The rise and fall of the Italian Renaissance
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
This course has now finished
Course Code: VB427
Duration: 10 sessions (over 11 weeks)
Please note: We offer a wide variety of financial support to make courses affordable. Just visit our online Help Center for more information on a range of topics including fees, online learning and FAQs.
What is the course about?
We will chart the course of the Italian Renaissance, beginning with its medieval origins, the works of the early Renaissance masters and the training and workshop practises. Each week will highlight one of these different areas along with individual lessons dedicated to the work of Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo, Titian and others.
The course will also venture outside of Florence to look at the Renaissance in Siena, Pisa and Rome. Emphasis will also be put on the media they chose, such as chalk, charcoal, silverpoint and painting methods. This will be achieved by looking at artists’ early careers and influences, including their training and working methods, and the stylistic similarities or differences in their works. Finally, we will look at the lives and works of these great Renaissance masters through the historical and social context in which they worked.
This is a live online course. You will need:
- Internet connection. The classes work best with Chrome.
- A computer with microphone and camera is best (e.g. a PC/laptop/iMac/MacBook), or a tablet/iPad/smart phone/iPhone if you don't have a computer.
- Earphones/headphones/speakers.
We will contact you with joining instructions before your course starts.
What will we cover?
- the major motivations of these artists
- the chronology of the Italian Renaissance
- different styles of painting and drawing
- Artists' different styles
- Renaissance influences.
What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...
-State the chronology of the Renaissance period
- Identify what constitutes a Renaissance influence in artworks of the period
- Explain the major motivations of selected Renaissance artists
- Compare and contrast Renaissance artists' styles
- Analyse a selected artwork with confidence.
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 as well as basic functions of Zoom, specifically microphone and camera.
How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?
You will be taught by lecture with slide images and you will be invited to participate in group discussion. There will be handouts provided by your tutor. However, they will also be available digitally via a Google Classroom. You will be invited to join the Google Classroom within a week of your course start date.
Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?
You might wish to buy a notebook. You might wish to buy some of the books on any reading list given out in class.
When I've finished, what course can I do next?
Venetian art of the 15th and 16th centuries: beauty, splendour and light
Art and Power from the Counter-Reformation to the Baroque
Art and critical analysis: Western European art under the microscope.
Leslie Primo has spent more than 15 years giving lectures to the general public at the National Gallery for the Information and Education departments. During this time he graduated with a degree in History of Art and an MA in Renaissance Studies from Birkbeck, University College of London. In his studies he specialised in early Medieval and Renaissance studies, including, Italian Renaissance Drawing, Art and Architecture in Europe 1250-1400 Art and Architecture in Europe 1400-1500, Medici and Patronage, Narrative Painting in the Age of Giotto, and the work of Peter Paul Rubens focusing on his paintings of the Judgement of Paris, and Greek Myth in paintings. He is also an accredited Art Society lecturer.
Please note: We reserve the right to change our tutors from those advertised. This happens rarely, but if it does, we are unable to refund fees due to this. Our tutors may have different teaching styles; however we guarantee a consistent quality of teaching in all our courses.
