Antiquity and Nature in Renaissance Art, 1300-1500

This course explores innovations in art and architecture during the first 200 years of the Renaissance, primarily in Italy but also in Northern Europe. The intellectual and cultural movement of the Renaissance provides the setting, and many examples of painting, sculpture and architecture take centre stage. We will investigate how artists revived ancient ideals and turned to nature for inspiration. We will also consider the impact of international travel and trade on artistic representations. The journey begins in about 1300, when Dante’s poetic visions of heaven and hell found responses in wall paintings and sculptures, and ends in about 1500 with the extraordinary achievements in art, science and medicine of Leonardo da Vinci.