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ARTH 233. Naturalism and Art in Seventeenth-century Europe

Peggy Smyth

(Submission #89)


Course Description

ARTH 233. This course will examine the paintings, prints, and drawings on new, secular subjects created in the seventeenth century in modern-day Belgium and the Netherlands. These pictures have frequently been labeled “scenes of everyday life” as a result of the naturalistic representational modes with which they were crafted. We will devote attention to naturalism as a style and as an aesthetic, and interrogate its role in the critical debates over the meaning of these images. We will explore why an aesthetic rooted in everyday reality was consciously cultivated, and how cultural factors such as a newly proclaimed national independence,increasing secularization, the growing role of observation in the sciences, and a capitalist economy engaged in global trade shaped the new art of the period. The legacies of seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish art are deep and far-reaching; indeed, the course aims to connect the art and cultural context of the period with our own highly visual culture that is also often secularized, commodified, and intensely naturalistic.

Category

Area of Knowledge and Inquiry: Appreciating and Participating in the Arts (AP)
Context of Experience: European Traditions (ET)
Extended Requirement: Not Applicable

Additional Course information

Credits: 3
Prerequisites: no rereq.; ARTH 001, 101, or 102 recommended as preparation
Existing Course: New
Existing Course Number: NEW course number ARTH 233
Course Anticipated to be offered: Other
Other (if specified): about once every year, depending on faculty availability
Number of Sections: 1
Number of Seats: 32

File(s)

[Justification, Materials, Assessment, Administration (DOC)]   [Syllabus/Syllabi (DOC)]  

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