VART 255 - Italian Renaissance Art and Architecture: 1300-1550

CR: 3
This course will introduce students to the Italian Renaissance following the trajectory mapped out by the famous 16th-century biographer Giorgio Vasari. The course will begin with the work of the trecento artist Giotto and conclude with the Last Judgement painted by Michelangelo for the Sistine Chapel (1536-41). Students will consider the ways in which Renaissance artists responded to and embraced the ancient classical past. Students will also trace shifting approaches to the visualization of the human form, the depiction of three-dimensional space, and the role of narrative. The course will focus predominantly on the arts of Rome, Florence, and Venice. Vasari will be our guide but, like Dante with Virgil in The Divine Comedy, we will be wary and critical as we follow.