Reinventing Antiquity - HOA00004C

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  • Department: History of Art
  • Module co-ordinator: Information currently unavailable
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: C
  • Academic year of delivery: 2019-20

Module summary

'Reinventing Antiquity' deals with one the most fundamental characteristics of the discipline, its historical perspective. By taking up the theme of the revival and reinterpretation of classical antiquity, lectures and seminars will examine how a history came to be ascribed to art and how ideas about the past have influence in the present.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching cycle
A Spring Term 2019-20 to Summer Term 2019-20

Module aims

 'Reinventing Antiquity' deals with one the most fundamental characteristics of the discipline, its historical perspective. By taking up the theme of the revival and reinterpretation of classical antiquity, lectures and seminars will examine how a history came to be ascribed to art and how ideas about the past have influence in the present. As will become apparent, similar forms can take on dramatically different meanings at certain historical moments. For example we may look at how Christianity adapted pagan building types and iconography for new sacred purposes; at how classicism has been the visual language of political power from Constantine to Mussolini; at how mythic narratives provided resource for the exploration of the unconscious in the modern period. The reception and interpretation of antiquity has been dramatically affected by stunning rediscoveries and archaeological finds which gives us cause to think carefully about treating history in a strictly linear fashion.

Module learning outcomes

  • A sense of historical perspective, acquired through a study of the transformations of the art of antiquity over two millenia.
  • A broad understanding of the chronology of the classical tradition, from antiquity to the present.
  • The ability to identify and analyse the use of classical types in later art.
  • The ability to employ the appropriate terminology.

Assessment

Task Length % of module mark
University - closed examination
Reinventing Antiquity		 2 hours 100

Special assessment rules

None

Reassessment

Task Length % of module mark
University - closed examination
Reinventing Antiquity		 2 hours 100

Module feedback

Feedback on formative assessment within one week.

Feedback on summative assessment within 20 working days.

Indicative reading

  • Donald Strong, Roman Art, prepared for press by J.M.C. Toynbee, revised by Roger Ling (second edition, New Haven and London, 1988)
  • J.B. Ward-Perkins, Roman Imperial Architecture (New Haven and London, 1994)
  • Richard Krautheirmer, Rome, Profile of a City (312-1308) (Princeton, 1980)
  • John Onians,  Bearers of Meaning, The Classical Orders in Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance (Cambridge, 1988)
  • Erwin Panofsky, Idea, A concept in Art Theory, English trans. (New York, 1968)
  • Erwin Panofsky, Renaissance and Renascences (London, 1970)
  • Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny, Taste and the Antique (New Haven, 1981)
  • Hugh Honour, Neoclassicism (Harmondsworth, 1968)

  • You are strongly advised to buy this book:

  • John Summerson, The Classical Language of Architecture (revised edition, London, 1980)


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University is constantly exploring ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary by the University. Where appropriate, the University will notify and consult with affected students in advance about any changes that are required in line with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.