CL4606 Classical Collections

Academic year

2024 to 2025 Semester 1

Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.

Key module information

SCOTCAT credits

30

The Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SCOTCAT) system allows credits gained in Scotland to be transferred between institutions. The number of credits associated with a module gives an indication of the amount of learning effort required by the learner. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits are half the value of SCOTCAT credits.

SCQF level

SCQF level 10

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) provides an indication of the complexity of award qualifications and associated learning and operates on an ascending numeric scale from Levels 1-12 with SCQF Level 10 equating to a Scottish undergraduate Honours degree.

Planned timetable

TBC

This information is given as indicative. Timetable may change at short notice depending on room availability.

Module coordinator

Dr A I Petsalis-Diomidis

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module Staff

Dr Alexia Petsalis-Diomidis

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module description

Antiquities from the Mediterranean filled the grand houses and public museums of eighteenth and nineteenth-century Europe. These collections inspired creative imitations ranging from monumental architecture to tea sets. The module asks why and how these antiquities, rebranded as 'Classical art', acquired a key role in elite identity. It also explores the way in which social power structures shaped engagements with Classical art based on class, gender and ethnicity. We focus first on contact with antiquities in the Grand Tour to Italy and Greece, and examples of purchase, excavation and theft. Second, we study the display of Classical art in public and private spaces, and the kind of access and interpretations these fostered. Third, through a series of case studies and site visits (if circumstances permit), we explore neoclassical responses such as luxury publications, pottery, furniture, fashion, architecture, painting and sculpture. No previous knowledge of Classical art is assumed.

Assessment pattern

Coursework = 50% Written exam = 50%

Re-assessment

Written exam = 100%

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

2-hour seminar (X10 weeks)

Scheduled learning hours

0

The number of compulsory student:staff contact hours over the period of the module.

Guided independent study hours

280

The number of hours that students are expected to invest in independent study over the period of the module.

Intended learning outcomes

  • Identify and describe major ways in which classical art was collected and responded in the C18th and C19th centuries.
  • Discuss the uses of classical material culture in modernity in comparison to antiquity.
  • Analyse C18th and C19th collecting and reception in terms of their social and cultural contexts and, where appropriate, their ethical dimensions.
  • Formulate sophisticated arguments about collecting and reception of classical art using appropriate methodologies, scholarship and primary evidence.