Introductory description

This module, taught in Venice, is focused on developing research and writing skills through the study of a specific area of Medieval and/or Early Modern art and/or architecture. Students will learn about significant scholarly debates among historians of art and/or architecture, analyse and evaluate their contributions.

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 Basics: internet / library search tips and strategies
Conducting art historical research
Part I: how to select a topic (objects, monument, spaces)
Part II: how to identify secondary and primary sources (libraries, archives, image banks)
Part III: how to contextualise your finds in terms of the process of creation & meaning
Dealing with the visual: how to look; how to establish the original setting; basics of reconstruction

Learning outcomes

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

• Communicate ideas and findings about the topic at hand both orally and in writing, to peers and to tutors
• Acquire knowledge of particular moments in the history of artistic production during the medieval and/or early modern era
• Make critical use of both textual and visual evidence at higher level to analyse, interpret and explain select works of art and architecture
• Engage critically with both primary and secondary sources
• Frame appropriate research questions for art-historical investigation
• Deploy a range of methods and approaches for investigating, interpreting and explaining works of art
• Use research libraries, archives, and art collections effectively to locate visual and textual sources
• Use scholarly conventions for presenting and referencing written work correctly
• Develop independent study skills, including planning and organizing of own learning

Indicative reading list

A Companion to Venetian History, 1400-1797, ed. E.R. Dursteler (Leiden, 2013)
E. Crouzet-Pavan, Venice triumphant: the horizons of a myth (Baltimore, 2002)
Joanne M Ferraro, Venice: History of the Floating City (Cambridge, 2012)
F.C. Lane, Venice, a Maritime Republic (Baltimore, 1973)
Patricia Fortini Brown, Venice & Antiquity: the Venetian Sense of the Past (New Haven and London, 1997)
Deborah Howard, The Architectural History of Venice (New Haven and London, 2002)
Peter Humfrey, Painting in Renaissance Venice (New Haven and London, 1995)
Norbert Huse and Wolfgang Wolters, The Art of Renaissance Venice: Architecture, Sculpture and Painting, 1460-1590 (Chicago, 1993)
Thomas F. Madden, Venice: A New History (Harmondsworth, 2013)
Margaret Plant, Venice: Fragile city, 1797-1997 (New Haven and London, 1997)

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Research element

Research under guidance from a tutor supervisor to encourage the development of research skills, the critical application of methodology, and independent thinking.

International

Taught in Venice

Subject specific skills

Acquire knowledge of particular moments in the history of artistic production during the medieval and/or early modern era
Make critical use of both textual and visual evidence at higher level to analyse, interpret and explain select works of art and architecture
Frame appropriate research questions for art-historical investigation
Deploy a range of methods and approaches for investigating, interpreting and explaining works of art

Transferable skills

Use research libraries, archives, and art collections effectively to locate visual and textual sources
Use scholarly conventions for presenting and referencing written work correctly
Develop independent study skills, including planning and organizing of own learning
Engage critically with both primary and secondary sources
Communicate ideas and findings about the topic at hand both orally and in writing, to peers and to tutors