History of Art: Relations between Italy and the Netherlands - Track

Experts of our partner institute in Florence will tell you all about the works of the great Italian Masters of the Renaissance. The names of Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Caravaggio are associated with some of the most original, appealing and amazing achievements in the visual arts. What drove these versatile artists to reach the pinnacle of perfection and what is it that makes their works so special and appealing even to a modern audience? To answer these questions this course will take the student back to the period of the Italian Renaissance focusing not only on the original context in which the works of art were made, but also on artworks by their peers with whom they often competed. 

The journey then continues up north, in Utrecht, where you will discover the Golden Age of Dutch Art. This part of the course takes you back in time to the Dutch 17th century: the early modern period, when Dutch ships sailed the oceans from the Americas to the Indies, and the tiny Dutch Republic dominated the world's stage. All the landscapes, seascapes, portraits and still lives may look so realistic that one can feel the sea-breeze and smell the grapes, but in fact, nothing in these artistic works really is what it seems.