University of St Andrews

Key information

SCOTCAT credits : 30

ECTS credits : 15

Level : SCQF level 10

Semester: 2

Availability restrictions: Not automatically available to General Degree students

Planned timetable: tba

This module explores the relationship between science and the visual arts in Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Drawing on a wide range of materials - from still life paintings and illustrated albums, to books of secrets and maps - we will study the ways in which artists and artworks informed knowledge-making practices in fields like natural history, medicine, the study of vision and cartography. At the same time, we will explore the impact of such disciplines on the development of ideas and practices relevant to the work of artists and their publics. While focusing on Europe, much attention will be placed on extra-European contexts, the Spanish Americas in particular. The module is organised around specific but interconnected themes, including: eyewitnessing and the rise of naturalism; new worlds and their images; the visual culture of bodies and diseases; wonder, curiosity and the cultures of collecting; vision and its instruments; science, technology and visual media.

Relationship to other modules

Pre-requisite(s): Before taking this module you must pass AH2001 and pass AH2002

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact: 1 x 2-hour lecture (x 11 weeks), 1 x 1-hour tutorial (x 11 weeks), 2 x office hour (x 12 weeks).

Scheduled learning hours: 33

Guided independent study hours: 280

Assessment pattern

As used by St Andrews: Coursework = 100%

As defined by QAA
Written examinations : 0%
Practical examinations : 0%
Coursework: 100%

Re-assessment: Coursework = 100%

Personnel

Module coordinator: Dr R M Ezra
Module teaching staff: Dr J Marcaida Lopez
Module coordinator email rme5@st-andrews.ac.uk

Intended learning outcomes

• understand several major developments in the visual culture of European scientific knowledge in the early modern period
• consider the particular trajectories of various well-known and lesser-known visual materials and individuals, representative of such developments
• assess the main historiographical debates associated with the study of the relationship between art and science in the early modern period
• critically discuss a work of art on the basis of solid visual analysis
• conduct independent research through the use of library resources, the study of artworks and period sources, and other forms of art historical investigation
• participate in constructive group discussion and present their ideas to others