Courses

Introduction to Museum Studies

Credit hours: 3--Contact hours: 45

Dept: Art and Design

Course Description:
During the course students will explore the history of collecting objects. They will start with the sacred collections of Classical temples, passing then to the libraries of Medieval monasteries and the ideas of the Abbot Suger. They will imagine recreating a Medieval Schatzkammer and an Early Renaissance Studiolo thanks to the remaining precious vases that belonged to Lorenzo the Magnificent and the documents of the Urbino Palace and Isabella d’Este Studiolo. They will ‘virtually’ visit the Paolo Giovio collection, the Studiolo of Francesco I as well as 16th and 17th century Baroque Galleries. They will follow the growth of European National Museums of the nineteenth century (Louvre, Hermitage, Museums Island in Berlin) as symbols of national pride. An in depth study will be done on the Uffizi Gallery in order to understand the transformation of the gallery from the late 16th century to the present day.

Through museum visits in Florence and Rome students will realize that most of the artworks actually displayed in public museums once belonged to private collectors and were not produced to be seen by a large public.

Visiting contemporary museums located in ancient buildings, students will have the opportunity to think about the difficulties and the methods of museological display and their effects on the contemporary visitor’s perception of art history.

Through class discussions we will examine the role of the museum in contemporary society and the worldwide fame attained by some works of art, which have gained the status of contemporary icons.