Undergraduate Course: The Renaissance Body (HIAR10053)
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 4 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | History of Art |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
http://www.arthistory.ed.ac.uk |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | Before the fifteenth century, representations of naked bodies were largely confined to scenes of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, or the lost souls of the damned in hell. By the mid sixteenth century, painted and sculpted nudes populated princely palaces, middle-class homes and even churches and chapels. This interdisciplinary course will investigate the reasons behind this phenomenon. What did it mean to be naked in the Renaissance? How was the artistic development of the nude linked to changing attitudes towards anatomy, gender and the body?
Over the last twenty years, the history of sexuality and the body has been one of the biggest growth areas in renaissance studies and the humanities as a whole. This is a field full of new discoveries and sometimes startling observations ? for example, in the latter part of the fifteenth century, more than half of the Florentine male population (around 70,000 men) were indicted for engaging in homosexual relations; the term ?courtesan? was coined to describe unmarried ladies who attended parties at the papal court; and the beginnings of printed pornography can be traced back to the Raphael workshop.
Starting with attitudes towards the body and spirituality in fourteenth century Italy, this interdisciplinary course will consider the development of the nude in both Italy and Northern Europe. We will consider the work of artists such as Giotto, Donatello, Jan van Eyck, Botticelli, Durer, Michelangelo and Titian as contributing to and reflecting broader cultural changes - religious reform, gender relations, notions of individuality and developments in medicine and anatomy.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | No |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2012/13 Semester 1, 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 | | | | | 09:00 - 10:50 |
| 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) | The Renaissance Body | 2:00 | | |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
? A knowledge changing artistic representations of the body in Europe during the later middle ages and renaissance (c. 1300-1550)
? experience of interdisciplinary study and research ? including art and literary history, social history and the history of science.
? A critical engagement with the often contradictory and unstable meanings attached to representations of the body, and a greater understanding of how these representations operated within their broader culture
? critical engagement with methodological approaches towards the study of the body including feminism, gender/sexuality, identity, and the social history of art
? skills in visual and textual analysis and historical thinking through the use of medieval and renaissance texts and images, which will form a crucial element of seminar teaching
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Assessment Information
| 1 two-hour examination paper (50%) and 1 extended essay of 2,500 words(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 |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Jill Burke
Tel: (0131 6)51 3120
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Sue Cavanagh
Tel: (0131 6)51 1460
Email: |
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