Course Offerings

This course covers the beginnings of art in Europe and the Mediterranean,from the earliest known representations in cave paintings through to the art of the great cathedrals. This will include Ancient Near Eastern, Egyptian,Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Islamic, African, and Western Medieval art. The course is structured chronologically and will also emphasize the themes of the classical tradition and its alternatives, as well as diverse expressions of sacred arts and architecture. Major monuments in all media-architecture,sculpture, painting, and the so-called "minor arts"-will be studied. Original works of art on view in Paris will form an essential part of the course and the assignments. We will also emphasize multiple perspectives and interpretations for works of art and their global receptions and contexts.

Continues the study of selected monuments of painting, sculpture, and architecture, from the Renaissance to the 20th-century. Emphasizes historical context, continuity, and critical analysis. Includes direct contact with works of art in Parisian museums. The overall themes of the class may vary by semester.

Investigates the growth patterns of Paris from Roman times through the Second Empire. Studies major monuments, pivotal points of urban design, and vernacular architecture on site. Presents the general vocabulary of architecture, the history of French architecture and urban planning, as well as a basic knowledge of French history to provide a framework for understanding the development of Paris.

This course examines the reverberations and multi-faceted reactions to the reform movements known as the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation, and explores different notions of the Baroque in a global context. We will consider the art and architecture of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and France, as well as the art of colonial Latin America and East Asia. Key themes and issues of consideration will include the changing role of religious images; heresy and persuasion in art; colonial art and questions of transmission, reproduction and hybridity; the rise of artists' academies and art theory; the development of genre painting; cabinets of curiosity and collecting; and eroticism, artifice and Orientalism in Rococo art and architecture.