Academic Catalog

ART 2B: HISTORY OF WESTERN ART FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO THE RENAISSANCE

Foothill College Course Outline of Record

Foothill College Course Outline of Record
Heading Value
Effective Term: Summer 2023
Units: 4.5
Hours: 4 lecture, 1.5 laboratory per week (66 total per quarter)
Advisory: Not open to students with credit in ART 2BH.
Degree & Credit Status: Degree-Applicable Credit Course
Foothill GE: Area I: Humanities
Transferable: CSU/UC
Grade Type: Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass)
Repeatability: Not Repeatable

Student Learning Outcomes

  • A successful student will be able to Explain in written form the relationship between commerce, nascent capitalism, a growing mercantile class, and artistic production in the 15th and 16th centuries in Italy.
  • A successful student will be able to assemble and use an appropriate bibliography (works cited page) for the required term paper.

Description

History of Western art from ca. 600 through ca. 1600. This course examines the Middle Ages and the Renaissance using images, objects, and architecture to develop a comprehensive understanding of the social, political, and religious forces that shaped this period. Illustrated lectures and readings.

Course Objectives

The student will be able to:

  1. Classify a broad variety of art and cultures through a knowledge of the development of visual arts and material culture
  2. Interpret cross-cultural and changing religious beliefs (including the schism between the Catholics and the Protestants) and how they influence artistic production
  3. Analyze political ideologies arising during this period and consider their impact on recurring motifs in the visual arts
  4. Identify the style, content, and approximate dates of a broad range of art works ranging from ca. 600 to ca. 1600
  5. Describe and evaluate the impact of Greco/Roman philosophy and science on the development of European society in the 11th and 12th centuries in specific relation to Scholasticism and the development of the Gothic style in art
  6. Explain in written form the relationship between commerce, nascent capitalism, a growing mercantile class, and artistic production in the 15th and 16th centuries in Italy
  7. Assess in written form the impact of the Germanic and Celtic culture on the formulation of a new Western Christian art in the early Middle Ages
  8. Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the control of artistic production and political and social influence

Course Content

  1. Early Medieval Art in Europe
    1. Migration Period
      1. Animal Style
      2. Germanic art
      3. Viking art
      4. Hiberno Saxon art
    2. Carolingian Period
      1. Painting and illumination
      2. Crafts
      3. Architecture
    3. Ottonian Period
      1. Architecture
      2. Sculpture
      3. Painting and illumination
  2. Romanesque Art
    1. Architecture: Languedoc-Burgundy, Germany-Lombardy, Normandy-England, Tuscany, Aquitaine
    2. Sculpture
    3. Painting and illumination
  3. Gothic Art
    1. Early Gothic
      1. Architecture
      2. Sculpture
    2. High Gothic
      1. Architecture 
        1. Rayonnant style
      2. Sculpture
      3. Stained glass and illumination
    3. Late Gothic
    4. Non-French Gothic
      1. England
      2. Germany
      3. Italy
  4. The Proto-Renaissance in Italy
    1. Sculpture
    2. Painting - maniera greca, Duccio, Giotto
      1. International style - Simone Martini
  5. Early Renaissance Art in Europe
    1. First half of the 15th c.
      1. Sculpture
      2. Architecture
      3. Painting
    2. Second half of the 15th c.
      1. Architecture
      2. Sculpture
      3. Painting and engraving
  6. Renaissance Art in 16th century Italy
    1. High Renaissance
      1. Leonardo da Vinci
      2. Bramante and his circle
      3. Raphael
      4. Michelangelo
        1. Later works
    2. Mannerism
      1. Painting
      2. Sculpture and architecture
    3. Venetian Renaissance
      1. Architecture
      2. Painting
  7. Renaissance Art outside of Italy
    1. 15th century
      1. Flanders
        1. Sculpture
        2. Painting and manuscript illumination
      2. France and Germany
        1. Painting
    2. 16th century
      1. Germany
        1. Painting and printmaking
      2. The Netherlands
        1. Painting
      3. France
        1. Painting
        2. Architecture
      4. Spain
        1. Architecture
        2. Painting - El Greco

Lab Content

Lab activities are provided for students to practice visual literacy and critical thinking skills through the synthesis of content from the lecture, posted videos, and assigned reading through written responses to weekly prompts related to specific works of art and architecture. Students practice visual literacy skills through observation, description, analysis, and interpretation within the artwork's specific historical and cultural context using the language of visual analysis (formal elements and principles of design), technique, and genre. When appropriate students practice the application of theoretical frameworks (biography, Marxism, Feminism, Psychoanalysis, Modernism, Postmodernism, Post-colonialism, Structuralism, etc. ) regarding each topic area.

Special Facilities and/or Equipment

1. Slide collection and projection equipment adequate for the lectures on the subject.
2. Access to the Artstor online image archive. Classroom must be internet connected and provided with digital projector, DVD player, and VHS player.
3. When taught via Foothill Global Access, ongoing access to a computer with email address, software and hardware, and internet.

Method(s) of Evaluation

Methods of Evaluation may include but are not limited to the following:

Two midterms
Final examination
A research paper
Research activity assignments based on library research modules
Weekly moderated online discussions

Method(s) of Instruction

Methods of Instruction may include but are not limited to the following:

Lecture
Discussion
Cooperative learning exercises
Oral presentations
Electronic discussions/chat
Independent study
Field trips

Representative Text(s) and Other Materials

Kleiner, Mamiya, and Tansey. Gardner's History of Art Vol. I & II, 16th ed.. 2021.

Kleiner, Fred S.. Gardner's Art through the Ages: A Global History, 16th ed.. 2020.

Stokstad, Marilyn, and Michael Cothren. Art History Vol. I & II, 6th ed.. 2018.

Students may use older editions of the textbooks. Some or all of the textbooks are available as e-books (rental or purchase) and are also on reserve in the Foothill College library for student use.

Types and/or Examples of Required Reading, Writing, and Outside of Class Assignments

  1. Approximately one chapter of text (30-60 pages) per week
  2. Primary/secondary source reading from handouts
  3. 7-8 page paper prepared using the MLA format and researched using primary and secondary sources only
  4. Written essay responses on all three exams
  5. Short answer responses on all three exams

Discipline(s)

Art History