Stained glass windows in Chartres Cathedral, France, ca. early 13th century
This course is available for purchase with an added 1-hour tour at the Walters Art Museum. Options below:
In the Middle Ages, kings and peasants alike believed in the power of sacred images and spaces. To them, painted icons, illuminated manuscripts, golden reliquaries, and jewel-like cathedral interiors served as mediators between earth and heaven, leading the human spirit toward a vision of eternal life.
Independent art historian Judy Scott Feldman examines the art and architecture of the thousand-year period between classical antiquity and the Renaissance, and its relationship to a society infused with faith and spirituality.
May 8 Early Christian and Byzantine Art
Transformation of ancient classical traditions to new Christian beliefs and practices in Rome and in the Greek-speaking areas of the Roman Empire. The Roman catacombs; Old St. Peters; Ravenna mosaics; Hagia Sophia; Constantinople; icons and iconoclasm; Hosios Loukas monastery.
May 15 Irish and Carolingian Illuminated Manuscripts
Sumptuous painted Bibles as precious objects of prayer, devotion, spiritual vision, and popular pilgrimage. The Lindisfarne Gospels and Book of Kells; Carolingian imperial Bibles and missals.
May 22 Romanesque Art
Great pilgrimage churches, sculptured portals, and jeweled reliquaries in service to the popular cult of the saints. Ste. Foy in Conques; St. Mary Magdalene in Vezelay.
May 29 Gothic Visions of Heaven
The Gothic cathedral’s marriage of stained glass, sculpture, and soaring sacred spaces.
World Art History Certificate core course: Earn 1 credit
4 sessions
