BA History of art and architecture

at Trinity College Dublin The University of Dublin

This course teaches you how to analyse works of art and how to understand and explain their historical significance. You will take a broad range of modules covering the history of painting, sculpture, and architecture from antiquity to modern times. Topics available include early medieval art and architecture,Islamic and Japanese art, the art of the Italian Renaissance, the art of nineteenth-century France, and the artistic and architectural achievements of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

First and second years
In first year, students take modules that provide an introduction to various aspects of art and architecture, and to the practice of art history. These examine the critical analysis of artworks and structures in various mediums, the importance of iconography, and the different technical methods used by artists and architects from ancient Greece to the present day. In the first year the concentration is principally on Western art, in second year students deepen their theoretical understanding, with modules on the methodologies of art history and the display of art.

In first year, Single Honours students also take modules exploring individual works of art, and how past scholarship and interpretation of art and architecture impacts on our understanding and approaches to art and architecture today. This is further developed in the second year when students may also participate in a work placements and study trips for credit and take more focused modules in areas such as cultural intersections in art history, the Arts of Japan and Irish art.

Third and fourth years
In third and fourth years students have the opportunity to specialise in areas that are particular interest to them. In third year they can chose from a range of options that may include for example:

• Antiquity and Innovation in Early Medieval Art
• Painting and Sculpture in the Italian Renaissance
• Architecture in the 19th and 20th Centuries
• The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer
• Art in France 1850-1900
• Global post-modern and contemporary art
• These courses comprise a mixture of lectures and small group seminars.

In their final year students select up to two topics dealing with the art-historical issues at a more specialised level. Where possible, these include the opportunity to study primary sources and particular emphasis is placed on personal observation and interpretation of original works of art and architecture.

The fees for BA History of art and architecture may vary from €10,000 to €25,000 annually for tuition fees. The fee's prices may get higher for International Students.

In recent years graduates have been employed as lecturers, curators, editors, and writers in universities, galleries, museums, publishing houses and art salesrooms in Ireland and abroad. These include the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Dulwich Picture Gallery, the Universities of Princeton, Oxford, Cambridge, and Saint Andrews, the National Gallery of Ireland, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the Irish Architectural Archive, and University College Dublin. Graduates have also worked in a broad range of administrative, commercial, and media-based employment and have commented on the usefulness of visual literacy in marketing, public relations, and journalism.