Course Catalogue

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This course focuses on the painting, sculpture, architecture and graphic work of the three giants of Renaissance art in Central Italy in the decades around 1500. It will examine their works in detail, while also placing them in their wider historical and art historical context.

1 x 1hr Lecture; 1 x 1hr Seminar per week over 10 weeks as scheduled on MyCampus.  This is one of the Honours options in History of Art and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.

Available to all students fulfilling requirements for Honours entry into History of Art, and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Honours programmes.

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Examination (120 minutes duration) - 60%

Essay (2,000 words) - 30%

Seminar presentation of 10 minutes accompanied by 800 word paper or PowerPoint slides - 10%

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

This course will provide the opportunity to:

■ analyse the works of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael.

■ develop a sense of the distinct artistic character of the three artists' production as well as of the overlapping elements in their works.

■ situate the art of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael within the wider artistic, religious, political and cultural contexts in which they worked.

■ foster an understanding of the discourses (artistic as well as critical, evaluative and historiographical) around the three artists' works from the sixteenth century to the present day.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ expound a good and up-to-date knowledge and understanding of the major works of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael.

■ show a detailed knowledge of specific developments in the artistic styles, techniques, media and iconographies employed in the works of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael.

■ distinguish the key place of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael in the development of Western art history and to situate their work within the artistic development of the Renaissance.

■ understand the works of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael in relation to the historical and ideological contexts in which they worked.

■ comprehend the main lines of critical and art historical discourse that developed around the works of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.