BA Latin and Italian

This course enables students to analyse ancient and modern aesthetic theories alongside some of antiquity’s most influential sculptures and paintings, and to consider the influence of the latter on the art of the high Renaissance. Students will consider how ancient, early modern, and modern thinkers have conceptualized the value and effect of the arts. They will then use these ideas as starting points for thinking about the effects and functions of artworks themselves. The course will focus on several pivotal achievements in ancient and Renaissance art, including the Parthenon, the temple at Pergamum, Raphael’s ‘Stanza della Segnatura’, and Bernini’s mythological sculptures; these works will be addressed in the context of wider artistic and intellectual developments. Ancient artists’ techniques and concerns will be examined against those of the Renaissance; students will examine the influence of ancient art in this period, and analyse what made the Renaissance distinctive, paying particular attention to religious, historical, and philosophical changes.

Students cannot take both the Level 2 and Level 3 module.

• To introduce students to ancient ideas about the arts.

• To enable students to analyse the forms and effects of ancient artworks and the contexts in which they were made and viewed.

• To enable students to better understand the continuities and differences between ancient art and that of the high Renaissance.

• To enable students to build on techniques for analysing material culture which they have learned on other course

By the end of the course all students will be able to

 • show a knowledge and critical understanding of the content, form, conventions, and aims of various ancient and Renaissance artworks 

• demonstrate an appreciation of the influence of cultural contexts on how artworks were created

• show an understanding of aesthetic theory (ancient and modern), and its applicability to individual works of art

• demonstrate understanding of the influence of ancient artworks on artists such as Raphael and Bernini

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

• demonstrate subject-specific skills, including the ability to respond thoughtfully to difficult and complex texts, and to comment critically upon them.
• demonstrate the ability to analyse visually complex artworks and comment on their significance
• analyse stylistic differences and developments in artworks across particular periods
• analyse the relationships between individual artworks and their social, political, and intellectual contexts

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

Manage time and resources

Discuss complex texts clearly in writing and conversation

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

• construct an argument in written and oral form;
• pose questions about complex issues;
• assimilate and summarise large quantities of evidence;
• locate and retrieve relevant information from primary sources;
• conduct bibliographic searches;
• use e-resources and gain knowledge of research methods and resources;

•     engage in critical discussion.