Hispanic Painting from the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque Eras

The main goal of this course is to analyze art. Focusing on aesthetics, we will learn to appreciate the differences between Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque painting. Regarding formal elements we will work on the use of lines, colors, proportions, and perspective. Artistic appreciation will be complemented with readings on historical and theoretical issues with respect to the intersection among imperial power and religion, race, and ethnicity (Casta painting), mythology, the use of the body as a metaphor, and still-lifes, and Vanitas painting. Students will compare artistic manifestations from Spain and the New World, and will be able to trace connections with contemporary art. Students will engage in at least one creative project using Photoshop. Among the artists we will study are: El Greco, Velázquez, Josefa de Óbidos, Goya (Spain), Illescas and The Quito School of Art, Villalpando, Correa, and Cabrera (México), Zapata, Master of Calamarca and many anonymous painters from the Cusco School (Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia).