This is the only Renaissance MA in the UK to offer students the opportunity to spend a full term in Venice. Instruction is in English, and you will be able to take Italian language classes.
This MA covers the period c.1300-c.1650 across Europe. It provides a foundation in the art, history, literature, philosophy, religion and science of the period, exploring their interconnections with the social and political context.
Strongly interdisciplinary, it is taught by academics drawn from the Departments of Classics, English, History, History of Art, and from the School of Modern Languages and Cultures.
Core modules
Order and Disorder: Religion, Society and Culture in Early Modern Venice (taught in Venice)
This module gives you a unique opportunity to study the history of a great Mediterranean city while living in it. Lectures are combined with site visits to offer a full sense of the development of Renaissance and early modern Venice. The Venice Programme has an international reputation and this module draws on the expertise of staff working in this area.
Renaissance Culture and Society (taught at Warwick)
The core module provides an overview of selected methodological and topical issues important for studying the Renaissance and the early modern periods. This ensures you are familiar with a number of different disciplinary approaches to the period (e.g., literature, history, history of art). This module gives you the opportunity to sample the broad expertise of members active in the Centre; prepares you, if you wish, to go on to further study; and encourages you to become effective at sharing and communicating knowledge.
Research in Medieval and/or Early Modern Art/Architectural History (taught in Venice)
This module, taught in Venice, is focused on developing research and writing skills through the study of a specific area of Medieval and/or Early Modern art and/or architecture. You will learn about significant scholarly debates among historians of art and/or architecture, analyse and evaluate their contributions, and view many of the art works first-hand, through visits to churches and museums.
Dissertation
This module forms a core part of the taught MA in the Culture of the European Renaissance, offered by the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance. As the capstone of such a course, it invites you to develop and display your research and writing skills within the context of an original study of materials related to the Renaissance. The dissertation is developed in consultation with an academic supervisor; normally its scope is established and the research takes place between the end of Term Two and over the summer term.
Optional modules
Optional modules can vary from year to year. Example optional modules may include:
- Italian Renaissance Humanism
- Critical Foundations of Renaissance Studies
- Books, Subversion and the Republic of Letters
- Leonardo: Art and Science
- The Development of English Drama, 1558-1659
- Themes and Approaches to the Historical Study of Religious Cultures
