course

Course Credit:  3.0

What happens when we are forcibly removed from the safety of our home, our family, our community, profession, church, or perhaps even removed from what we thought was the safety of our ideas or beliefs? Dismaying as this sounds, for the Renaissance thinker, exile was a source of profound alarm, particularly since there were few ways to restore one’s previous life or reputation after the fact. “Exile” is a concept we’re not often confronted with today, but during the Early Modern period this type of action was frighteningly common. One way to survive the state of exile was to mine the recesses of the imagination—a method which propelled some of the greatest thinkers in the western tradition to leave the quotidian behind and discover new stories, new theories, new inventions, and new planets. From the diverse region of Tuscany, four remarkable artists and thinkers emerged—Dante, Leonardo, Artemisia, and Galileo—who made their most important cultural contributions while living in states of profound displacement. From roughly 1300 to 1700, the lives of these Italians found commonalities against the backdrop of the city of Florence, made relevant, splendid, and dangerous by the rising Medici family. As thinkers in exile, students will study and live in this environment. We’ll visit major sites and museums that bring our lectures to life, plus make day excursions to Tuscan cities from our home base in Florence. We’ll complete hands-on projects, including on-site sketching and cooking. Pre-requisite: Interview meeting. Art History or Liberal Arts credit.