Course Details in 2025/26 Session

Module Title	LH Women and Artistic Culture in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Period
School	Lan, Cult, Art Hist & Music
Department	Art Hist, Cur and Vis Studies
Module Code	09 28450
Module Lead	Dr Elizabeth L'Estrange
Level	Honours Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 2
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Exclusions
Description	This module draws on the recent growth of scholarship concerned with women’s roles in the making and consumption of art in the late medieval and early modern period. It will first consider how contemporary gender and feminist studies can help us to explore and be critically-aware of what studying ‘female’ patrons and artists might mean for modern art historians. It looks at dominant medieval discourses about the female sex that were found in popular literature, scripture, and medical theories, and how these were manifest in works of art and literature of the time. It also considers the different social, political and religious roles that were available to women in this period in order to set up a framework in which women’s involvement with art and artists can be explored in a historically-specific way. The module then focuses on a series of case studies of female figures, including queens, regents, mistresses, widows, court painters, and confirmed religious, who used art as a means to wield or influence political power, make statements, seek personal aims, or earn a living. Examples include women from France, Burgundy and England, such as Anne of Brittany, Margaret of Austria, Jeanne de Boubais, Diane de Poitiers, Elizabeth I, Susan Horenbout and Lieve Teerlinc. Secular as well as devotional works will be considered (portraiture, illuminated manuscripts, tomb sculpture, objects from material culture) in order to explore the motivations of, and the strategies open to, female patrons and artists to use art to their advantage in a world dominated culturally and politically by men.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: Demonstrate a detailed and comprehensive knowledge of the module’s taught content. Describe relationships between relevant artworks and the cultural and social environment of the period covered by the module. Identify and analyse relevant artworks produced during the period covered by the module. Comment on theoretical and other matters embodied in primary or other sources relating to the period covered by the module.
Assessment	28450-01 : Overall Mark : Coursework (100%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	1 x 2500-word essay (50% of the final module mark) 1 x 1.5-hour unseen examination (50% of the final module mark) Alternative assessment if on campus activity is restricted: proctored exams will be converted to take home papers. Re-assessment: Re-submission of failed component
Other
Reading List