Module Outline (updated September 2014)
This module will consider the development of the visual arts in Rome from the later sixteenth-century to the mid seventeenth-century, with a particular emphasis on architecture and urbanism. Beginning with the period sometimes termed the `late Renaissance,` it will finish with an examination of the Roman Baroque. Against the background of the Counter Reformation and following the disaster of the Sack of Rome, the popes worked to transform the city of Rome into a fitting capital for the church and a true caput mundi (head of the world). The module will consider how new religious concerns, as well as the practicalities of governance influenced the street plans, architectural commissions and works of art produced in these years. It will also explore the way in which the rapidly developing discourse of art theory impacted upon the commissioning, execution and reception of works of visual art. Artists and architects considered will include Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Bernini and Borromini.
Aims
to investigate art, architecture and urbanism in Rome during the period 1530-1650;
to explore different approaches, methodologies and arguments relating to the material of study;
to explore the relationship between works of art and religious, political and philosophical positions;
to develop skills of critical thinking and writing, as well as visual analysis.
This module will consider the development of the visual arts in Rome from the later sixteenth-century to the mid seventeenth-century, with a particular emphasis on architecture and urbanism. Beginning with the period sometimes termed the `late Renaissance,` it will finish with an examination of the Roman Baroque. Against the background of the Counter Reformation and following the disaster of the Sack of Rome, the popes worked to transform the city of Rome into a fitting capital for the church and a true caput mundi (head of the world). The module will consider how new religious concerns, as well as the practicalities of governance influenced the street plans, architectural commissions and works of art produced in these years. It will also explore the way in which the rapidly developing discourse of art theory impacted upon the commissioning, execution and reception of works of visual art. Artists and architects considered will include Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Bernini and Borromini.
Aims
to investigate art, architecture and urbanism in Rome during the period 1530-1650;
to explore different approaches, methodologies and arguments relating to the material of study;
to explore the relationship between works of art and religious, political and philosophical positions;
to develop skills of critical thinking and writing, as well as visual analysis.