London & Florence Program

About the program: Arts in context ... London ... Florence ... maps & links

Field trips: London ... Florence & Italy

Courses in spring 2009

Living arrangements

Faculty & staff

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Contact: Campus program advisors ... ACM office

The Arts of Florence in Context

Spring 2009
Instructors: Janet Smith and Gail Solberg
Required course, 3 credits

Left: Ottavio Vannini, Lorenzo il Magnifico tra gli artisti. This depiction of Lorenzo with artists includes the young Michelangelo, at right.

Late medieval and Renaissance painting and sculpture represented saints, mythological personages and ordinary human beings. Architecture’s special role is to create a backdrop for the activity of daily life which reinforces the messages of domestic, religious and political ceremonies.

Studying works of art in their original setting will enable you to learn to decode these messages and will introduce you to a world view very different from the one we share today. You will discover the Florence of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries which formed Giotto, Brunelleschi, Donatello, Botticelli and Michelangelo and will investigate how their works, and the works of other masters, contributed to the evolving process we call the Renaissance.

Above: Michelangelo Buonarroti, Giuliano de' Medici.

You will also learn to decipher the role played by the patron in every artistic commission. With few exceptions, the classes will be conducted in the churches, museums and piazzas of Florence.

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