McIntire Department of Art

Rugby Faculty Apartments, 203 Rugby Road
University of Virginia
P.O. Box 400130
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4130
(434) 924-6123
artdept@virginia.edu
www.virginia.edu/finearts/ArtWelcome.html

Degree Requirements

In addition to the entrance requirements of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, admission to graduate study in the history of art normally requires an average of B+ or better in an undergraduate major in the field and a command of either French, Italian, or German. Outstanding students who have majored in another field may be considered but, if admitted, should expect to take a certain number of basic undergraduate courses for which no degree credit will be granted.

Master of Arts Candidates for the degree of Master of Arts in the History of Art are required to pass a minimum of 30 credits of courses at the 500 level or above and a written comprehensive examinations in two major fields. A master’s essay is also required. Normally this program can be completed in four semesters.

Students who focus on Western art are expected to take at least one course in each of the five major areas-Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance, Modern, and Non-Western art-as well as ARTH 501, Library Methodology, and ARTH 801, Theory and Interpretation. Students who focus on Asian art are expected to take courses in both South and East Asian art, at least one course in three of the major areas of Western art, as well as ARTH 501, Library Methodology and ARTH 801, Theory and Interpretation. The remaining courses may be spread among the student’s two major fields, or other fields as they and their advisors deem useful.

For students of Western art, reading knowledge of German and either French or Italian is required. For students in Asian studies knowledge of German or French is required. Proficiency in at least one of these languages must be demonstrated during the first semester of study. Proficiency in the second language must be demonstrated early in the second year of study. The student must satisfy this requirement by passing an examination administered by the department.

Doctor of Philosophy To enter the doctoral program, the student must obtain the permission of the faculty. For students who wish to continue, application is made as work for the M.A. is completed, usually in the second semester of the second year. In exceptional cases, the faculty will review a student’s work after the first year of graduate study and give that student permission to enter the Ph.D. program after completing M.A. course work. Such students do not complete the comprehensive examination and the master’s essay and do not receive a master’s degree. Doctoral candidates are required to complete successfully a minimum of 24 credits of courses at the 500 level or above, beyond those required for the master’s degree. They must also pass a written examination in the major field, write a dissertation, and, after the dissertation has been accepted, defend it in an oral examination.

Each student’s program is to be approved by the Departmental Director of Graduate Studies. A member of the graduate faculty in the student’s field of specialization must approve a dissertation proposal outlining the subject and scope of the dissertation and a research plan. When the proposal has been approved by the advisor and members of a dissertation committee chosen by the student in consultation with the advisor, it will be circulated among the faculty, who may offer comments or suggestions. In addition to the languages required for the M.A. degree, students may be required to have a reading knowledge of other languages necessary for work in their major field.

Program in Classical Art and Archaeology

In addition to its regular degree programs, the Department of Art sponsors an interdisciplinary program in classical art and archaeology, leading to the degrees of M.A. and Ph.D. The program encourages the student to acquire a broad understanding of ancient culture. Reading knowledge of Greek and Latin is encouraged; credit is given for courses in ancient studies offered by other departments. Course work outside the Department of Art may lead to the choice of a special field in ancient history, religion, philosophy, or literature. In order that the student be acquainted with the survival and transformation of ancient art in the post-Classical period, course work in early medieval art is also required. At an appropriate stage in their graduate study, students in the program are encouraged to do field work in archaeology at an ancient site.

Although the program is flexible, a course in theory and methodology, such as ARTH 801, is required. The curriculum is determined by students’ preparation, interests, and needs, with about two-thirds of the ten courses needed for the M.A. concentrated in ancient study. Students prepare for the Comprehensive Examination in the two fields of ancient and early medieval art. Language requirements in French and German are met before students take the Comprehensive Examination.

Course Descriptions

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History of Art

ARTH 501 - (1) (Y)
Library Methodology in the Visual Arts
Required for all entering graduate students. Introduces the bibliography of the visual arts including architecture, archaeology, painting, sculpture, and the graphic arts. Specific research and reference publications are analyzed in terms of their scope, special features, and applications to meeting research and information needs.

ARTH 516 - (3) (IR)
Roman Architecture
Prerequisite: Instructor Permission.
Surveys Roman architecture in Italy and the Roman Empire from the Republic to Constantine, emphasizing developments in the city of Rome.

ARTH 518 - (3) (IR)
Roman Imperial Art and Architecture I
Prerequisite: Instructor Permission.
Studies Roman sculpture, painting, architecture and minor arts from Augustus to Trajan.

