ART 102: Art History - Western Medieval Art

Citrus College Course Outline of Record

Citrus College Course Outline of Record
Heading Value
Effective Term: Fall 2026
Credits: 3
Total Contact Hours: 54
Lecture Hours : 54
Lab Hours: 0
Hours Arranged: 0
Outside of Class Hours: 108
Total Student Learning Hours: 162
Strongly Recommended: ENGL C1000.
District General Education: C1. Arts
Transferable to CSU: Yes
Transferable to UC: Yes - Approved
Grading Method: Standard Letter

Catalog Course Description

This course introduces students to visual art and architecture from the medieval period with a focus on art from Europe, North Africa and Near East. The course will further consider global interactions involving these regions. 54 lecture hours.

Course Objectives

  • Evaluate the ways visual objects' aesthetics, subject matters and functions were informed by their historical, philosophical, religious and cultural contexts.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the history of the medieval era in Europe, North Africa and Near East.
  • Recognize historic styles and techniques from the medieval era in Europe, North Africa and Near East.
  • Compare historic styles within the medieval era in Europe, North Africa and Near East.
  • Distinguish and recognize major monuments of art and architecture within the medieval era in Europe, North Africa and Near East.
  • Comprehend terms, media, techniques and processes of medieval era in Europe, North Africa and Near East.

Major Course Content

  1. Background
    1. Development of Art History as a Discipline
    2. Art History and Problematizing the 'Canon'
  2. Early Christian
    1. Origins of Christian Art and connections to Judiasm
    2. Late Antique Christian art in Western Europe
  3. Byzantine Art
    1. Early Byzantine 
    2. Middle Byzantine
    3. Late Byzantine
  4. Early and Medieval Islam
    1. Origins and Umyadd Caliphate
    2. Abassid Caliphate
    3. Islamic Spain
  5.  Early Medieval Europe
    1. Celtic Art (La Tène Celtic, Visigoths, Merovigians and Vikings)
    2. Hiberno-Saxon (British Isles)
    3. Carolingian Empire
    4. Ottonian Empire
  6. Romanesque
  7. Gothic
    1. Early Gothic
    2. High Gothic
    3. Late Gothic and the Proto-Renaissance

Suggested Reading Other Than Required Textbook

Materials, such as academic articles and primary sources, provided on or linked off the Learning Management System.

Examples of Required Writing Assignments

Write a two page paper (12 point type, double spaced) on an assigned academic article.
Choose one work from a culture and period discussed in class, which is displayed in the collection of the museum you visit, and analyze its subject matter, formal visual qualities and function and discuss the relationship between these elements and the artworks historical (socio-political, religious, philosophical, technological) context.

Examples of Outside Assignments

Write a 2-3 page paper on a medieval artwork utilizing secondary and primary sources.

Instruction Type(s)

Lecture, Online Education Lecture

IGETC Area 3: Arts and Humanities

3A. Fine Arts