Module description
The modules offered in each academic year are subject to change in line with staff availability and student demand: there is no guarantee every module will run. Module descriptions and information may vary between years
This course will introduce students to the art of early modern Europe within its social and cultural context. It is not strictly a course on art history, but instead on the ways art interacted with social and cultural forces. The module will consider the ways artists promoted their own role in society, the way art was used by the Catholic church as a way of promoting its message and the integral role objects played in Catholicism; how art became a battlefield during the Reformation and afterwards; what role art played in the growth of the power of the state; how economic growth affected the production of art; the fashion for collecting and the way this affected status; and the interaction of art and nature in the field of collecting. The module will cover all of Europe, but in different sessions the discussion will focus on a variety of geographical locations.
This module intends for students to understand the circumstances in which art was created, commissioned, and collected in Europe during 1500-1800. Although it is not an art history module, it will consider the role art played in society by examining the uses of art in religion, in loci of power such as courts, aristocratic homes, and institutions, in the formation of status, and in the understanding of science and the environment.
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/history/modules/level5/5AAH1032.aspx
Assessment details
Coursework
2 x 2,500 word essays
Teaching pattern
10 x 2-hour seminars (weekly)