AH4236 Images and Knowledge in Early Modern Europe

Academic year

2023 to 2024 Semester 2

Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.

Key module information

SCOTCAT credits

30

The Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SCOTCAT) system allows credits gained in Scotland to be transferred between institutions. The number of credits associated with a module gives an indication of the amount of learning effort required by the learner. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits are half the value of SCOTCAT credits.

SCQF level

SCQF level 10

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) provides an indication of the complexity of award qualifications and associated learning and operates on an ascending numeric scale from Levels 1-12 with SCQF Level 10 equating to a Scottish undergraduate Honours degree.

Availability restrictions

Not automatically available to General Degree students

Planned timetable

tba

This information is given as indicative. Timetable may change at short notice depending on room availability.

Module coordinator

Dr R M Ezra

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module Staff

Dr J Marcaida Lopez

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module description

This module explores the relationship between science and the visual arts in Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Drawing on a wide range of materials - from still life paintings and illustrated albums, to books of secrets and maps - we will study the ways in which artists and artworks informed knowledge-making practices in fields like natural history, medicine, the study of vision and cartography. At the same time, we will explore the impact of such disciplines on the development of ideas and practices relevant to the work of artists and their publics. While focusing on Europe, much attention will be placed on extra-European contexts, the Spanish Americas in particular. The module is organised around specific but interconnected themes, including: eyewitnessing and the rise of naturalism; new worlds and their images; the visual culture of bodies and diseases; wonder, curiosity and the cultures of collecting; vision and its instruments; science, technology and visual media.

Relationship to other modules

Pre-requisites

BEFORE TAKING THIS MODULE YOU MUST PASS AH2001 AND PASS AH2002

Assessment pattern

Coursework = 100%

Re-assessment

Coursework = 100%

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

1 x 2-hour lecture (x 11 weeks), 1 x 1-hour tutorial (x 11 weeks), 2 x office hour (x 12 weeks).

Scheduled learning hours

33

The number of compulsory student:staff contact hours over the period of the module.

Guided independent study hours

280

The number of hours that students are expected to invest in independent study over the period of the module.

Intended learning outcomes

  • understand several major developments in the visual culture of European scientific knowledge in the early modern period
  • consider the particular trajectories of various well-known and lesser-known visual materials and individuals, representative of such developments
  • assess the main historiographical debates associated with the study of the relationship between art and science in the early modern period
  • critically discuss a work of art on the basis of solid visual analysis
  • conduct independent research through the use of library resources, the study of artworks and period sources, and other forms of art historical investigation
  • participate in constructive group discussion and present their ideas to others