Course Title: 01:082:492 Capstone in Art History
Required of art history majors. Non-majors may take this class, if space allows.
SPECIAL PERMISSION REQUIRED
Mode of Instruction: Seminar
Course Prerequisites and Corequisites: 01:082:105,106 and permission of instructor.
Course Description:
Advanced study in selected area of art history.
Spring 2027 - The Icon: Power, Idolatry, and Destruction
As the most powerful and controversial image of the Middle Ages, the icon (a portrait of either Christ, the Virgin or another saint) was subject to responses reaching from intense worship to jealousy and sheer destruction. With roots in ancient portraiture and galvanized by a growing popular need to experience the invisible in tangible and concrete fashions, the icon both manifested itself in various types and media and prompted its own medieval theory of images. What defines an icon? Where does its visual power originate? How could the viewer of an icon avoid falling into idolatry, and what impact did the icon have on other visual imagery of the Middle Ages?
Instructor: Laura Weigert
Disclaimer: These course descriptions/synopses pages have been provided as samples and the information should not be considered accurate or current. For actual course information, refer to the course site hosted by a Rutgers Learning Management System (Sakai, Canvas, etc.) as of first day of class.