Courses

Student Evaluation Data

A chronological survey of the major periods, styles, artists, and monuments of western visual arts, primarily painting, sculpture, and architecture beginning with the earliest human artistic creations in prehistoric times, continuing through the ancient and medieval worlds to the Gothic era.

45 student course cap

ARTH 102

Undergraduate

History of Western Art II

Student Evaluation Data

A chronological survey of the major periods, styles, artists, and monuments of western visual arts, primarily painting, sculpture, and architecture beginning with the development of the arts from the Renaissance through the Baroque and 18th century to the modern era.

45 student course cap

ARTH 220

Undergraduate

Renaissance Art and the Birth of Modernity

Student Evaluation Data

Siena Special Exhibition Assignment

In this course, students will become familiar with the profound innovations in painting, sculpture, and architecture created in Europe from about 1300 to 1700, which set the course and standards for much of western visual culture down to the past century. From Giotto to Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Rembrandt, we will examine what is meant by the term Renaissance in the visual arts and European society at large, including its contacts and exchanges with global cultures outside the West.

45 student course cap

ARTH 236

Undergraduate

Baroque Art and the Beginnings of Globalism

This course traces the Baroque style, characterized by dynamism and theatricality, from its origins in Italy, through Spain, France, and Northern Europe. In each region, the style is defined and redefined by religious, political, and social movements, especially the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. The style is equally shaped by global trade and cultural interactions throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. The course will emphasize painting alongside sculpture, architecture, and design.

45 student course cap

ARTH 300

Undergraduate

Senior Colloquium in Art History Methods

This course introduces students to a wide range of art historical methods, such as iconography, social art history, and semiotics, as well as major issues in the discipline, such as question of originality, authorship, globalism, feminism, and decolonization. In the course of in-class discussions, presentations, and a research paper, students will develop their oral and written skills, their research skills, and their broader ability effectively to communicate their research and ideas, including the technical requirements of properly citing sources and compiling them into a bibliography (“scholarly apparatus”). In addition, they will become fluent with elements of academic writing, including formulating a thesis and demonstrating its applicability through appropriate analysis and relevant evidence.

Enrolls 12-14 students

Graduate Courses

Graduate courses are tailored to the wide range of student background and goals found in QC classrooms. A typical seminar might enroll Art History graduate students, together with Studio Artists pursuing MFA degrees, and teachers pursuing advanced education degrees.

My courses emphasize core skills in critical reading and discussion, while introducing students to art historical research and writing.

ARTH 504/702

Graduate

Faking It: An Intellectual History of Forgery

Fakes have been created, acquired, admired, and exposed for centuries. These objects of deception, whose production can be traced at least to the Phoenicians, have confounded collectors for millennia and today are ubiquitous on eBay. This seminar explores the complex role forgeries and the notion of authenticity play in our interpretation and understanding of art. The course will consider a series of intensive case studies, from

the broadest possible historical range (antiquity through 2023), to explore the cultural, economic, and artistic category of fakes, forgeries, and authentic art works.

Enrolls 12-14 students

ARTH 504 / 7435

Seminar in Baroque Art

This course traces the seventeenth-century Baroque style, characterized by dynamism and theatricality, from its origins in Italy, through Spain and the Netherlands. It extends the study of the European Baroque style across the globe, following Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch trade routes to the Americas, Western Africa, Goa, Japan, China, and the Philippines with critical attention to the impacts of colonization and trade. In each context, the Baroque style is defined and redefined by religious movements such as the Reformation and Counter-

Reformation, and by colonial governments, missionaries, and early corporations. The course will focus on intensive artist case studies, including Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653), Diego Vel.zquez (1599-1660), and Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69), that connect to broader themes, including artistic exchange, architectural meaning, and the concept of the global.

Enrolls 12-14 students

ARTH 504/702

Graduate

Northern Renaissance Case Studies