ARTH 519 - (3) (IR)
Roman Imperial Art and Architecture II
Prerequisite: Instructor Permission.
Studies Roman sculpture, mosaics, architecture and minor arts from Trajan to Constantine.

ARTH 522 - (3) (IR)
Byzantine Art
Prerequisite: Instructor Permission.
Studies the art of Byzantium and its cultural dependencies from its roots in the late Antique period to the last flowering under the Palaeologan dynasty.

ARTH 533 - (3) (IR)
Italian Fifteenth Century Painting I
Prerequisite: Instructor permission.
Studies the major and minor masters of the Quattrocento in Florence, Siena, Central Italy, Venice, and North Italy.

ARTH 536 - (3) (IR)
Italian Sixteenth-Century Painting
Studies the High Renaissance, Mannerism, the Maniera, and related movements in Cinquecento painting.

ARTH 537 - (3) (IR)
Italian Renaissance Sculpture I
Prerequisite: Instructor permission.
Studies the major developments in Italian sculpture from the late Dugento through the early Quattrocento.

ARTH 547 - (3) (IR)
Dutch Painting in the Golden Age
Surveys the major artists and schools of the United Provinces from about 1580-1680, including Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Vermeer, and Jacob van Ruisdael, seen in the context of Dutch culture and history. Emphasizes the iconographic method of interpreting daily-life genre and landscape, the role of theory in Dutch art, and the character of Dutch realism.

ARTH 561 - (3) (IR)
Approaches to American Art
Introduces historiography and methodology of American art history from earliest discussions to the present, through an analysis of one particular mode (e.g., portraiture, landscape, genre) over time.

ARTH 562 - (3) (IR)
Representations of Race in American Art
Examines the depiction of Asian, Blacks, Indians, and Latinos in American art from colonial times to the present, in order to identify and describe some of the ways in which visual images have functioned in the construction and reinforcement of racial mythologies.

ARTH 583 - (3) (IR)
Representations of Race in American Art
Surveys Africa's chief forms of visual art from prehistoric times to the present.

ARTH 590 - (3) (Y)
Museum Studies
Prerequisite: 9-12 credits in art history or instructor permission.
A lecture course on the nature of public art collections, how they have been formed, and the role they play in society. Examines the concept of connoisseurship and its role in collecting art for museums.

ARTH 591, 592 - (3) (S)
Advanced Readings in the History of Art

ARTH 713, 714 - (3) (S)
Research Problems in Ancient Art
Reading and research on problems in Greek, Etruscan, and Roman art.

ARTH 721, 722 - (3) (S)
Research Problems in Medieval Art
Reading and research on problems in medieval art and its social background.

ARTH 731, 732, 733 - (3) (S)
Research Problems in Italian Art
Reading and research on problems in Italian art and its social background.

ARTH 736 - (3) (S)
Research Problems in Northern Renaissance Art
Reading and research on problems in Northern European art in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

ARTH 741, 742 - (3) (S)
Research Problems in Baroque Art
Reading and research on problems in the art of the seventeenth century in Western Europe.

ARTH 751 - (3) (S)
Research Problems in Eighteenth-Century Art
Reading and research on problems in the art of the eighteenth century.

ARTH 752, 753 - (3) (S)
Research Problems in Nineteenth-Century Art
Reading and research on problems in nineteenth-century art.

ARTH 756 - (3) (S)
Research Problems in Twentieth Century Art
Reading and research on problems in twentieth-century art.

ARTH 761 - (3) (S)
Research Problems in American Art
Reading and research on problems in American art.

ARTH 764 - (3) (S)
Research Problems in African American Art
Reading and research on problems in African American art.

ARTH 767 - (3) (S)
Research Problems in Contemporary Art
Reading and research on problem in contemporary art.

ARTH 771 - (3) (S)
Research Problems in East Asian Art
Reading and research on problems in East Asian art.

ARTH 775 - (3) (S)
Research Problems in South Asian Art
Reading and research on problems in South Asian art.

ARTH 780 - (3) (S)
Research Problems in Non-Western Art
Reading and research on problems in non-Western art.

ARTH 801 - (3) (Y)
Theory and Interpretation in the Visual Arts
Analyzes the literature of art theory with a view to defining the most important alternatives available to art historical writing today. Reviews the work of "critical" historians of art including Wolfflin, Riegl and Panofsky, and more recent attempts to develop phenomenological, semiotic, Marxist, and feminist positions.

ARTH 822 - (3) (IR)
Art in the Age of Justinian
Studies the art of the Byzantine Empire of the sixth century, the personal role of Justinian, the impact of theological controversies and political realities, and the artistic legacy.

