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Seeing & Being Seen: English Art in the 14th Century - HOA00062I

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  • Department: History of Art
  • Module co-ordinator: Prof. Tim Ayers
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: I
  • Academic year of delivery: 2021-22

Module summary

This course explores the importance of the visual in a century that saw great changes in English society, economy and politics; including the Black Death, the Hundred Years War and, ultimately, the replacement of the ruling Plantagenet dynasty. How may these be related to changes in representation?

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Spring Term 2021-22

Module aims

This course explores the importance of the visual in a century that saw great changes in English society, economy and politics; including the Black Death, the Hundred Years War and, ultimately, the replacement of the ruling Plantagenet dynasty. How may these be related to changes in representation?


Taking advantage of a rich literature on medieval bodies, visualities and identities, the course will range in scope from academic theories of vision, to wider understandings of the importance of sight and the senses, and medieval aesthetics. Themes include the development of portraiture, and the role of the visual in the fulfilment of spiritual needs, both public and personal. At court and on the battlefield, colourful display was a central part of royal and aristocratic life in this ‘age of chivalry’, in a culture that spanned the channel. The period witnessed the production of such individual wonders as the Luttrell Psalter and the Wilton Diptych, but also the development of architectural spaces, such as Ely cathedral and York Minster, in which art was part of ritual and performance.

 

The materials for study are extremely rich in York, especially in the Minster.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should have acquired:

  • A familiarity with a wide range of artworks and buildings produced in England during the 14th century.
  • An understanding of current critical debates about medieval visuality and aesthetics.
  • The ability to analyse art and architecture in contexts both secular and ecclesiastical, and to think about relationships between them.

Assessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
Seeing & Being Seen Assessed Essay		 N/A 100

Special assessment rules

None

Reassessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
Seeing & Being Seen Assessed Essay		 N/A 100

Module feedback

Students will receive feedback on their assessed formative work within one week.

Students will receive feedback on their assessed summative work within 20 working days.

Indicative reading

Age of Chivalry, Art in Plantagenet England, 1200–1400, exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1987

P. Binski, Westminster Abbey and the Plantagenets, Kingship and the Representation of Power, 1200–1400, New Haven (CT)/London, 1995

P. Binski, Gothic Wonder, Art, Artifice and the Decorated Style, 1290-1350, New Haven/London, 2014

C. M. Carruthers, The Experience of Beauty in the Middle Ages, , Oxford, 2013

J. Hamburger and A.-M. Bouché (eds.), The Mind’s Eye: Art and Theological Argument in the Middle Ages, Princeton, 2006

C. M. Woolgar, The Senses in Late Medieval England, New Haven/London, 2006


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.