Introductory description

Much of the art that students study on our degree course is religious in nature, especially for the period before c.1700. Our students are increasingly unfamiliar with the basic beliefs and narratives of Christian religion, and the practice of Christian worship. This module aims to de-mystify Christian art, and to introduce students to the characteristics and functions of religious imagery in the medieval and early modern periods.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

The cross
Altarpieces
Prayer
Saints
Reliquaries
Iconoclasm (Byzantium, Islam, Protestantism)
Art and death
Sacred space: Saint Mary’s, Warwick

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• demonstrate an awareness of the principal genres of religious art: icons, altarpieces, crucifixes etc.
• discuss critically the tensions between devotional imagery/objects and concepts of art
• explain why faith often leads to the systematic destruction of imagery
• present an argument, initiate and sustain group discussion through intelligent questioning and debate at an appropriate level
• ability to undertake research and to write up the results in the form of a well-structured argument at an appropriate level
• familiarity with essential ICT skills
• ability to collaborate effectively with others
• show understanding of diverse viewpoints
• ability to find, select, organize and synthesize evidence
• ability to formulate a sustained argument
• think conceptually and independently at an appropriate level
• Demonstrate sophisticated visual analysis
• Demonstrate bibliographical skills at an appropriate level
• Demonstrate critical analysis of cultural artefacts in their context

Indicative reading list

Hans Belting, Likeness and Presence: A History of the Image before the Era of Art (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994) Simon Coleman and John Elsner, Pilgrimage: Past and Present in the World Religions (London, 1995) David Freedberg, The Power of Images: Studies in the History and Theory of Response (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1989)
Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, c.1400-c.1580 (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1992)
Andrew Ladis and Shelley E. Zuraw eds., Visions of Holiness: Art and Devotion in Renaissance Italy (Athens, GA: Georgia Museum of Art, 2001)
Henk Van Os, The Art of Devotion in the late Middle Ages, 1300-1500 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994)
Kurt Weitzmann, The Icon: Holy Images (London: Chatto and Windus, 1978)
David Hugh Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978)
Robert Swanson, Religion and Devotion in Europe, c.1215-c.1515 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995)
Rosalind and Christopher Brooke, Popular Religion in the Middle Ages (London: Thames and Hudson, 1984)

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Subject specific skills

• demonstrate an awareness of the principal genres of religious art: icons, altarpieces, crucifixes etc.
• discuss critically the tensions between devotional imagery/objects and concepts of art
• explain why faith often leads to the systematic destruction of imagery
• Demonstrate sophisticated visual analysis
• Demonstrate critical analysis of cultural artefacts in their context

Transferable skills

• present an argument, initiate and sustain group discussion through intelligent questioning and debate at an appropriate level
• ability to undertake research and to write up the results in the form of a well-structured argument at an appropriate level
• familiarity with essential ICT skills
• ability to collaborate effectively with others
• show understanding of diverse viewpoints
• ability to find, select, organize and synthesize evidence
• ability to formulate a sustained argument
• think conceptually and independently at an appropriate level
• Demonstrate bibliographical skills at an appropriate level