Wonders of Rome: Art and Culture of the Baroque Era (Writing Intensive)

Weekly class lectures and on-site visits in Rome provide students an unparalleled opportunity to examine firsthand painting, sculpture and architecture (from c.1585 to c.1750) in their original settings. Organized chronologically from the papacy of Paul V Borghese to that of Alexander VII Chigi, this course gives particular attention to Caravaggio's paintings, Lanfranco's frescoes, Bernini's statues and fountains, Borromini's churches, the Barberini Palace, Piazza Navona, and Saint Peter's Basilica and Square. Works inciting wonder (or "meraviglia") and viewer participation shall be studied from the perspective of the culture of seventeenth-century Rome, as relating to the Counter-Reformation and Catholic Revival, papal propaganda and nepotism, and the rise of powerful new orders, such as the Jesuits. The course includes a two-day field trip to Naples to view seventeenth-century art in the Capodimonte Museum, Certosa di San Martino, and churches in the historic center, "Spaccanapoli", and to consider artistic production in Naples as a striking foil to that of Rome. 

This course can be taken as a non-Writing Intensive course (ARTH 2428).