Early Renaissance Art in Italy

Catalog description

In this overview of Italian art, culture, and society between 1300 and 1520, we explore the city of Florence as the "cradle of a new world." From its art workshops and urban planning studios, the monumental Duomo of Brunelleschi rises to symbolize a new era for human creativity. Viewing masterpiece artworks, we discover the exciting shift from medieval formalism to a new aristocratic elegance and classical humanism. In this interdisciplinary humanities course, we contrast and compare aspects of Florentine culture as symbolized and visualized in the arts. Artworks depict banking, science, engineering, diplomacy, women's traditional roles of domesticity in the court, and new clothing fashions. Course includes visits to world-renowned area museums allowing students to study first-hand prime examples of Florentine art.