Autumn Courses

i Lucien Pissarro, Old Mark's Field, Coldharbour, Surrey, 1915, oil on canvas, The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust) © The Courtauld.

Our Autumn courses go considerably beyond introductory surveys. Organised thematically, they provide a solid basis for further studies of areas of Western art from classical antiquity to the twentieth century.

The teaching day generally lasts from 10:00 to 16:30, with registration from 09:30 on the first day.

We teach in small groups to facilitate discussion.

Autumn on campus courses include:

  • Classroom sessions alongside visits to museums, galleries, print rooms or other sites where applicable.
  • Refreshments (where students are on campus).
  • Extensive course materials on the VLE, and reference access to the Library during course delivery and in the nearest vacation.

Autumn Courses on campus

Online: Carlo Crivelli and his Contemporaries: An Alternative History of Italian Renaissance Painting

Monday 15 to Friday 19 September 2025
Dr Amanda Hilliam
£395

This online course looks at the work of the Venetian painter Carlo Crivelli (c.1430-95). We shall examine his artistic origins in the Veneto and the reasons for his great success in the Marches on the Adriatic coast. The course explores his work in relation to that of his contemporaries, including Mantegna and Cosimo Tura, and considers his innovative responses to the devotional needs of his patrons, who were largely Franciscan and Dominican friars. Finally, paying close attention to the physical qualities of the paintings themselves, we shall ask what makes Crivelli’s work distinctive. His intelligent use of ornament and play on spatial dimensions deliberately counter naturalism, forcing us to reconsider existing narratives of fifteenth-century Italian art and to map out a wider context for Crivelli and his contemporaries.

Find out more and book now
i Carlo Crivelli, Madonna and Child, c. 1490, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, The National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Image: nga.gov

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