AHT2130 Renaissance to Baroque: Italian art and architecture in context

This unit focuses on the art and architecture of early modern Italy. Key examples of Renaissance, Mannerist and Baroque painting, sculpture, architecture, material culture, urbanism and landscape design are considered on site and in context. The principles of early modern Italian art and architectural theory are introduced, from the Renaissance emulation of Classical culture to the Baroque preoccupation with spectacle. The unit also emphasises the multiple ways in which historical viewers experienced art: as aesthetic object, as narrative, as craft, as divine presence, and as talisman.