Renaissance Venice: Society, Politics, Visual Culture (1500-1600)

Renaissance Venice: Society, Politics, Visual Culture (1500-1600) is a Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies class taught by Jutta Sperling.

Course Description
This core course on the history and visual culture of Renaissance Venice will be taught in conjunction with an exhibition of major works by Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese at the MFA in Boston. Starting from an analysis of the art works, we will discuss central questions in Venetian history such as: the defense of republicanism, civic liberties, and political independence; Venice's anti-papal Catholic identity and its trade relations with German protestants; the gendered representation of charity and the organization of a welfare-state; the eroticization of the female body and political discourse; sodomy, marriage, and the formation of "straight" kinship; male domesticity, women's properties, and convent culture; women writers, courtesans, and the printing press; Venice and the Ottomans in an age of Atlantic discoveries. Pending approval, this course will be followed by a 10-day trip to Venice in early May.

Learning Goals

 * Reading
 * Writing
 * Project-based
 * Presenting