Today, Botticelli's Birth of Venus, Michelangelo s Doni Tondo, Leonardo's Mona Lisa, and Titian's Venus of Urbino hang on museum walls, but each of these paintings was originally commissioned for a specifically domestic setting. Paintings such as these helped to shape the very fabric of everyday life for their original owners and viewers. This seminar focuses on the domestic setting as a physical, social, and historical context for the investigation of images once housed within the walls of the Renaissance palace (including devotional art, ritual objects, painted furniture, and portraiture). We will pose questions regarding the relationship between these images and the families who lived with them, focusing especially on aspects of gender and identity. Requirements: class discussion and presentations, a 15- to 20-page paper, and a possible field trip to New York. Prerequisites: ArtH 101-102. Enrollment limit: 12. Open to juniors and seniors as well as graduate students; open to first-year students and sophomores by permission of instructor only.

Hour: SOLUM