JAN 409 - TRAVEL: Engaging Christian Art: Italy & France

Level:  Upper-division (400 Level)

Please note: First-year students are not permitted to travel internationally for Jan Term

Travel dates: Wednesday, Jan. 1 - Monday, Jan. 27, 2025

Course fee: $5,300

Contact: Tom Poundstone, tpoundst@stmarys-ca.edu

What shape should a church have, and how should it be decorated?  What symbols or scenes from the Bible would you feature, and how would you portray Jesus?  What do your answers to these questions say about your understanding of Jesus and theology?  Attempting to answer these questions will take us deep into the study of Christian art.

In this course we will study buildings, paintings, and sculptures in Italy and France that artists over the centuries have created to embody their understanding of the Christian faith. We’ll situate the works in various eras of art and architecture, ask what they reveal about how the artists understood the gospel, and consider the influence of these works on our understanding of the Christian faith.

We will go from studying the earliest Christian art in the catacombs to the radically new way of seeing ushered in by the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists.  Our primary texts will include some of the most famous churches and museums in the world: the Duomo and the Uffizi in Florence; St. Peter’s and the Vatican Museums in Rome; Notre Dame and the Louvre in Paris. Additional areas of study will be the art of the Early Church (the catacombs and Ravenna), Gothic architecture and stained glass in France (Chartres, Bourges, Paris), the Italian Renaissance (Ghiberti and Brunelleschi) and High Renaissance (Michelangelo and Raphael), and the flowering of the Baroque in Rome (Caravaggio, Bernini, Borromini), besides days spent studying art in wonderful towns like Assisi, Siena, and Orvieto.

Don’t mistake this course as merely a guided tour. A thorough knowledge of the sites and texts will be required on papers and examinations. In addition, each student will design her or his own review of the masterpieces of the Christian faith.

Prerequisites & Notes

• Grade of B- or higher in either TRS 097 (now TRS 281) or TRS 189 (now TRS 380-TRS 389)

• Attend at least 1 information session

• Permission of the instructor

General Travel Requirements

• Attend at least 1 Health & Safety Orientation (October)

• Submit a valid passport (November)

  • Apply or renew no later than September for on-time delivery

• Submit completed & signed health forms + proof of vaccination(s) (November)

Note: Failure to complete one or more of the above requirements will result in an immediate drop from the course. Once registered, all course fees are non-refundable. 

Credits: 3-CU