Topics explore themes and problems, often reflect current research interests of the instructor, and supplement regular curricular offerings. Open to all interested students, including graduate students. Some background in art history desirable. For specific questions concerning preparation for a 190 course, please see individual instructor. Detailed descriptions of current and future offerings in this series available in 416 Doe Library.

The art of painting was highly valued in the ancient Mediterranean. This course seeks to examine the relationship between the earlier pictorial traditions of the Italian peninsula — particularly that of the Etruscans, the Romans and beyond. The course will present the surviving evidence for a wide range of pictorial representations. It will include a sampling of the surviving paintings from Etruscan tombs; the earliest pictorial remains from the city of Rome itself; and elaborate suites of painted rooms found in Pompeii and Herculaneum. What can different “painted spaces,” i.e., funerary, civic, religious and secular tell us about the significant ways wall paintings exercised decorative power and agency? This course will examine the deeper meaning of the decorative and communicative programs of the painted world of ancient Italy (and beyond) with special attention to issues related to illusion, memory and prosperity. This course fulfills the following HA Major requirements: Geographical area (A) and Chronological period (I).

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Requirements class fulfills