Venetian Art and Architecture

3 credits

Until its end in 1797, the Republic of Venice, called "La Serenissima" (the most serene), occupied a unique position on the Italian peninsula and, even today, it remains a distinctive city. This character of otherness, called "Venezianità," derived from its geographic location, topography, history, society, economy and culture and resulted in art and architecture that differed from, but at times dovetailed with, the visual arts of other major Italian cities. This course will study the art and architecture of Venice from the Byzantine church of San Marco (eleventh century) to the fall of the Republic (1797), with a particular focus on the Renaissance (fifteenth-sixteenth centuries) that produced many of its major artists: Giovanni Bellini, Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto, Pietro and Tullio Lombardo, Palladio, and others. Intermediate-level art history course with advanced readings and research project. Meets Renaissance/Baroque requirement for Art History Majors.