Early modern world
Art History Courses Online & In London

A course examining the foundations of Islamic visual culture under the Early Umayyad and ‘Abbassid Caliphates, and the formative influences that went into development of Islamic architecture and decorative arts.

This course will take the case study of four statues of David produced in Florence during the Renaissance by Donatello, Verrocchio and Michelangelo, to chart the developments in sculpture at this time.

Discover Michelangelo’s 'genius' across sculpture, painting, architecture, and poetry. This course traces his artistic journey within the dynamic world of 16th century Italy from the High Renaissance to Mannerism. It explores his encounters with contemporaries like Leonardo and Raphael, and examines how Vasari and Condivi’s biographies shaped his enduring reputation as Il Divino.

Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Breughel the elder - two northern Renaissance artists, and their influence on 20th-century artists known as the Surrealists. Artists divided in time by 500 years, but who share many similarities with their strange and curious subjects and objects conjured up to ignite amazement, wonder, discussion and even outrage.

Explore the life and work of Artemisia Gentileschi, a leading Baroque painter whose bold depictions of women and artistic self-fashioning challenged expectations. This session examines her major works, self-portraits and legacy within the context of seventeenth-century art and society. This lecture is part of the 2026 Art History Festival organised by the Association for Art History.

This lecture will explore the key techniques, subjects and roles of early prints. Looking at the prints of Mantegna, Dürer, Parmigianino, Raphael and Marcantonio Raimondi, we will see how early prints were made and used by different audiences, including courtly and scholarly circles. This lecture is part of the 2026 Art History Festival organised by the Association for Art History.

The 17th century produced some of the greatest artists of all time: Rubens, Rembrandt, Velázquezand Bernini to name but a few. Explore the work of these key artists and understand the history, styles and ideas that shaped the century.

In this study-day, explore the rich history of portrait miniatures, from the jewel-like works of Hilliard to 18th and 19th century innovations. This study day examines key artists, techniques, and the miniature’s role in love, memory, and identity. It will also include an in-depth look at the role women artists had in shaping this genre.

Discover Covent Garden when it was the centre for artists to live, socialise and practice their profession. From the development of the Piazza in the 1630s to the1730s when William Hogarth established St Martin’s Lane Academy. Many artists involved in this went on to be the founding members of the Royal Academy, which from the 1770s was housed at Somerset House.

A course looking at the role of ideology and patronage under key Islamic dynasties that arose in Egypt and the Middle East during the 10th - 14th century, with important new influences brought by invasions of Turks and Mongols from Central Asia and the Far East.

The golden panels of the Sienese masters are immediately identifiable but why was their work so different? Today we explore the art of Siena, its world, its symbolism and how it was made.