the program.

Lectures enhance and make site visits more meaningful and, by providing an overview, enable students to select areas or topics of special interest for more extensive research. Attendance at lectures and site visits is mandatory.

Background reading

E. H. Gombrich, The Story of Art, London, 1950 and subsequent editions
Evelyn Welch, Art in Renaissance Italy, Oxford and New York, 1997
Art in the making: Impressionism, London: National Gallery of Art, 1990
Belinda Thomson, Post Impressionism, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998