Art of the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period

Specialisation of: Art History
Degree: Master of Arts in Art History
Mode of Study: Full-time, part-time
Duration: 1 year
Start date: September, February
Language of instruction: English
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Art and Visual Culture of the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period is a specialisation of the master’s in Art History.

In Leiden, the study of the art and visual culture of the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period is distinguished by three central themes:

  • The interaction between Italy and the Low Countries
  • The interaction between the arts, in particular between painting or statues and their architectural setting
  • Renaissance institutions of art and the emergence of new genres

The information about this programme is available in the following languages:

Research interests of the staff include:

  • Alternative historiographies of Italian art, for instance in Venice
  • Prints and drawings, their collections and collectors; print culture as a way of creating and disseminating knowledge
  • The culture and politics of collecting; Wunderkammer and other early modern varieties of collecting

The MA in Art History is a comprehensive one-year programme, which offers you the chance to explore art history across a broad range of specialisms. The programme is unique in that it studies a substantial body of works of art, buildings and material culture from the early Middle Ages until the present day, and that these fields of specialisation are approached from a comparative perspective.

The Department of Art History also offers a two-year master’s programme. [link naar researchmaster]

Prof. Kitty Zijlmans

“For us, the close relationship between art, science and material culture is key to the study of art history.”

“We teach students to take a fresh approach to art and to ask themselves: What is our own concept of art? We can’t just apply our Western concept of art to works from other parts of the world, which is what we have been doing for centuries. International art history doesn’t just consist of European and American art.

The basic principle of World Art Studies is that art history is an approach to art from across the world. We, therefore, take a global and comparative perspective.

For example, we compare Western art with that of Asia. This ‘global’ aspect is a must in the world of today with its enormous wealth of art production. Moreover, students also want to know how Western art relates to other art traditions. Also, science plays an important role in our master’s programme.

In the present-day, very changeable world of art, there is room for many new forms and concepts. Artists, for example, raise such issues as the extent to which man can be moulded, and they make us look differently at political and ethical questions. What does art say about the times we live in?

We also incorporate into the master’s unique museum collections in Leiden, from Naturalis and Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, to the University Library with its special collections. For us, the close relationship between art, science and material culture is key to the study of art history. We are constantly making cross-overs.”