The Italian Renaissance was one of the most incredible explosions of creativity that has ever occurred in western culture. Defined by Georgio Vasari in his Lives of the Artists (1550) as the ‘rebirth’ of classical literature and learning that occurred in Italy between 1300-1520, in visual art it involved a stylistic shift towards increased anatomical and psychological naturalism, coupled with idealism, aided by the development of oil paint technique and single point linear perspective. This was accompanied by a complex intellectual flourishing that owed a great deal to private and Church patronage, humanist study, as well as national and international politics and identities.

This course will look at the achievements of some of the greatest Italian Renaissance painters from sculptors and architects across three artistic centres: Florence, Rome and Venice. It will trace developments and the individual stylistic output of the Early Renaissance, from Masaccio, Donatello and Brunelleschi in Florence, to Bellini in Venice, through to the flourishing of the High Renaissance in Rome with Michelangelo and Raphael and in Venice with Titian and Giorgione.

The impact of the unique cultural and geographical contexts of these different locations, coupled with their different systems of patronage and political structures, will be interrogated in relation to the artworks produced there.

The course will be arranged across three terms, with Florence, Venice and Rome each taking the focus for one term. Students are welcome to join for the entire year, or for one or two terms depending on their interest and availability.

Detailed coursebooks will be available for an additional fee of £25 per term, payable in cash on the first lesson of each term.

An exciting addition: non-compulsory in-situ study tours will be available for this course. More details can be found at: www.katyblatt.com/tours

Katy‘s passion for Art History is infectious. She studied Art History at Cambridge University (BA) and the Courtauld Institute of Art (MA). She went on to work at MoMA in New York, Tate Britain, London, the Soane Museum, London, and the Charles Rennie Mackintosh School of Art, Glasgow. She has also lectured at the National Gallery, London and has authored several books, including ‘Leonardo and the Virgin of the Rocks’ (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018).

Katy has over fifteen years’ experience teaching Art History at A-Level, as well as being Head of Department, at some of the top Independent Schools in the country, including Godolphin and Latymer, Queen’s College and Christ’s Hospital. She is an A-Level Examiner and has also been Oxbridge Coordinator, writing the definitive guide to ‘Getting into Oxford and Cambridge’ (Trotman,  2011/12).

In 2022 she founded the School of Art History and Cultural Studies, and as its director Katy gives lectures and runs courses for adult learners, and leads brilliant tours to European cultural centres, including Florence. Since 2023 she has been presenting a documentary on Leonardo da Vinci. She is also working on an AHRC-funded PhD project on the topic of matrescence and art. For more information see: www.katyblatt.com