ARTH 827 - (3) (IR)
English Art from the Twelfth through the Fourteenth Centuries
Studies in church building and decoration, and manuscript illumination.

ARTH 833 - (3) (IR)
The Formation of Renaissance Style in Florence
Studies the new art of the early Quattrocento in sculpture, architecture, and painting; its sources, protagonists, principles, and historical background.

ARTH 837 - (3) (IR)
Studies in Renaissance Art and Literature
Studies of historical and stylistic relationships between artists and writers of the sixteenth century. The works of Ariosto, Dossi, Castiglione, Raphael, and others will be considered in an attempt to define specific patterns of sixteenth-century intellectual and cultural history.

ARTH 838 - (3) (IR)
Michelangelo
Studies the development of Michelangelo's style in sculpture, painting, drawing, and architecture including problems of attribution, chronology, and interpretation.

ARTH 856 - (3) (IR)
Problems in Twentieth-Century Art
Investigates selected problems and periods in the art of this century.

ARTH 880 - (3) (IR)
Modern Poetry and the Visual Arts
Investigates the meaning of painting, sculpture, and architecture to poets of the 19th and 20th centuries. Discusses their poetry in relation to the aesthetics of visual art, art history, and art criticism. Cross-listed as ENSP 880.

ARTH 890 - (3) (IR)
Advanced Museum Studies or Studies in Museum Exhibition and Interpretation
Artifactual study and related scholarship in preparation for museum exhibition and analysis of strategies of past and present exhibition interpretation.

ARTH 895 - (3-12) (S)
Special Reading Problems in the History of Art

ARTH 897 - (3-12) (Y)
Non-Topical Research, Preparation for Research
For master’s research, taken before a thesis director has been selected.

ARTH 898 - (3-12) (Y)
Non-Topical Research
For master’s thesis, taken under the supervision of a thesis director.

ARTH 913, 914 - (3) (IR)
Seminar in Greek Art
Investigates problems in Greek sculpture and painting.

ARTH 917, 918 - (3) (IR)
Seminar in Roman Art
Investigates problems in Roman art.

ARTH 921 - (3) (IR)
Seminar in Byzantine Art
Investigates problems in the art of the Byzantine Empire from the 6th to the 15th centuries.

ARTH 924 - (3) (IR)
Seminar in Romanesque Art
Investigates problems in the art of Western Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries.

ARTH 929 - (3) (IR)
Seminar in Gothic Art
Investigates problems in European art of the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries.

ARTH 931 - (3) (IR)
Seminar in Italian Renaissance Art
Investigates problems in Italian art of the 13th through the 16th centuries.

ARTH 935 - (3) (IR)
Seminar in Italian Renaissance Painting
Investigates problems in Italian painting of the 15th and 16th centuries.

ARTH 936 - (3) (IR)
Seminar in Northern Renaissance Art
Investigates problems in the art of the Netherlands and Germany in the 15th and 16th centuries.

ARTH 947 - (3) (IR)
Seminar in Northern Baroque Art
Investigates problems in the art of the Netherlands during the 17th century.

ARTH 951 - (3) (IR)
Seminar in Eighteenth-Century Art
Investigates problems in 18th century art.

ARTH 952 - (3) (IR)
Seminar in Neoclassic Art
Investigates problems in neoclassic art.

ARTH 953 - (3) (IR)
Seminar in Romantic Art
Investigates problems in the art of the later 18th and first half of the 19th century in Europe.

ARTH 955 - (3) (IR)
Seminar in Nineteenth-Century Art
Investigates problems in the art of the 19th century in Europe.

ARTH 956 - (3) (IR)
Seminar in Modern Art
Investigates problems in the art of the 19th and 20th centuries.

ARTH 961 - (3) (IR)
Seminar in American Art
Investigates problems in American art.

ARTH 964 - (3) (IR)
Seminar in African American Art
Investigates problems in 19th- and 20th-century art by Americans of African descent.

ARTH 967 - (3) (IR)
Seminar in Contemporary Art
Investigates the relationship between a current problem in contemporary art (e.g., censorship, gender representation, aesthetic pluralism, or multiculturalism) and current theories about the socially constructed nature of art production/consumption.

ARTH 971 - (3) (IR)
Seminar in East Asian Art

ARTH 975 - (3) (IR)
Seminar in South Asian Art

ARTH 995 - (3-12) (S)
Supervised Research

ARTH 997 - (3-12) (S)
Non-Topical Research, Preparation for Doctoral Research
For doctoral research, taken before a dissertation director has been selected.

ARTH 999 - (3-12) (S)
Non-Topical Research
For doctoral dissertation, taken under the supervision of a dissertation director.