Early Modern Illuminations: Light, Sight, and the Visual World in Europe, 1400-1700

Catalog description

This seminar analyzes the contours of early modern Europe’s artistic and scientific landscapes through the lens of light and vision. This class will explore how early modern artists conceptualized the nature of light and vision and engaged with optical theories in painting, architecture, and material culture. Each week students will investigate a key art theoretical and/or scientific text alongside relevant artworks and objects. Topics covered will include the impact of scientific devices like microscopes and the camera obscura on painting; the aesthetic functioning of chiaroscuro; the development of linear perspective and trompe-l’oeil; the politics of shine; and luminous materialities. Students will probe techniques of artmaking and ways of seeing and will gain a nuanced understanding of the broader epistemological, social, and environmental factors that shaped European aesthetics and intellectual cultures.