The classical tradition in art
K E Bensley
6 points * One 2-hour lecture and one 1-hour tutorial per week * First semester * Gippsland/Distance
Objectives By the completion of this subject students are expected to have demonstrated that they can recognise the key formal and conceptual characteristics of Renaissance and baroque art, that they have developed analytical, writing, and communication skills necessary for them to be able to discuss a work's content and meaning, and its place and function, within its specific artistic, historical and social context; that they also understand that meaning is not necessarily fixed, but remains open to a range of readings and re-interpretations, and that they can recognise how contemporary artists have responded to this classical tradition.
Synopsis The subject will examine the classical tradition in Western art, providing a survey of style and achievement from Graeco-Roman art to neo-classicism. Areas covered will include the humanist revival of classicism in Renaissance art and architecture, the baroque classicism of the Bolognese School, Poussin and seventeenth-century classicism, and the eighteenth-century cult of the antique.
Assessment One short paper (1000 words): 20% * One essay (1500 words): 30% * One two-hour examination: 50%
Preliminary reading
Barnett S A short guide to writing about art 4th edn, Harper-Collins, 1993
Prescribed texts
De la Croix H and others Gardner's `Art through the ages' HBJ, 10th edn, 1995
Recommended texts
Greenhalgh M The classical tradition in art Duckworth, 1978
Levey M Early Renaissance Penguin, 1987
Murray L The High Renaissance and mannerism Thames and Hudson, 1981
Stokstad M Art history Abrams, 1995
Summerson J The classical language of architecture Thames and Hudson, rev. edn, 1980
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