Art of Empire: The Early Modern Hispanic World

This course juxtaposes artists such as Titian and Velázquez alongside frequently unnamed indigenous craftsmen living under Spanish rule across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. We will track bi-directional artistic exchange and mobility during imperial expansion to ask: how did navigation, religion, natural resources, and trade shape the art of Spain and its colonies as preColombian visual traditions persisted and were exported to Europe? Considering how the power structures of the world’s first global empire continue to shape our understanding of the past, we will propose ways to begin decolonizing the study and display of objects produced under imperial rule.