The study of wall painting unites some of the most defining elements of Renaissance artistic practices: Questions of patronage, spirituality, materiality and illusionism, architecture, time, and narrative arise from the many options of covering walls with murals. We will examine the changes from Medieval traditions, Cimabue, and Giotto to the classical Italian Renaissance examples (Fra Angelico, Ghirlandaio, Benozzo Gozzoli, Pisanello, Mantegna, the Ferrarese painters, Botticelli, Perugino, Raphael, Michelangelo) and their impact on later re-inventions of walls and wall decoration (Leonardo, Palladio, the Carracci, Correggio, Giulio Romano, Veronese, Tiepolo).

If there is interest in a field trip to San Francisco, we will compare the Italian Renaissance examples to modern Californian large-scale murals.

This course fulfills the following Major requirements: Geographical areas (A) and Chronological period (II), based on the topic of the final research paper or project.