131-235 Medieval and Renaissance Nuremberg: Art and Civic Culture in an Age of Transition

Note

Available as 131-335 at 3rd-year level.

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Subject Description

A study of the artistic and cultural life of the imperial city of Nuremberg and its region within the context of the social and political transformations of the fifteenth century, the religious changes and conflict brought about by the Reformation in the sixteenth and the cultural self-consciousness, learning and magnificence associated with the Renaissance. As well as the key architectural sites of the city, the course will study artists such as Albrecht Dürer and Hans Baldung Grien, the sculptors Veit Stoss, Adam Kraft, Tilman Riemenschneider and the Vischer family, graphic artists such as Hans Schäufelein, Georg Pencz and the Beham brothers. The key historical themes and developments to which this artistic production will be related will include the city's close links with imperial institutions, the patronage of increasingly powerful patrician families, the impact of Reformation ideas and Reformation conflicts, the increasing influence of the print media, the role of new values and learning associated with humanism. Comparison will also be made with other contemporary cultural sites and artistic centres in Nuremberg's immediate cultural region of Franconia, such as the cities of Bamberg, Würzburg and Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

Assessment

Written work consisting of exercises totalling 2,000 words written in Nuremberg, and an essay of 3,000 words written after the field work.