Architectural Space and Decoration in Eighteenth-Century Europe
(Seminar) FINH-GA 3033-001
Professor Meredith Martin
Spring 2014

This seminar explores the eighteenth-century European interior through an integrated analysis of architecture, painting, sculpture, and decorative arts. Interiors were dynamic, and at times controversial, sites of artistic and social experimentation in the eighteenth century. Whether they were decorated in the rococo, neoclassical, or chinoiserie styles, interiors were believed to shape and express evolving notions of power, identity, taste, and desire.… Read more

The Art of Diplomacy: Cross-Cultural Exchange in France, c. 1660-1860
(Seminar) FINH-GA 3033-001
Meredith Martin
Spring 2015

This seminar explores the dynamic relationship among art, diplomacy and global exchange in France from the reign of Louis XIV to the mid-nineteenth century. By closely studying diplomatic embassies sent to France from different parts of Europe as well as the Ottoman Empire, Persia, North Africa, and Southeast Asia, we examine the bidirectional impact that these encounters had on art and culture, science and technology, economic and colonial policies, politics, and identity.… Read more

Versailles Reconsidered (Seminar)
FINH-GA 3031-001 (#20585)
Meredith Martin 
SPRING 2016

In addition to surveying the standard literature on Versailles, this seminar draws upon new scholarship to offer a revisionist view of the palace and gardens from the seventeenth to twentyfirst centuries. We will focus in particular on situating the art, architecture and landscape of Versailles in a global context.… Read more

Proto-Histories of Art: Art Conservation as Embedded Theory
Alexander Nagel and Noemie Etienne
Spring 2015

This course reviews the practical remanaging, reframing, replacement, and restoration of works of art in Europe from the Middle Ages to the foundation of modern museums in the 18th and 19th centuries. Our premise is that these practices offer material testimony, practical thinking concerning the status and historicity of art from the centuries that preceded the development of the discipline of Art History.… Read more