The Church of Santa Maria Glorioso dei Frari, commonly known as Frari’s Church or the Church of the Frari, is a minor basilica in Venice, Italy. It has an unassuming façade, but don’t let that fool you: The church contains splendors from over 500 years of Venetian history, including works by Titian, Donatello, and Bellini. Italian Renaissance art expert Rocky Ruggiero delves into the church and the treasures inside. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Washington’s movers and shakers once strolled the streets of Dupont Circle, where Massachusetts Avenue was the city’s most fashionable residential address. Its opulent mansions designed to impress society were converted into embassies, social clubs, and offices after the Great Depression. Carolyn Muraskin of DC Design Tours offers stories of Washington’s premier promenade and examines the past and present of some of its most notable buildings.
Did Thomas Cromwell, chief courtier of Henry VIII and architect of the English Protestant Reformation, resemble the pragmatic striver of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy or the sinister nemesis of the martyr Sir Thomas More in Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons? Historian Jennifer Paxton uncovers the intrigues of Henry’s court, where religion, politics, bureaucracy, and sex were entangled in a dangerous mix that led Cromwell to follow his enemy.
The art of painting in 16th-century Venice was largely transformed by four great artists whose innovative approaches would shape the art of both their contemporaries and generations to come. In a lavishly illustrated seminar, art historian Sophia D’Addio of Columbia University explores the works of Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese, highlighting their unique stylistic and compositional approaches, as well as the critical reception of their works. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1 credit)
The magnificent temple complex of Angkor Wat in Cambodia marks the rise of the Khmer Empire in Southeast Asia and its incorporation of Indic cultural influences into the architecture of one of the largest religious monuments in the world. Historian Justin M. Jacobs also explores how it became a center of Buddhist worship, a symbol of French imperial pretensions, and finally an icon of the modern Cambodian nation and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Situated between India, Persia, and the Greco-Roman world, the region of greater Gandhara (stretching through parts of modern-day Pakistan and Afghanistan) produced artwork that blended influences and ideas from many cultures. Art historian Robert DeCaroli examines the origins of the region’s material culture, explores the ways imperial and religious power were displayed, and traces the role of trade in the exchange of ideas. (World Art History Certificate core course, 1 credit)
Galileo Galilei is one of the larger-than-life heroes of intellectual history. Astrophysicist Mario Livio traces his fascinating life, examining Galileo’s monumental and enduring achievements in astronomy, mechanics, and the development of the scientific method. Livio also analyzes Galileo’s complex and tragic interaction with the Catholic Church, which eventually led to the scientist being denounced as a suspected heretic by the Inquisition.
For nearly 400 years, a treasure lay buried under a London street. Accidentally unearthed in 1912, this dazzling collection of precious jewels and luxury objects, most likely the stock of a goldsmith in Cheapside, is a time capsule that reveals how the rich and powerful of Renaissance England moved through society. Tudor scholar and historian Carol Ann Lloyd-Stanger examines the discovery—and the mysteries—of what is now known as the Cheapside Hoard.
