Renaissance Art: A Critical Assessment

Catalog description

Mona Lisa. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Beyoncé. Renaissance art is popular in contemporary culture, and it has inspired artists and their publics around the globe since at least the 1960s. However, in academic circles, scholarship about Renaissance art is often seen as old fashioned and indifferent to contemporary debates centered on social and racial justice, gender and sexuality, or the environment. This seminar counters this view by bringing students together to discuss the most recent scholarship on Renaissance art that engages with global geographies, race, class, gender, disability, ecology, and the neurosciences. A basic knowledge of Renaissance art is welcome but not necessary.