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European Art in the Fifteenth Century: Beyond Autumn and Rebirth

Overview

  • Credit value: 30 credits at Level 7
  • Convenor: Dr Robert Maniura
  • Assessment: a 5000-word essay (100%)

Module description

The module offers a new approach to the art of the fifteenth century, dropping the established regional focus in favour of a Europe-wide perspective. Using objects from the Northern, Eastern and Western ‘fringes’ of Europe, as well as from the more familiar Netherlandish/Italian axis, we will build up a body of visual material to act as a reference point for a review of the historical models and visual categories used in the study of the period.

We will consider canonical masterpieces of both visual art and historiography but will use the neglected ‘marginal’ material to question the received analytical framework: are we asking the right questions? An important theme will be the idea of the ‘Renaissance’. We will consider the roots of the concept in the period and its invention as a decisive historical phenomenon originating in Italy. What does a Renaissance in the visual arts signify? And what does it explain? Can we talk of a ‘Northern Renaissance’ in the fifteenth century or do we accept that Italian and ‘Northern’ art in the period are somehow different in kind?

The work of figures such as Burckhardt and Panofsky and the new Renaissance world they defined, though now contested, retain a powerful hold over the historical imagination. By contrast, Huizinga’s ‘Autumn of the Middle Ages’ is treated with more suspicion yet nothing has emerged to take the place of his powerful evocation of the glorious last gasp of a declining culture in the North of Europe. By adopting a wider frame of visual reference the module seeks to overcome this polarisation in the characterisation of the art of the period.

Learning objectives

By the end of this module, you will have:

  • developed acuity in observing visual culture
  • enhanced understanding of this visual culture within the social and cultural context of its production
  • engaged constructively in current debates concerning the discipline and its changing nature
  • developed communication skills and the ability to handle theoretical arguments, and to research focused topics
  • undertaken independent research.