Art and Architecture in Western Europe, 950-1250
A selective survey of architecture, sculpture, and painting from the revival of monumental building around the turn of the Year 1000 to St Francis and the forging of new values and a new art. Topics include Romanesque architecture; manuscript illumination of the Apocalypse; ecclesiastical and secular patronage; monasticism and monastic orders; pilgrimage and the cult of saints; classical revival and innovation; Byzantine art and the West; and the gothic cathedral. The choice of topics highlights the diversity of cultural contexts and artistic manifestations in this period. Emphasis is on close examination of relatively few works in the context of each historical theme or problem: a typical week gives an overview of the topic in the first lecture and an in-depth examination of a single work in the other, usually a building. Buildings are considered as complexes comprising not only architecture, but sculptural and painted decoration, cult images and reliquaries, liturgical furniture and other objects. Readings include foundational primary sources and secondary sources exemplifying diverse approaches to the material.