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Antiquity has provided a standard by which all subsequent periods have tended to be judged. The Jenkins Venus was thought during the neoclassical period to be the embodiment of love and beauty, so fundamental to contemporary ideas of art appreciation.

Students examining 17th century inlay work with William Lorimer, in Christie’s warehouse, London. Annibale Carracci was one of the greatest draftsman of the late 16th century. His use dynamic controposto combined with fluidity of line were much admired by his patrons. Students in the Piazzo del Popolo with the twin churches of Santa Maria del Monte Santo and Santa Maria dei Miracoli built at the expense of Cardinal Gastaldi after 1662. This small bronze group of Venus and Adonis with Eroti was made by Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi in Florence, circa 1700. The dramatic compositional structure which captures a fleeting moment of engagement between the two lovers is typical of Baroque sculpture.
Adele Bloch-Bauer was one of Gustave Klimt's most important patrons, and, it has been suggested, one of the artist's secret lovers. Dressed in a loose-fitting, Wiener Werkstatte gown, she is the first in a series of paintings of women set against decorative backgrounds in the manner of Japanese bjin-e executed after 1912. The internationalism of the art nouveau is epitomised by Charles Rennie Mackintosh whose work inspired many of the Vienna Secession artists after 1900, such as Gustav Klimt, and Peter Behrens. Ruhlmann’s designs absorbed the modernity of contemporary art movements such as cubism while also celebrating in the French tradition of Luxury cabinetmaking This teapot was designed by Christopher Dresser in 1880. Considered by many to be the first industrial designer, he produced radical designs that were 50 years ahead of their time.
The materials and methods of production and the creative forces behind the style and design of furniture help us to understand how the maker and designer transcended his craft to produce lasting works of fine art. The artist Jean-François de Troy was himself a member of the wealthy sophisticated Salon society of Paris in the 1720s. His tableaux de modes depict the luxuriously furnished interiors and rich textiles worn by the wealthy elite. Understanding a work of art sometimes requires more than agility of mind. This bearded mask of Heraclitus is part of a Régence ormolu-mounted and Boulle brass-inlaid clock, probably made by André-Charles Boulle himself, c,1720
Giuseppe de Nittis was invited by Degas to join Monet, Renoir, Pissarro and Cicely in the first Impressionist exhibition at the Nadar Gallery in Paris. Here, he is thought to show horses exercised before a race in Hyde Park, London, chronicalling the highlife and style in England and France during the Belle Epoque. Developments in print making, during the 19th century, including lithography allowed artists to explore new and bold methods of communication. Here Toulouse Lautrec’s La Troupe De Mademoiselle Eglantine epitomises both the gaiety and the exploitative nature of the era. Designed by Henri Guimard, the Paris métro sign is the epitome of Art Nouveau style, but Guimard also pioneered the industrial processes for mass production that would allow this new art to be disseminated to as wide a public as possible. The modern boulevards of Baron Haussman on a sleety autumn day were the inspiration for Béraud’s realistic depictions of modern Parisian life.
This painting is first recorded in the collection of Queen Christina of Sweden. It passed into the collection of the Dukes of Orléans and had only been seen in public once since 1844 before it was sold for a world record price by Christie’s in 1991 to the J. Paul Getty Museum, for over $13million. The maiolica technique was used in the Renaissance to promote classical historical scenes inspired by the new humanism, and made fashionable by the court at Urbino. Students on a study weekend at Harwood House examining the Giovanni Bellini Madonna and Child with Donor in the Gallery, an attribution which is in dispute. Titian was the greatest colourist of the Renaissance. This cross-section of vermillion pigment from Bacchus and Ariadne combined with x-radiographs and infra-red reflectography allow us to glimpse inside the workings of the master. Courtesy National Gallery, London.

Postgraduate Diploma - Art, Style and Design: Renaissance to Modernism


All the course work for this programme is directly related to a real-work experience. You will be asked to write reviews, artefact analyses, acquisition reports and curatorial reports. Your thesis will be a catalogue of an exhibition that you would like to stage. Whatever period of study you chose you will receive the same core training. We will teach you the Christie’s Auction House cataloguing procedures and you will be able to assess and write about all forms of art in the period you have chosen to study. As part of this course you will also be introduced to critical writing and thinking about art so that you can either enter the art-world immediately or go on to study further.

Course components

  • Core lecture series c.1450 – c.1960: provides the key information necessary for building a sound knowledge of the fine and decorative arts in Europe.
  • Study Trips: two international trips a year to major sites in Europe or the Americas supplement regular visits to UK sites throughout the year and are included in the basic fee.
  • Object-based study is central to our teaching: group work brings you into contact with museum quality works of art at Christie’s but also from the collections of London’s greatest museums and galleries.
  • Cataloguing to auction house and museum standards: preparation for professional exams, through handling works of art in the auction house, cataloguing them and giving reasons for their attribution.
  • Art Market, Gallery and Museum studies: how works come to be in museums and galleries, how they are displayed and the ethical issues that need to be addressed.
  • Research Project: you either make a proposal for an exhibition, choosing the objects to be displayed, or you write about a single work of art placing it in context through your own original research.

Course content

  • Renaissance cultures in the North and South
  • Masters of the High Renaissance: Michelangelo, Leonardo,Raphael
  • Counter cultures – Mannerism in Painting and Architecture
  • Power and propaganda in the Baroque
  • Ceramics, Science and Industry
  • Rococo delights – pleasure, politics and style in 18th Century Europe
  • Furniture and interiors in early modern society
  • Neo-classicism: tourists, artists and amateurs
  • Regency: formality, informality and social mobility
  • Arts & Crafts movement: ethics and reform
  • Art Nouveau from Mackintosh to Gaudi and beyond
  • Art Deco: the luxurious face of modernism
  • Warhol and Pop: the threshold of contemporary art

Entry requirements

A university degree or equivalent. We welcome students who have graduated in any arts discipline and mature students who may wish to combine their work experience with previous qualifications which may not have yet gained them a first degree. This diploma may then also be used to access Master’s level courses the following year. Non-English speaking students must have IELTS 7 or equivalent.

Postgraduate Diploma - Art, Style and Design

Course Dates

Term 1

Thursday 27 September 2012
– Friday 07 December 2012

Term 2

Monday 07 January 2013
– Friday 15 March 2013

Term 3

Monday 22 April 2013
– Friday 28 June 2013

Course Fees

£19,000

Course Director

Andrew Spira

University of Glasgow

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