The course will maintain a traditional focus on the so-called Latin West, Byzantium and the Islamic world, while also considering case-studies from China, Japan, South East Asia and Africa. The main aim is to provide a firm understanding of related artistic traditions and to develop basic art-historical skills.

Art and material culture will be analyzed within their cultural and historical contexts. How did secular and religious powers affect the creation of artifacts and monuments? Which kind of messages were these intended to convey? Which role did previous or contemporary traditions play in artistic production, and how did this change across time and space? But also: how can archaeological discoveries and other material evidence improve our knowledge of the past? What can the materiality of an object and the technique of its making reveal?

Connections between distinct geographical areas and artistic traditions will also be explored through specific readings. These will reveal unexpected contacts and interchanges among distant cultures and traditions that were usually studied in isolation. Crossing conventional boundaries of historiography and examining a variety of methodological approaches will, in this way, improve the ability to think critically.

Finally, the study of medieval art is currently undergoing an essential and global reconsideration: nineteenth- and twentieth-century narratives were too often affected by racist, orientalist, colonialist or gender-biased interpretations, and the debate about how the history of medieval art should be expanded or rewritten is today extremely animated. Acquiring a basic awareness of these discussions, the course will approach both artistic phenomena and related bibliography with a fresher and more critical perspective.

Beside providing a general knowledge and understanding of global medieval artistic developments, students will:  

·     improve skills to describe, contextualize and interpret monuments, artifacts and material culture

·     develop abilities to critically analyze and understand scholarly texts

·     train bibliographical research skills

·     engage in oral presentations and in-class discussions

·     write concise and effective texts about artifacts and monuments

·     learn how to identify different art historical methodologies and how to put them into practice

Class meetings are mandatory. Attendance counts heavily in the professionalism grade and has a guaranteed impact on your success on exams and other assignments. Students are kindly asked to notify the teacher about their absences, possibly in advance.