Undergraduate Course: Antiquity Recovered: Imag(in)ing Pompeii and Herculaneum (HIAR10008)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | History of Art |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | This course covers a wide historical period and focuses on a series of art historical highlights unearthed from Pompeii and Herculaneum during the last two hundred years, from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. Case-studies will reflect the wealth and diversity of the materials exposed by excavation, including the Alexander mosaic, the painted frescoes from the Villa of the Mysteries and the Villa of the Papyri with its collection of bronze sculptures. We will explore how the artefacts recovered from Pompeii and Herculaneum have not only revised an ancient Greek and Roman art historical canon, but have simultaneously inspired works in painting (e.g. by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema), fiction (Bulwer-Lytton's novel The Last Days of Pompeii) and film (Up Pompeii!). In considering the (precarious?) relationship between antiquity and modernity, two sessions on pornography will use the so-called erotic artefacts from Pompeii to argue how such phallic, pagan items threatened to undermine the idealised status of the classical canon. Finally, we will turn from British media to Malibu in the USA, to look at J. Paul Getty's 'reconstruction' of the Villa of the Papyri as a home for his collection of furniture, paintings and antiquities. Key themes for this course include the use and abuse of the classical tradition and the relationship between antiquity and modernity, art and text. A proposed visit to the National Library of Scotland will introduce students to some of the illustrated texts (e.g. Le Antichit` di Ercolano) from the eighteenth century that have preserved and disseminated other image(s) of Pompeii and Herculaneum to posterity. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 History of Art courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2012/13 Semester 2, Available to all students (SV1)
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WebCT enabled: Yes |
Quota: 20 |
| Location |
Activity |
Description |
Weeks |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
| Central | Tutorial | | 1-11 | | 14:00 - 15:50 | | | |
| First Class |
First class information not currently available |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours:Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | Antiquity Recovered: Imag(in)ing Pompeii and Herculaneum | 2:00 | | |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
| By the end of the course, students will have detailed knowledge of a range of ancient artefacts from the buried cities - mosaics, sculptures, paintings and silverware - and a critical understanding of the various post-classical media and contexts in which they have been reworked. They will be able to engage with key art historical debates surrounding the study of these artefacts (e.g. originals vs. copies; Greece vs. Rome, public vs. private and theories of reception). Using this range of objects and texts, both primary and secondary, they will have grasped the multiple ways in which the ancient past was unearthed and manipulated to suit an early modern audience. Similar analytical tools will also be applied to the existing historiography on the sites which has been fragmented into different specialist areas of study and so denied its inherent interdisciplinarity. In addition, they will call into question the (mis?)use of retrospective art historical labels like neoclassicism and romanticism onto the study of material culture. |
Assessment Information
| 1 two-hour examination paper (50%) and 1 extended essay (50%) |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Not entered |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Not entered |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
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| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Viccy Coltman
Tel: (0131 6)50 8426
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Sue Cavanagh
Tel: (0131 6)51 1460
Email: |
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