ART 501 Byzantium and the West
This course will explore the visual culture of Byzantine Empire from the founding of Constantinople in A.D. 330 to the 15th century. The class will use the resources of Dumbarton Oaks Museum, which holds one of the most important collections of Early Christian and Byzantine art in North America. We will experience first hand the objects in the collection, including mosaics, metalwork, ivories, textiles, icon paintings, and illuminated manuscripts from a variety of contexts, secular and ecclesiastical, private and public. Through a number of case studies we will think and talk about forms of visual expression in Byzantium and their use in the shaping and reproduction of main cultural and social structures.
Cross Listed Courses
ART 301, ART 501, MDST 310, MDST 610,
HIST 308B, HIST 605A