Cambridge

Course Description: Before 1479 Spain was not a unified country but compromised a number of small independent kingdoms. Over the first half of the sixteenth century Spain became the Superpower of Europe. This was based on her extensive empire, impressive military strength and the unifying effect of Catholicism. This course looks at 120 years of Spanish history and examines her rise to prominence. Consideration is given to the impact on contemporary Europe of Spain’s actions. Three monarchies – Ferdinand and Isabella, Charles V and Philip II were driving forces in Spain’s dominance. After flourishing in this period Spain lost her importance as a European power and declined to become a spectator in European affairs.

Course Description: Venice has been a source of musical and artistic inspiration almost since its birth; it has excited travellers and writers, politicians, generals, filmmakers and pleasure seekers. It is acknowledged as unique in overcoming its physical limitations and turning them to its advantage; in its crumbling, beautiful hotchpotch of architectural styles; in its 1000 of years of Republican government. Byron called it ‘The greenest island of my imagination’. Mary McCarthy called it “ a wholly materialist city ....the world’s unconscious”. but most often it is described as a theatre, like a stage set - it has shown a masked face to the world. We are going to reveal the masks, and what lies beneath, to discover the many changing faces of Venice - both how it has seen and presented itself and how it has been seen by others through literature, music, art and film.

Course Description: Despite the classic image of the all-male cigar-chomping Hollywood moguls of yesteryear, many of the true early pioneers of the art and science of film were women. Directors, writers, producers – even studio heads – actors, technicians and stunt performers, they played a huge role in creating the most important global industry of the twentieth century, without ever getting their names on the door. Come and celebrate a small handful of their stories and find out why you’ve never heard of them – and why you should have.

Course Description: The course analyses the historical and artistic development of landscape painting; identifying different categories of landscape from Arcadian to Apocalyptic, from the panoramic to the particular and from the romantic to the symbolic. It also examines the role and function of the landscape through the centuries; and discusses differing approaches of artists to the subject, including Claude Lorrain, Poussin, Ruisdael, Constable, Turner, Monet, Cézanne, Nash.