About

This Fall 2020 first year seminar taught by Dr. Kristin Huffman presents an expansive picture of the art and society of Renaissance Venice (1450-1600), one of the wealthiest and most powerful states in the Early Modern world. Residents, both individually and collectively, fashioned an image of the city as unprecedented and exceptional through art and architecture.  Venice was indeed unique— a city built on water— and sponsors commissioned works of art as a way to promote the city as unparalleled in beauty, splendor, and glory. The thriving economy and possibility for work attracted some of the most important artists practicing at the time, including Titian, Veronese, and Jacopo Sansovino. While advancing the city’s claims, these artists quickly learned how to capitalize on visual language for self-promotion and career advancement; patrons did too. The class considers a range of artistic patronage, a spectrum of artistic commissions, and a number of the most celebrated Renaissance artists. The course assumes no prior art historical or digital experience; students will be provided with the background necessary to understand the art and architectural history of early modern Venice, and the skills required for the digital technology.

As part of their coursework, students are using this Omeka site to develop original research collections that will be incorporated into spatiotemporal presentations of their research and analysis. This aspect of the course is receiving additional support from Lee Sorensen, Hannah Jacobs, Dana Hogan and Noah Michaud.

This course is affiliated with the Wired! Lab for digital art history & visual culture.