Art And Architecture In Early Modern Central Europe (1450-1800)

Timetable

The course will take place in Collegium Novum (al. Niepodległosći 4) room 401 A

on every second Tuesday 11:30-14:45 (3h with 15' break) on the  03.10.,17.10.,31.10.,14.11.,28.11.,12.12.,16.01. and 30.01.

Module aim (aims)

The course will cover a wide range of issues related to visual art and architecture in Central Europe (Poland, Hungary, Czechia and German-speaking countries) in the age of Renaissance and Baroque. It will highlight the importance of royal and aristocratic patronage as vehicles for disseminating artistic concepts and the impact of the protestant and catholic reformation on the diversity of religious art in the region. The participants will better understand the stylistic development of the arts in Central Europe by studying its key artistic centres and examples of artworks, monuments, and collections in their broad historical and cultural context.

Pre-requisites in terms of knowledge, skills and social competences (where relevant)

Sufficient knowledge of English to read and analyze academic texts and take part in discussions. An understanding of the history and culture of Central Europe in the modern era is also welcome, although not required.

Syllabus

Week 1: Introduction and general overview

Week 2: Buda, Cracow, Prague - the art of the courts in the 16th C. (I)

Week 3: Buda, Cracow, Prague - the art of the courts in the 16th C. (II)

Week 4: The Renaissance in German-speaking Lands - Dürer and his contemporaries

Week 5: The impact of the Reformation and the Cunter-reformation on the art in Central Europe

Week 6: The patronage and the transformation of the courts in the age of Baroque (I)

Week 7: The patronage and the transformation of the courts in the age of Baroque (II)

Week 8: The Myth of Sarmatia - the art and culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 17-18th C.

Week 9: South German art and architecture of the 18 C. in its European context

Week 10: Kunst and the Kunstkammer - collecting art in Central Europe

Week 11: Student presentations

Week 12: Student presentations

Week 13: Student presentations

Week 14: Student presentations

Week 15: Student presentations - conclusion

Reading list

J. Białostocki, The Art of the Renaissance in Eastern Europe: Hungary – Bohemia – Poland, London 1976.

M. Brusatin, The Baroque in Central Europe: place, architecture and art, Venice 1992.

T. DaCosta Kaufmann, The school of Prague: painting at the count of Rudolf II, Chicago University Press 1988.

T. DaCosta Kaufmann, Court, cloister & city: the art and culture of Central Europe, 1450-1800, London 1995.

T. Da Costa Kaufmann, Toward a Geography of Art History, Chicago University Press 2004.

E. Hempel, Baroque art and architecture in Central Europe : Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland : painting and sculpture: seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, architecture: sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, Penguin Books 1965.

M. Mojzer, Baroque Art in Central-Europe: Crossroads, Budapest 1993.

J. Ostrowski, Land of the Winged Horsemen: Art in Poland 1572-1764, Virginia 1999.