Module manager: Dr Richard Checketts
Email: r.s.checketts@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2026/27
This module is not approved as a discovery module
This module presents a critical introduction to the history of Renaissance art, both in Europe and in Europe’s wider global networks in the early modern period. Taking as our starting point the provocative notion of ‘anti-Renaissance’―explored in one frame of reference by the Italian art historian Eugenio Battisti, but useful for understanding a range of critical approaches to the subject―we will think through the Renaissance as a dynamic site of conflict, contestation, and experiment. Against more commonplace ideas of Renaissance art as the expression of a linear ‘progress’―towards naturalistic depiction, towards a rational approach to the world, towards the triumph of the ‘individual’―we will attend to a more complex pattern of tendencies and counter-tendencies, and to the instability, contingency, and uncertainties shadowing the Renaissance ‘ideals’ presumed in more conventional approaches. The module holds that art in this period can be understood as central to a widespread series of transformations and crises that constituted European culture in the sixteenth- and seventeenth centuries, with a view both to the more familiar elite spaces in which art was made and encountered, and to the broader and more complex shaping of Renaissance culture by social conflict and violence, by witchcraft and magic, by imperialism, war and famine. Please note this is an optional module and runs subject to enrolments. If a low number of students choose this module, then the module may not run and you may be asked to choose another module.
The module is structured around a series of critical engagements with key questions attending the historical study of art and culture in the European Renaissance. Through detailed case-studies, readings in the key literature and primary sources, seminar discussion and group work, you will develop a broad knowledge of the topic, and the critical and scholarly resources to develop in-depth independent research in this field of study.
On successful completion of the module, you will be able to:
1- Demonstrate a broad, critical understanding of Renaissance art and cultural frameworks.
2- Assess the different ways in which artistic production related to broader social transformation in the sixteenth- and seventeenth centuries.
3- Evaluate different historical and critical methodologies in the relevant literatures in this field of study.
4- Identify a focused research question drawing on one or more of the topics covered in the module.
Skills Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module you will be able to:
5- Communicate effectively in written form to articulate an argument, supported by relevant evidence and adhering to academic convention.
6- Weigh up different arguments and perspectives, using supporting evidence to form opinions, arguments, theories and ideas.
7- Formulate reasoned arguments under time pressure.
Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| seminars | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Lecture | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Private study hours | 180 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 20 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
Throughout the module, students will receive feedback (including peer-to-peer) through seminar discussion and group work. In addition, there is a mid-term literature review designed to develop students’ critical use of appropriate sources, forming key preparation for the essay.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | written | 50 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 50 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
| Exam type | Exam duration | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Standard exam (closed essays, MCQs etc) | 1.0 Hrs 0 Mins | 50 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Exams) | 50 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
Check the module area in Minerva for your reading list
Last updated: 30/04/2026
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team