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Honours level studies (years three & four)
This page has information about the last two years of the History of Art degree. Students who have satisfactorily passed their first two years go on to honours level study in years 3 and 4.
You will find that study at Honours level marks a major shift of gear from the pre-Honours years.
Firstly, the material studied is more specialised and challenging, and normally relates to staff research interests and projects. You are able to choose which courses and areas of art history you wish to study (within certain practical constraints).
Secondly, you are required to work more independently. This is apparent in the following ways:
- 3rd year and 4th year History of Art courses (of two hours’ duration) are taught purely by seminar. In both years, you must expect to give regular seminar presentations, either individually or in collaboration with other students.
- In both Honours years, a third of your time (if you are a single Honours History of Art student) is devoted to independent project work, supervised by members of staff.
The History of Art department at Edinburgh is clearly attracting students of the highest calibre and enabling these talented and enthusiastic students to achieve to the best of their ability ... The quality of the teaching and range of subjects is absolutely outstanding - and especially in terms of the range of subjects offered (from art of the ancient Islamic world to contemporary Western and Chinese practices), Edinburgh stands out in relation to any other comparable department with which I am familiar.
Simon Baker
Tate Modern
Courses
The following History of Art courses are usually available to students at Honours level:
Year three
- The Rise of Islamic Art
- Art and Belief in China
- Sinners, Saints and Seers: Scottish, Irish and English art from 600-900
- Antiquity Recovered: Imag(in)ing Pompeii and Herculaneum
- The Detailed Imagination: Netherlandish Painting in the Age of Jan van Eyck
- Rubens and Van Dyck: Master and Pupil in Europe
- The High Renaissance in Rome and Florence
- Sexual Politics and the Image
- City as a Work of Art: Western Urbanism 1960 to the Present Day
- Europe 1900: Nationalism and Decadence at the Fin-De-Siecle
Year four
- Eve's Children: Art and Gender 600-1400
- Persian Painting
- Nicolas Poussin in Rome, c.1620-1660: 'Ancient Simplicity and Epick Style'
- The Renaissance Body
- Expanding Vision: Visual Culture in France from the Limbourgs to Leonardo
- Goya: 'The last of the old masters and the first of the new'
- France, 1850-1900: Visual Culture and Social Change
- Sexuality and Space: Art, Film and The City, 1900 to the Present Day
- Francis Bacon and his Artistic Affinities
- The Aesthetics and Politics of Contemporary Art
- Impressionism, Decadence, Rhythm: Artists in France and Britain 1870-1914
- Fractures: The Origin, Development and Influence of Cubist Painting
In addition, students may choose courses offered in the Architectural History subject area, and the School of History, Classics and Archaeology.
Handbooks
For more extensive information about honours level study, please refer to the handbook.
This article was published on Oct 11, 2012