Michelangelo, the High Renaissance to Mannerism

What is the course about?

This course offers an in-depth examination of the life, work, and legacy of Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) within the broader landscape of High Renaissance and Mannerist Italy. Moving beyond the study of individual masterpieces, it situates Michelangelo within the vibrant artistic, cultural, and political world of sixteenth-century Italy, tracing how his career unfolded over more than seventy years of extraordinary change.

To understand the forces that shaped his art, selected sessions will introduce the High Renaissance and Mannerist periods (c.1500-1575), exploring the work of his contemporaries and interlocutors, including Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Sofonisba Anguissola, and Giorgio Vasari. Through case studies spanning sculpture, painting, architecture, and poetry, students will consider how Michelangelo’s practice intersected with political authority, religious reform, and humanist thought, as well as the complex dynamics of patronage (from Medici Florence to papal Rome) that defined the period.

Major works such as the Pietà, David, the Sistine Chapel ceiling, the Medici Chapel, The Last Judgment, and the Rondanini Pietà will serve as focal points for examining themes of power and devotion, gender and the body, the aesthetic of the unfinished, and Michelangelo’s poetic imagination. The course will also address the role of early biographers, notably Giorgio Vasari and Ascanio Condivi, in shaping his reputation as Il Divino (“the divine one”).
By the end of the course, students will be invited to view Michelangelo not as an isolated genius, but as a figure whose art illuminates the wider artistic, spiritual, and intellectual transformations of Renaissance Italy.

What will we cover?

· Michelangelo’s career across sculpture, painting, architecture, and poetry, set against the cultural and political changes of Renaissance Italy

· His interactions and rivalries with other artists, and the shaping of his reputation by Vasari and Condivi.

· Key themes in his art, including the heroic body, spirituality, power and patronage, gender, and the unfinished.

What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...

· Describe Michelangelo’s artistic development across different media and stages of his long career.

· Discuss how his relationships with patrons, contemporaries, and biographers shaped both his work and reputation.

· Identify and analyse key works by Michelangelo and explain their significance within the broader context of Renaissance art and society.

What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?

This course is suitable for all levels.

You should be able to follow simple written and verbal instructions, demonstrations, hand-outs and health and safety information. You will be invited to take part in group discussion.

How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?

You will be taught with lecture, slide presentations, activities and group discussions. Handouts will be provided by your tutor to support your learning on the course. These handouts will be posted via a Google Classroom. You will be invited to join the Google Classroom within a week of your course start date.For more on how our Google Classroom works, please click here.

Please note: the tutor is unable to email students documents for reasons related to copyright and data protection.

Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?

You might wish to purchase a notebook for taking notes. You might wish to buy some of the books on any reading list provided.

When I've finished, what course can I do next?

Raphael: the Rise and Dominance of a Renaissance Prodigy, 1483-1520

Women of the art world: Italian Renaissance and the Baroque

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