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ONLINE ART HISTORY COURSE

Eating Right in the Renaissance: Food and Feasting in Art

LIVE ART HISTORY COURSE with Dr. Laurinda Dixon

Dates: October 5, October 12, October 19
Schedule: Wednesdays
Time: 5:00 – 6:30pm ET | 2:00 – 3:30pm PT |
10:00 – 11:30pm London
Contact Hours: 4.5 Hours

Special offer

Details

ONLINE ART HISTORY COURSE
Eating Right in the Renaissance: Food and Feasting in Art

Course Description:

Gluttony:  “O gluttony, it is to thee we owe our griefs!”
– Geoffrey Chaucer (1342-1400)

Delighting in a good meal is a primal pleasure, and most people construct their diets according to individual preferences.  However, in the Renaissance, food carried deep meaning, and eating was more strictly controlled and monitored by history, tradition, and medical theory.  The consumption of food was strictly designed to attract the celestial powers of the planets and zodiac, with the ultimate aim of attaining and maintaining a balance of qualities within the body. We will examine how depictions of food and feasting reveal the care and attention individuals employed in constructing their diets according to the macrocosmic realms of humoral medicine, astrology, and Christian morality. Create a menu, constructed according to the rules of Renaissance diets, and considering your individual medical, astrological profile. You will never construct a menu the same way after being introduced to the multi-faceted art of Renaissance food and feasting.

Instructor:

Laurinda Dixon is a specialist in northern European Renaissance art. Currently retired, she served as the William F. Tolley Distinguished Professor of Teaching in the Humanities at Syracuse University for many years. Her scholarship considers the intersection of art and science – particularly alchemy, medicine, astrology, and music – from the fifteenth though the nineteenth centuries. She has lectured widely in both the USA and Europe, and is the author of many articles, reviews, and eleven books, including Perilous Chastity: Women and Illness in Pre-Enlightenment Art and Medicine (1995), Bosch (2003), and The Dark Side of Genius: The Melancholic Persona in Art, ca. 1500-1700 (2013). Laurinda holds a Ph.D. in art history from Boston University, as well as a degree in piano performance from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. She currently resides in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Virtual Classroom: Full access to an online educational platform with discussion forum, videos of recordings, syllabus, and reading list.

Location: LIVE INTERACTIVE ON-LINE ART HISTORY LECTURES

Optional Readings:
Readings to be provided to students in PDF format prior to the beginning of course.

Complete syllabus will be provided upon registration.

  • ALL LECTURES WILL BE RECORDED AND AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING AT YOUR CONVENIENCE IN OUR VIDEO LIBRARY FOR THE DURATION OF THE COURSE

Schedule

LECTURE 1 – FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

– Wednesday,

Fruits and vegetables. Learn how to make a healthy Renaissance salad, keeping in mind your unique humoral make-up, birth horoscope, circle of friends, and occupation.

LECTURE 2 – MEAT

– Wednesday,

Meat became newly accessible in the Renaissance.  Learn about the political meanings, moral ramifications, and class divisions embodied in depictions of this luxury food.

LECTURE 3 – GLUTTONY

– Wednesday,

 Gluttony was one of the seven venial sins in the Renaissance. Discover how images of drunkenness and over-eating were associated with impiety, political events, and social class divisions. 

Instructor

Laurinda Dixon is a specialist in northern European Renaissance art. Currently retired, she served as the William F. Tolley Distinguished Professor of Teaching in the Humanities at Syracuse University for many years. Her scholarship considers the intersection of art and science – particularly alchemy, medicine, astrology, and music – from the fifteenth though the nineteenth centuries. She has lectured widely in both the USA and Europe, and is the author of many articles, reviews, and eleven books, including Perilous Chastity: Women and Illness in Pre-Enlightenment Art and Medicine (1995), Bosch (2003), and The Dark Side of Genius: The Melancholic Persona in Art, ca. 1500-1700 (2013). Laurinda holds a Ph.D. in art history from Boston University, as well as a degree in piano performance from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. She currently resides in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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