Art History 791C - S-The Renaissance at Home

This course explores current issues in the interdisciplinary study of Early Modern Europe through the prism of the Italian palazzo (house/palace). A topic of considerable scholarly interest of late with major exhibitions and many conference panels and books devoted to it, the palazzo was not just an important form of Renaissance architecture, but also arguably the driving force behind the production of much Renaissance painting, sculpture, and decorative arts. We will examine the house as a social and political space, the design of the architecture, and the decoration of the interior space, proceeding from larger questions about consumption, family and urban planning towards the study of particular kinds of palaces, rooms, and objects.