Content

This unit investigates some of the ways in which visual images for example painting and sculpture reflected the spiritual characteristics and preoccupations of the Late Middle Ages, 1300-1500. After identifying the most important sacred stories and their chief personages, i.e. Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and various saints, the unit examines the patrons and audience for these "images of salvation". What objects inspired devotion and how did these paintings, sculptures and other objects instruct the faithful in the mysteries of faith.

Unit code: CH3212Y

Unit status: Approved (Major revision)

Points: 18.0

Unit level: Undergraduate Level 3

Unit discipline: Church History

Delivery Mode: Face to Face

Proposing College: Yarra Theological Union

Show when this unit is running

Learning outcomes

1.

Identify the central iconographic themes of Christian art in the West c. 1300-1500

2.

Demonstrate ability to use the basic vocabulary of visual analysis and historical inquiry

3.

Manifest oral and written communication skills

4.

Engage a range of primary and secondary source material to develop a coherent argument

5.

Articulate understanding of various lenses (historical, spiritual, theological) through which the interpreter views visual images

Unit sequence

This unit is generally available as an elective unit in all undergraduate awards.

Pedagogy

Lectures, class discussion and class visit to the NGV International

Indicative Bibliography

  • Baxandall, Michael. Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
  • Clifton, James. The Body of Christ in the Art of Europe and New Spain, 1150-1800. Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 1997.
  • Finaldi, Gabriele. The Image of Christ. London: National Gallery Company Ltd, 2000.
  • Hamburger, J. The Visual and the Visionary: Art and Female Spirituality in Late Medieval Germany. New York: Zone Books, 1998.
  • de Voragine Jacobus. The Golden Legend. Translated by William Granger Ryan, 2 vols, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993.
  • Katz, Melissa R. Divine Mirrors: The Virgin Mary in the Visual Arts. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
  • Marks, Richard. Image and Devotion in Late Medieval England. Stroud: Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2004.
  • Os, H.W. van. The Art of Devotion in the Late Middle Ages in Europe 1300-1500. Princeton, N.J. Princeton University Press, 1994
  • Raitt, J. (ed.) Christian Spirituality: High Middle Ages and Reformation. New York: Crossroad, 1988.
  • Woods, Kim W., (ed.) Art and visual culture: 1100-1600: medieval to renaissance. Millbank, London: Tate Publisher in association with Open University, 2012.

Assessment

Type Description Word count Weight (%)
Material Culture Analysis (identification and description of artefacts)

Material Culture Analysis 1500 words

1500 30.0
Essay

Essay 3,500 words

3500 70.0
Approvals

Unit approved for the University of Divinity by John Capper on 27 Sep, 2019

Unit record last updated: 2021-06-07 08:43:50 +1000