Art in Renaissance Venice


Well-constructed but slightly dull course from the Open University on 15th century art in Venice.  

The content of the course was excellent with a concentration on the work of the Bellini workshop under three headings, style, portraits and history paintings with a good overview at the start. There is an emphasis on the role of Byzantium and the East rather than classical antiquity in defining the art of the city.

However, the style of presentation was a series of articles with no interactive content. It’s strange how quickly in lockdown we have come to expect a more engaging format and to give this course credit it was written long before current events. It would have been more stimulating however to have even had a Powerpoint with voice over so that you could see the image while listening to a description of its importance. I don’t think the course gave me anything that a good short book might have done.

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