History of Art and Architecture
Not all courses are available to SSP students. For example, some courses are offered only for graduate credit. Note especially any listed prerequisites.
- HARC S-34g Summer Seminar—Rome and Saint Peter's
- HARC S-128 Monuments and Cities of the Islamic World: An Introduction
- HARC S-141 Study Abroad in Venice: The Culture of Venetian Villa from Palladio to Eighteenth Century
- HARC S-152v Study Abroad in Venice: Italian Renaissance Art
- HARC S-174p Study Abroad in Paris: Continuity and Rupture in the Art of Paris from Francis I to the Present
- HARC S-183 The Architecture of Boston
HARC S-34g
Summer Seminar—Rome and Saint Peter's (31843)
(Website) (Print version)
Christine Smith
(4 credits: UN) M,W 9:30 am-noon, Sever Hall, Room 202. Eight-week session. Tuition $2,275. Limited enrollment.
Summer Seminars are open to Secondary School Program students who are juniors or seniors in high school as well as to college undergraduates.
This seminar explores a single, historically preeminent site, that of Saint Peter's and the Vatican in Rome, from multiple viewpoints over a broad chronological period. Because the site provides a continuous record of evidence over 2,000 years, it offers a unique opportunity to read its historical layers, most of which are still visible today, and thus to think about the dynamic relation between past and present. Since Roman imperial times, the Vatican has been an important building site: seminar participants trace its evolution from a Roman garden, villa, and racetrack to the spiritual and administrative center of the Roman Catholic Church. The seminar brings to bear on a single subject different kinds of history, types of evidence, and kinds of knowledge, offering some experience of topography; archaeology; intellectual, cultural, and political history; the history of art and architecture; and liturgical practice. Members of the seminar focus on primary sources, both written and visual, using secondary sources as examples of the ways in which scholars order and interpret evidence to create knowledge. Students are encouraged to think critically about what is, and is not, known about the past, and they have the opportunity to acquire fundamental skills and methods in a variety of disciplines. The seminar is divided chronologically into two parts: the first, concerned with developments up to the Renaissance, relates the site to the history of Rome and to broader cultural and political developments. The second part is more concerned with the form and content of specific works of art and architecture such as Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling, Bramante's design for new Saint Peter's, and Bernini's sculpture for the rebuilt Vatican complex.
HARC S-128
Monuments and Cities of the Islamic World: An Introduction (31919)
(Syllabus) (Print version)
David J. Roxburgh
(4 credits: UN, GR, NC) M-Th 9:30 am-noon, Sackler Museum, Room 318. Short session I. Required sections F 9:30 am-noon. Tuition $2,275.
This course is an introduction to key monuments and cities from the historical Islamic lands, circa 650–1650, from Spain to India. Various building types are treated—for example, mosques, palaces, schools, tombs, and shrines—as well as the factors that shaped and motivated them, whether artistic, cultural, social, political, or economic. Prerequisite: Students unfamiliar with the general contours of Islamic history are encouraged to read Francis Robinson, ed., The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Islamic World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996) before the first day of class.
HARC S-141
Study Abroad in Venice: The Culture of Venetian Villa from Palladio to Eighteenth Century (32140)
(Print version)
Martina Frank
Limited enrollment.
June 21-August 3. Study abroad programs are restricted to students 18 years of age or older.
See Study Abroad for more information.
HARC S-152v
Study Abroad in Venice: Italian Renaissance Art (32139)
(Print version)
Frank Fehrenbach
Limited enrollment.
June 21-August 3. Study abroad programs are restricted to students 18 years of age or older.
See Study Abroad for more information.
HARC S-174p
Study Abroad in Paris: Continuity and Rupture in the Art of Paris from Francis I to the Present (32152)
(Print version)
Henri Zerner
Limited enrollment.
June 21-August 3. Study abroad programs are restricted to students 18 years of age or older.
See Study Abroad for more information.
HARC S-183
The Architecture of Boston (31320)
(Syllabus) (Print version)
Alexander von Hoffman
(4 credits: UN, GR, NC) T,Th 3:30-6 pm, Sever Hall, Room 202. Eight-week session. Tuition $2,275.
This course examines Boston's architecture and urban design from the city's founding to the present. Through lectures, readings, and walking tours, it explores the works of major designers such as Charles Bulfinch, H. H. Richardson, Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles McKim, Walter Gropius, I. M. Pei, Philip Johnson, Frank Gehry, Steven Holl, and Machado-Silvetti. Together we investigate the development of Boston's urban landscape, its architecture, and neighborhoods: from an archipelago of early American settlement to major urban node within the contemporary eastern seaboard's megalopolis. The course focuses on the social and economic context of Boston's architecture and urban design, and the city's contributions to American architecture.